The Informers

Surprisingly, one of the best tough-cop performances in a British film came from Nigel Patrick in "The Informers," an actor who has considerably more strength in this kind of role than all those witty, urbane characters in which he has found himself would seem to suggest...

Patrick played a detective-sergeant with a genuine London accent and showed a fierceness towards a gang of crooks which at the time (1963) was highly unusual in British pictures… It could be that the characterization was in a direct line from his Soho racketeer in "The Noose ( 1948), his cold-hearted spymaster in "Count Five and Die,"( 1958) and his police detective in "Sapphire" (1959). Somewhere inside Nigel Patrick, it seems, there is a Sterling Hayden trying to break out

Ken Annakin, a director not known for masterpieces but for comedies and trusty box office returns, takes an unusually serious approach in THE INFORMERS, a dour British noir with Nigel Patrick a police detective making his own decisions in contravention of his boss' standing orders.

Instead of collating evidence piecemeal to take the criminals to court, he decides to speed things up on his own without a word to anyone in the office, with the upshot that clever villain Frank Finlay sets him a trap that makes him look like he is on the take and seeing prostitutes on the side, and he is remanded in custody and actually suspended from duty by uncompromising police chief Harry Andrews.

Derrin Nesbitt, as ever, plays the flamboyantly ruthless criminal who resorts to underhand methods to get lovely Margaret Whiting (is she the one who sings "My Foolish Heart" and other 1950s songs?) to ensnare Patrick. Very fine acting from all, down to the smallest part.

I like the script in general and dialogue in particular, complete with cockney accents giving the film and characters considerable authenticity, and presenting an unusual angle on dereliction of police duty with the best possible intentions.

Extremely effective B&W cinematography with clever use of closeups.

At least for this period; because you know better than me that during the late fifties and early sixties, there were hundreds - maybe not thousands - of short black and white crime movies, mostly produced by Butchers or Danziger's companies, and a few other ones too. Most of them, the bulk of this huge batch are forgettable, only a few emerge from my memory; I have seen so many of them. Some are excellent, for instance Sidney Hayer's' PAYROLL or Cliff Owen's PRIZE OF ARMS. No one can miss LEAGUE OF THE GENTLEMEN, light hearted though. This one is excellent because adapted from a Douglas Warner's novel, also terrific story, but maybe a bit old fashioned from today's standards. It is a shame that no more novels of this author were put on screen, big or small.

A truly excellent example of the British thriller genre produced on modest budgets in the late 50's and early'60s. Nigel Patrick goes against type from his usual suave, raffish and urbane gent about town - although he's still a fairly suave and urbane Detective Inspector here, albeit a very doggedly determined one.

DI Johnnoe prefers the old tried and tested methods of crime busting, including associating with known criminals as snouts. His boss (Harry Andrews) , backed up by the weasely and ambitious Smythe (Allan Cuthbertson), is keen to do away with these old habits and trouble lies in store when Johnnoe persists after one of his snouts is bumped off.

The supporting cast is magnificent, with a roll call of superb Brit actors, many of whom were just emerging into fame at the time. In particular, Frank Finlay, Colin Blakely (both outstanding), also Derren Nesbitt, George Sewell, Brian Wilde, to name but a few. Even Peter Bowles gets an early (uncredited) turn as the mysteriously-named "Peter the Pole".

The final punch up is a little chaotic, but it doesn't detract from the overall narrative of the film which starts as a detective vs bad guys story, but soon evolves into a much deeper and engaging theme. Thoroughly recommended.

I love these sort of films,1950s/1960s British crime films. Some are well known but this one is fairly obscure,despite the well known director and cast.

So I was glad when I caught this on a film channel. It has its faults,mainly sometimes unrealistic,but it is well made and has a great cast. 10 years after this film was made the British film industry was almost dead,why? I think because of tv and the idea that British films were dull,some were but some were great.