The Informers ** (1963, Nigel Patrick, Margaret Whiting, Harry Andrews, Colin Blakely, Frank Finlay) – Classic Movie Review 12,138

Director Ken Annakin’s 1963 British black and white crime thriller The Informers [Underworld Informers] [The Snout] is based on Douglas Warner’s novel Death of a Snout, and stars Nigel Patrick, Margaret Whiting, Harry Andrews, Colin Blakely, Derren Nesbitt and Frank Finlay. It is filmed at Pinewood Studios and on location in London.

The Informers is a typical Rank British studio black and white thriller of the early Sixties, with Nigel Patrick, Colin Blakely, Harry Andrews, Derren Nesbitt and Frank Finlay shining in a routine case about a London police inspector, Chief Inspector John Edward Johnnoe (Patrick), trying to trace a bank robber who framed him for taking a bribe after killing one of his informers, the Snout of the original title.

This Fifties hangover, with an improbable story based on Douglas Warner’s novel Death of a Snout, is rather tired in almost all departments. But Patrick is effective as the cop and so is Colin Blakely as Charlie Ruskin, the dead man’s crook brother who joins him in the murder hunt. Indeed the stalwart Brit cast are its best recommendation. The London location shooting is its other main recommendation, with filming at locations including the Thames Embankment, Westminster, Soho, Paddington, Covent Garden, Hampstead and Golders Green.

Also in the cast are Katherine Woodville [Catherine Woodville], Frank Finlay, Roy Kinnear, Derren Nesbitt, John Cowley, Michael Coles, Allan Cuthbertson, Ronald Hines, Peter Prowse, George Sewell, Kenneth J Warren, and Brian Wilde.

The Informers is directed by Ken Annakin, runs 105 minutes, is made by The Rank Organisation, is released by Rank Film Distributors (UK) and Continental Film Distributors (US), is written by Alun Falconer (screenplay) and Paul Durst (additional dialogue), from the novel Death of a Snout by Douglas Warner, is shot in black and white by Reginald H Wyer, is produced by Earl St John (executive producer) and William MacQuitty, and is scored by Clifton Parker.

The cast are Nigel Patrick as Chief Inspector John Edward Johnnoe, Margaret Whiting as Maisie Barton, Katherine Woodville as Mary Johnnoe, Colin Blakely as Charlie Ruskin, Derren Nesbitt as Bertie Hoyle, Harry Andrews as Superintendent Alec Bestwick, Michael Coles as Ben, John Cowley as Jim Ruskin, Allan Cuthbertson as Smythe, Frank Finlay as Leon Sale, Ronald Hines as Sergeant Geoff Lewis, Roy Kinnear as Shorty, Peter Prowse as Mick Lonergan, George Sewell as Fred Hill, Kenneth J Warren as Lou Waites, Brian Wilde as Lipson, Peter Bowles as Peter the Pole, Donal Donnelly as Tommy the Trotter, Garfield Morgan as 2nd Inspector, and Martin Wyldeck as Officer in Police Operations Room.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,138

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