The Dryden will screen The Informer (John Ford, U.S. 1935, 91 min., 16mm).

John Ford's adaptation of Liam O'Flaherty's novel by the same name is now commonly regarded as the director's passion project and his foray into art-cinema. Though Ford fought RKO to get the film made and was ultimately granted only a modest budget, The Informer went on to win four of its six Academy Award nominations. A dismal and expressionistic examination of war-time depravity and cowardice, The Informer takes place in British occupied Ireland during the Irish War of Independence. Gypo (Victor McLaglen) has been thrown out of the Ira for refusing to execute a member of the British Parliamentary Force. Wandering the Dublin slums, he encounters a £20 bounty notice on a fellow Ira comrade, a betrayal that could mean safe passage to America for Gypo and his girlfriend. Over the course of a rainy twelve-hour night he struggles with the implications of his decision.

[source: George Eastman Museum website, 2016-Apr-4]