Highly Overrated But Still Good

A Disappointing Continuation

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Impact delivers a noir story of betrayal, entrapment, and fear. The ambivalence of the San Francisco cityscape, with its majestic white- roofed buildings, crowned by Coit Tower, set against the claustrophobic alleys of Chinatown, mirrors the chasm between Donlevy's outwardly bright, sophisticated world, and his domestic turmoil, stirred up by the scheming Helen Walker as his unfaithful wife.Her plot to kill her husband backfires when her lover, Tony Barrett, thinking he has killed Donlevy, panics, and winds up dead himself. I agree with those who think that Donlevy should've gone to the police as soon as possible, instead of escaping to Idaho. I could see why he'd need some time to recover and figure out what to do; but why literally walk away from his magnificent career to become a drifter?Allowing for all that, why, when he does return to San Francisco, does he make up such an implausible cover story? There's no point in coming back unless he wants to clear himself from suspicion that he had anything to do with Barrett's death, but he momentarily succeeds only in creating more suspicion about himself.Finding the fetching Ella Raines, and her idyllic small town life, was definitely worth it, though. Even though the Larkspur interlude seems on another planet from the unresolved crime in S.F., Donlevy is never really free from the city's noir grasp. Impact loses its edge only at the very end. Once legally exonerated, Donlevy is free to marry Raines, magic dust and all.

This film is fairly interesting and good. It surrounds the life of Walter Williams who is a married man - he was happy in his marriage but his wife Irene was not. Irene had a lover named Jim Torrence, together they plotted to kill her husband and make it look like a car accident while on his business trip. Things changed when Jim thought he had killed Walter and took off in Walter's car only to end up in a car wreck. Walter awoke and ended up in the back of a truck that was on the scene of the car wreck. Walter got off the truck when it stopped and found himself in a small town, read the headlines that he has been killed in the car wreck and decided to take a new life in that small town. The police are after Jim Torrence, who they think is still alive and Walter's wife Irene.This one makes for a good prime time film or just a lazy afternoon flick if you are looking for a crime mystery to watch.7.5/10

This is absolutely NOT film noir. It's filled with romance and monologues on hope and doing the right thing, not the gritty, pessimistic ambiance of the urban jungle. In fact, it's almost after- school-special-like. Just because a movie has a crime as its major plot point does not make it film noir!That said, I was at first mildly impressed with this film. The poetic justice initially visited upon Mrs. Williams was genuinely clever. The venomous defense attorney was a nice touch. The trickery used by the protagonist to outwit his cheating, murderous wife was interesting.Then, all of a sudden, the film (like others in this faux-film-noir genre - see Kansas City Confidential) was ruined by a needless romantic sub-plot. Instead of darkly, cynically punishing his murderous wife, Walter Williams listens to his new belle and has a change of heart. Her speech wasn't even that convincing: "But that doesn't give you the right to take justice into your own hands."In fact, his wife's attempted murder DOES give him the right to mete poetic justice. That denouement would have made this film interesting. It would have made it dark. It would have made it film noir. Instead, the film's creative potential was sacrificed for a dopey romantic subplot. I'm not impressed.

"Impact" is an interesting and entertaining mix of film genres. I won't give away details of the plot and story, but just some generalities to whet the appetite of anyone may be looking for a good movie to watch. It starts with some drama and romance, moves into suspense and skulduggery, then takes an unusual twist, then another unusual twist and another, and ends on romance. This 1949 film is a very nice vehicle for Brian Donlevy who plays the part of Walter Williams. This film came about mid-point in Donlevy's career. At 48, he had already played a number of diverse roles. In 1940, he received an Oscar nomination for supporting actor in 'Beau Geste." He didn't reach the level of stardom of the big names of Hollywood, but he had a respectable portfolio for his film years. Whether he was a crook or a cop, a cowboy or a comic, Donlevy always entertained. He slowed down in his later years and did more work in TV roles than for the silver screen. Ella Raines has a nice role opposite Donlevy, as a war widow who falls for this quiet but kind guy who knows how to fix cars. Raines is best known for her female lead in "Hail the Conquering Hero," made in 1944 while WWII was still begin fought. For a short career – just 29 credits including films and TV appearances, she played opposite some big stars of the time. Among them were John Wayne, Charles Laughton, George Sanders, Broderick Crawford, Randolph Scott, Dan Duryea, Edmond O'Brien, Burt Lancaster and William Powell. She had good roles in films that did well at the box office, but she chose to retire from films in 1956 – after just 14 years in Hollywood. "Impact" doesn't have a large cast, but the supporting roles are all very good. Helen Walker plays a very good devious wife, able to cover up her chicanery with sweetness. This is toward the end of Anna May Wong's career, and she is very good. But Charles Coburn delivers the best supporting performance as detective Lt. Tom Quincy. I wonder if other people – those who have been around a few decades, enjoy seeing scenes of familiar cities and towns, as I do. This one has some nice scenes, with late 1940s automobiles, clothing and other things. While those change over time, the street scenes from that area of San Francisco are probably the same these many decades later. They were when I last visited there a few years ago. And we can count on the fabled cable cars to continue operating for decades to come. They are part of the San Francisco culture – enjoyed and used by locals as well as tourists. "Impact" isn't a fast-action film – not that many were in that time. It develops slowly, and after some crime-related scenes, it moves into a nice story of recovery, honesty, integrity and love. As I said – quite different than the usual fare of a crime drama film.