PodBill Just what I expected

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

clanciai John Ford had the knack like no one else of turning his films into poetry. It's visual, expressionistic and above all human poetry, since he had a very delicate understanding of human nature. This most clearly comes forth in his Irish films. His parents were from Ireland, and when he embarks on Irish or related subjects (like Wales) he does it with a very a intimate relationship and touch with his people and story. He makes human nature emerge almost titanically even when it's only about very ordinary people.In this film the so called hero is an extreme antihero. He has and does everything wrong. He is big and superior but only in muscles and size, while his brains are completely lacking - he doesn't know at all what he is doing but acts only on impulse and thus unawares brings his own tragedy.His long and great fall is tremendous. He is the buddy of a freedom fighter, and his one desire is for a certain common lady called Katie, with whom he wants to go to America away from the political disturbances and atrocities going on in Ireland in 1922. Without job and at odds with both the English and his own freedom organization, he desperately clinches at the possibility of getting money quick, by informing on his buddy. Naturally there are consequences.As he is completely irresponsible, he has no idea of what havoc he is causing in putting his own life at risk, which he cares least about of all. He gets his money, but instead of going to Katie and buying his freedom ticket, he wastes it all on a merry-go-round hullabaloo along the pubs of Dublin.Victor McLaglen makes an awesome figure in this tremendous and very Irish drama, that couldn't be more Irish. Carol Reed was much influenced by this film in making his masterpiece "Odd Man Out" twelve years later, and there are many interesting parallels between the films.To this comes the music. In the silents the composers learned the art of making the music enhance the drama of the films, and in this film that art is celebrating triumphs. It's almost as if Max Steiner's music underlines every action and every conversation in the drama.This is the perfect Irish film. That's the least you can say about it.

kenjha During the Irish rebellion of the 1920s, a rebel turns in one of his friends for a reward. Once regarded as a towering achievement for Ford, winning him his first Oscar, it now stands as one of his most dated films, mainly due to the terrible overacting. McLaglen is the main offender here, playing his larger-than-life drunkard so over-the-top that it's painful to watch these days. Of course, the Academy awarded him an Oscar for it and he went on to play variations on this character in numerous other Ford films, mostly Westerns. The rest of the cast is equally bad. The film is visually impressive, but it's hard to look past the melodramatics.

Indyrod This amazing Oscar winner (4 in total) and John Ford's first Academy Award winner, is simply spellbinding with a pounding score by Max Steiner. Called an Art film, because Ford had very little money to make this great story about guilt and retribution, and greed and stupidity. But what makes this movie such a classic, is the direction and astounding photography and use of fog and lighting, that was so different from the usual American film, and more in the tradition of German expressionism. And the Oscar winning performance by Victor McLaglen as the drunken Gypo is simply unbelievable. Basically the movie takes place in Ireland, and Gypo turns in a friend in the rebel movement to the English to collect 20 pounds to give to his girlfriend. But having all that money, he starts blowing it on an all night drunk and giving it away, while the leaders of the movement are trying to track down the informer. The whole movie is one night in a dark and foggy Ireland, and a cast of characters that are memorable but all along, the whole world of Gypo is closing in on him, both psychologically. If I had to pick maybe three directors to have ALL their movies on a deserted island forever, and nobody elses, John Ford would certainly be one of them. What a truly remarkable movie...

Michael_Elliott Informer, The (1935) **** (out of 4) Incredible story of a man (Oscar winner Victor McLaglen) who informs on a friend and then is haunted by guilt while Irish rebels try to figure out who the informer was. I'm really not sure which side Ford was on because the film makes you think about both sides and what the outcome should be. For me personally, I felt sorry for McLaglen and didn't want anything bad to happen to him. I understood the rebels side of things but at the same time I found that they were pretty hypocritical and I wonder if Ford was going after this as well especially since the movie ends in a Church. I haven't read any books on Ford so again, I'm not sure which side he was on but the movie certainly makes you think about everything you've watched. McLaglen is downright brilliant in his role and I'd say this is one of the greatest performances I've ever seen. The rage, sadness and confusion he brings to this character is quite startling to watch. The supporting cast is very good as well and features strong performances by Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Margot Grahame, Joe Sawyer and Donald Meek. Wallace Ford and Uno O'Connor both are good in their small roles. Ford's direction is top notch as he perfectly captures the mood and feeling of the story. The cinematography is also terrific and really puts you in the setting. This is a rather unique little film that works on many levels.