Impact dvd movie.|
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List Price: $7.98 Our Price: $7.98 Features • Black & White • NTSC In Theaters : 1949 DVD Release : 18 March, 2003 |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | Solid Mystery, an Ode to Small Town American Values |
| "Impact" is a sturdy 1949 release that delivers much in the way of suspense mystery, keeping viewers guessing, while also revealing much about small town American values in the early post-World War Two period. This was a time when people were accustomed to helping one another resulting, in part, from the Depression period.
The film begins with Brian Donlevy showing his firm side as head of a major construction company based in San Francisco. When the board of directors refuses to approve new plant construction he nonchalantly tells them that he will go elsewhere and put the same plan into effect. A 9-0 vote against then turns quickly into a unanimous margin in Donlevy's favor, showing how invaluable the board recognizes him to be. Donlevy's Achilles heel is quickly recognized when he returns to the posh Nob Hill apartment he shares with beautiful, elegantly attired wife Helen Walker. Her pet name for Donlevy of "Softy" has him readily assenting. He tells her that she is the one person that causes the tough business executive to melt. Walker causes Donlevy to gush while she in turn double deals. Using a bad toothache as a pretext for not traveling with Donlevy to Lake Tahoe, after which he will proceed on to Denver on business, she pulls off a scheme with paramour Tony Barrett. He is allegedly her "cousin" from Chicago. After Walker tells Donlevy "regrettably" that she cannot make the trip with her toothache bothering her, she asks him if he will give her cousin a ride as far as Denver, where the executive has business activity scheduled. Donlevy falls into her web and agrees. The plot is predictable enough, to get Donlevy out of the way so that the widow, after a period of appropriate "grieving," can find love with her new friend, augmented by a hefty inheritance courtesy of Donlevy. To reveal anymore would jeopardize intricate plotting replete with numerous story twists. The film is divisible into two parts, Donlevy's activities prior to the moment with fate that will ultimately change his life, and when he arrives in the friendly town of 4,502 called Larkspur, Idaho, where he meets Ella Raines. "Impact" adopts the familiar and time-proven "good girl-bad girl" duality with Walker naturally the latter and beautiful Ella Raines, a wholesome girl next door type, steering Donlevy from a state of bitterness combined with depression after he realizes that the woman who had meant more to him than anyone else has ruthlessly betrayed him and attempted to kill him. Raines runs a gas station and seeks to double as a mechanic. She is much better at pumping gas and hires Donlevy to serve as mechanic. He then receives a different impression of life apart from the likes of Walker and Barrett. Not only is Raines sincere and solid; so is her mother, played by Mae Marsh. Donlevy and Marsh hit it off instantly, so much so that she asks him if he would like to come and live with them. "You've got yourself a boarder," he tells her. The simple decency of Larkspur is contrasted with the tougher world of San Francisco corporate boardrooms. Not only does Donlevy fix plenty of cars gratis; he also jumps into the community spirit by joining Larkspur's volunteer fire department. Donlevy realizes that eventually he must return to San Francisco and face up to the responsibility of events spiraling around the machinations of Helen Walker. Raines insists on helping him, even after he ultimately is compelled to stand trial for "murder" for an alleged crime he never committed. Raines' unswerving loyalty and assistance during such an hour of need, saving the man she loves from potential death by execution, is reminiscent of her role in "Phantom Lady" when she assists Allen Curtis. Charles Coburn, a crafty San Francisco Police lieutenant nearing retirement, becomes convinced that Donlevy is a victim. He works closely with Raines to follow all leads, at one point drawing the disgust of his boss, played by veteran Broadway actor Robert Warwick, known for giving Humphrey Bogart a major early theater career break. When time begins running out for Donlevy, Raines is able to garner valuable assistance from the defendant's former maid, played by notable character performer Anna May Wong. Her assistance prompts the team of Coburn and Raines to achieve a meaningful breakthrough on Donlevy's behalf at a critical moment. Director Arthur Lubin maintains skillful pacing. He had earlier directed the Universal hit "Phantom of the Opera" with Susanna Foster, Nelson Eddy and Claude Rains. Later he would direct Universal's popular Francis the Talking Mule series. Harry Popkin produced "Impact." In that same year of 1949 another Popkin-produced film debuted, the film noir classic "D.O.A." starring Edmond O'Brien. |
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