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.

This starts out to be one kind of crime film and evolves into something else entirely. A lead detective tells his subordinates to stop using informants because he believes they should transition to more modern methods. But inspector Johnnoe does not intend to take a useful tool out of his toolbox just because he needs to add some additional tools. So he disobeys orders and continues using them, and one in particular - Jim Ruskin.

There have been a string of bank robberies going on in London, and Jim has a tip on who is involved. But the crooks see Jim watching them, and his drunk routine does not fool them. They take Jim prisoner and murder him, but not before he phones Johnnoe's house and leaves a message as to who is responsible for the robberies. So now as a result Johnnoe is hanging around and bothering the thieves and they have to do something to discredit him, because murdering an inspector will just get more heat on them.

When it comes to a lone nut criminal or one lone ranger of a cop, American cinema is pretty good. But nobody does films about ensemble crimes and teamwork like the Europeans. And since I hate to watch subtitles, I really like British crime and noir films. This one goes to such a wild place I'll just let you watch how it play out. The one actor I recognized was Derrin Nesbitt, who just excelled at playing memorable and unpredictable sociopaths. I'd highly recommend this.

Firstly the location of Johnoes house was in North End Road Golders Green Green.It stars one of my favourite actors in Nigel Patrick and villains in Darren Nesbitt.I saw the film at the Odeon Temple Fortune on 24th November 1964.I would make the point that so many detectives at Scotland Yard at the time were corrupt they didn't need to frame them.I enjoyed the film then and now with reservations as I felt ,and still do that the climax is very contrived.By the performances of the dog and cat were noteworthy!

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.