Liam O'Flaherty's 1925 novel The Informer, set in Dublin in the aftermath of the Irish Civil War, has been adapted for the cinema several times (even by O'Flaherty's cousin John Ford in the 1930s). This restoration from the BFI was the first adaption. "O'Flaherty claimed in his autobiography that he wrote The Informer 'based on the technique of the cinema, as a kind of high-brow detective story.' Set in the revolutionary ferment of the newly independent Ireland, among a cadre of poor political activists, this silent version captures the essence of the novel, that atmosphere of a world without possible escape, very like the closed system of later film noir"—Bryony Dixon. The BFI-commissioned score by Irish composer Garth Knox includes accordion, flute, Irish pipes, and viola d'amore.