Trivia / The Informer

• Censor Decoy: John Ford was concerned that the scene where drunken "King" Gypo goes into the brothel for Katie would not pass censors. The studio came up with the idea to "put the cats in hats"—that is, have all the prostitutes wear hats indoors, thus dissuading the censorship board from thinking they were prostitutes.
• Enforced Method Acting: John Ford reportedly abused Victor McLaglen to no end - he would change the shooting schedule without warning, tell him they were rehearsing when they were actually doing a take, make him perform drunk, and for the climactic scene he promised McLaglen the day off only to wake him up early and have him act through a raging hangover. The result: one near-homicidal Eastender, and one brilliant, Oscar-winning performance.
• Fake Irish: Some of the actors in this film were Irish (J.M. Kerrigan, Una O'Connor, Neil Fitzgerald) but most weren't. Victor McLaglen was actually English, but was often typecast as either a drunk or an Irishman (to the degree many people actually thought he was Irish), and here he was both.
• Magnum Opus Dissonance: Victor McLaglen's performance in this film is considered the best of his career. McLagen, however, wasn't very bothered with the praise and accolades it earned him, saying that an Oscar didn't translate into higher pay and that his son used the statuette as a paperweight.
• What Could Have Been: Boxer-turned-actor Jack O'Halloran (of Superman II fame) tried to mount a remake in the 1990s. He was living in Ireland at the time, and planned to film on location. He had hoped for Robert Mitchum to play Gypo Nolan, but the financing fell through.

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