THE INFORMER (1929)

Not the 1935 John Ford classic (Dudley Nichols script; Joseph August D.P.; Victor McLaglen lead), but an earlier British version of Liam O’Flaherty’s very Irish novel on ‘The Troubles,’ shot silent before gaining a primitive soundtrack with Talkie elements.  Luckily, all original silent negatives surviving for this fine BFI restoration.  American-born German director Arthur Robinson (his only British production?) pulls off superb atmosphere, re-creating a stylistically believable, studio-bound 1920s Dublin.*  Check out the painted chimney shadows when we hit the rooftops of the city, an illusion all-of-a-piece with the film’s two international leads Lars Hanson (Gypo) and Lya De Putti (Katie).  He’s the jealous Irish Republican National who informs on his best pal when he thinks his girl (De Putti) is steppin’ out with him.  She’ll mirror the mistake in the third act, believing he’s been unfaithful with a girl he’s barely met.  These matching jealousies the main motivating difference between the two version.  In Ford/Nichols, motive lies with the ‘forty pieces of silver’ (actually £20)  Gypo is paid to inform on his BFF, the man who shot & killed the British Police Chief.  Just as big a difference comes in casting: Hanson’s Gypo no hanger-on, but falling down when he misreads the situation; McLaglen more a tough enforcer, and thick as a brick.  Equally surprising, it’s Ford, not Robinson, who piles on UFA-style German Expressionism.  (A holdover from working at FOX when F.W. Murnau came to town?)  Both films now look a bit deliberately paced, afraid we’ll lose the thread of the story, but in their own way both significant achievements.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  While the basic plot has inspired many films, official remakes come from Ford in ‘35 and, in Jules Dassin’s intriguing, if uneven, Black take in UPTIGHT/’68.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2015/10/uptight-1968.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *No doubt, the superb, and very un-British, ‘finish’ to the photography due to Robinson bringing in German cinematographer Theodor Sparkuhl.  Sparkuhl soon off to Hollywood, with great credits, mostly at Paramount, in the ‘30 and ‘40s.