Who wrote the screenplay for John Ford's The Informer?

Dudley Nichols wrote the screenplay for John Ford’s The Informer.

The 1935 RKO film adapts Liam O’Flaherty’s 1925 novel and stars Victor McLaglen as Gypo Nolan, a disgraced former revolutionary who informs on a comrade during the Irish War of Independence. Ford also produced and directed the film.

Nichols’s screenplay turns the source novel into a tightly focused tragedy about guilt, betrayal and spiritual collapse. The film’s visual style and Max Steiner’s score intensify Gypo’s night-long descent through Dublin after he receives payment for his information.

Nichols won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay, but declined the Oscar because of a dispute involving the writers’ union. The film also won Oscars for Ford’s direction, McLaglen’s performance and Steiner’s score. Frank S. Nugent, another major Ford screenwriter, was not the writer of this film.