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Impact (1949)

"Wealthy businessman survives attempt by wife to have him killed, makes it look like she succeeded and starts a new life in small town as auto mechanic. Variation on idea elevated to noir importance by The Killers (1946), where victim of femme fatale tries to abandon the city and his past identity." - noir expert Spencer Selby


This movie is part of the collection: Film Noir

Audio/Visual: sound, b&w

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: hawtdawg - - November 10, 2009
Subject: Very suspenseful, highly enjoyable
I've watched Impact several times over the years, the first time on one of those "movies til dawn" tv stations in southern California many decades ago, and always enjoy it. Ella Raines really makes this movie work, her character is great! And she was pretty damn good looking, too:

skylighters.org/amanoutoftime/ellarainesbik.jpg

I highly recommend Impact, it's well worth downloading and watching and keeping.

Reviewer: inselpeter - - October 9, 2009
Subject: Very Good Film
Ella Raines is beautifully photographed in her openings scenes, for my money, among the best in the film. The 1947 film contains elements of propaganda aiming to "normalize" gender roles and at the sense of dislocation of returning soldiers. The latter, especially, is atypically played down. These aspects of the film, which, otherwise, is a crime film and courtroom drama, are mostly to be noted at the protagonists arrival at Ms. Raines's garage.

Reviewer: Warhawk 40 - - July 28, 2009
Subject: Film Noir at it's best
This is the way movies used to be made. Crisp,tight plotting and an excellent story line. My reason for thinking so highly of it, however, is that I am old enough to remember an America as is portrayed in the film; an America which will never be seen again.

Reviewer: dantesque - - April 3, 2009
Subject: Smart Protagonist Makes Dumb Moves Keeping Drama Alive
***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***
Look, I love Brian Donlevy and the character actors conducting the investigation (whose names I'm too lazy to go look up at the moment), and I AM wild about the murder's set-up. But when Walter Williams elects to put his head between his legs and allow the wife he knows tried to kill him to inherit the fortune he's left behind so he can sulk in the middle of Nowhere, USA (sorry all you Idahoans) it's a little hard to take. Then, after he figures he'll leave and not go back on the idea that it would ruin the ex's being tried for murder, I'm thinking: "but she'll still be tried for ATTEMPTED murder." The he goes back anyway but tries the old amensia wheeze on them b/c a. wants to make his new love an accessory to lying to the police, and b. assumes the police are morons. But the final straw is when they arrest him and he doesn't fess up immediately (he's still got to be talked into it )and even when he does it appears that the state of california allows you to ATTEMPT to murder someone if they survive the attempt. So they arrest and prosecute HIM despite having heard the wife's bit about her love for Jim Torrence and the big fight with her husband over him for the first time ever right then and there (maybe Williams is right about cop I.Q.) It starts as crime noir, segues into Americana melodrama, before trying on a courtoom drama/tying up the clues in the nick of time ending. And we probably shouldn't discuss the portrayal of the Chinese-Americans here: I've seen worse, but I've certainly seen better. All in all: 3 Stars.

Reviewer: Albert Schlef - - March 2, 2009
Subject: A nice film
When I finished watching it I didn't feel I wasted my time.

Reviewer: BuffaloJack - - February 7, 2008
Subject: Above average film noir.
Superb film.
I always like films with Brian Donlevy in them. This film is no exception. A good solid performance. Charles Coburn wasn't bad as the cop either. It's good to see a cop acting like a human now and then and still able to do his job.
Even Philip Ahn who has a very small part as the maid's uncle does a good job. His reply to Coburn's question, "You savvy English?" with "Yes. Also French, Italian, and Hebrew" was perfect.
This film is a keeper; you won't regret watching it.

Reviewer: spacebar_presser - - January 5, 2007
Subject: Impact
Well worth one's time!

Reviewer: moxey - - November 22, 2005
Subject: great
very good movie.the girl that plays martha the garage owner, i know i,ve seen in some other film.stunning.
a very good crime drama

Reviewer: Ella Greggs - - November 1, 2005
Subject: Sex, Lies and Monograms
Fun movie. Helen Walker is great as the scheming and duplicitious wife. The film gets more than a little far fetched toward the end, and our heroine is a bit too gosh-darn plucky for such an otherwise downbeat film. Nevertheless, a good story, well played and well paced. It is also a delight to see the great character actor Charles Coburn as gumshoe Quincy, doggedly pursuing the truth.

Reviewer: FrankinHolland - - October 7, 2005
Subject: Impact
Great film. Some of the acting was stiff at first but I was completely sucked in by the middle. Just shows that there was actually talent in Hollywood before sleaze masters like Speilberg came to the US.

Reviewer: Lisa MW - - July 5, 2005
Subject: Worth the Time
This is a very good movie. It does not have a predictable ending.

Reviewer: B.B. Thrill - - January 12, 2005
Subject: impact - the twists, turns and effects we have on one anothers lives
A San Francisco industrial tycoon Walter Williams's wife, Irene Williams and her lover, Jim Torrance plot to murder Williams. On the road up the mountains the lover cracks Williams over the head and leaves him for dead, but during his getaway crashes the car and is burned beyond identification. Half-dazed, and confused, Williams stumbles into a truck that takes him miles and miles down the highway.

He finally ends up in a small town in Idaho, where he finds a place to stay, working as an auto mechanic for widowed gas station owner, Marsha Peters.

Everyone thinks the body in the car crash is Williams and his wife is eventually accused of conspiring to murder him. Williams knows of all of this from the newspaper clippings he is reading and saving, plotting his future and dreaming of revenge on his murderous wife.

The trouble with this is that Williams falls in love with Marsha Peters and is convinced by her to return to San Francisco to settle the business of his past.

From here Impact twists and turns - to tell you more would ruin the surprises and pleasures of watching the film. In true film noir style you are unsure what will be the outcome until the last moments of the film.

Certainly worth the time to view and even to view again.

Reviewer: stef - - January 7, 2005
Subject: Excellent
Very good film!

As someone said on IMDB, there's Capra accents in this film noir.