Story of movie Impact 1949 Film : Impact is a 1949 American film noir drama film directed by Arthur Lubin, starring Brian Donlevy and Ella Raines. Filmed entirely in California, the film included scenes filmed in Sausalito, and at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf and other locations around the city. Impact was based on a story by film noir writer Jay Dratler. The supporting cast features Charles Coburn, Helen Walker, Anna May Wong, Philip Ahn and William Wright.
| Impact | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Arthur Lubin |
| Produced by | Leo C. Popkin |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Jay Dratler |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Michel Michelet |
| Cinematography | Ernest Laszlo |
| Edited by | Arthur H. Nadel |
Production company | Harry Popkin Productions Cardinal Pictures |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
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Running time | 111 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Screenplay
The San Francisco-based millionaire industrialist Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) has a younger wife, Irene (Helen Walker), who is trying to kill him with the help of her young lover, Jim Torrance (Tony Barrett). After Walter and Irene make plans to drive to Lake Tahoe, Irene feigns illness and asks Walter to instead give Torrance, who is pretending to be Irene's "cousin" from Illinois, a lift to Denver, allowing Torrance a chance to murder Walter en route. The plan falls apart when Williams survives a hit on the head from the would-be killer. Attempting to flee the scene in Williams' Packard Clipper convertible, Torrance dies in a fiery head-on collision with a gasoline tanker truck. The body of Torrance is mistakenly identified as Williams. In the meantime, Irene has made reservations at a hotel in Oakland for her and her boyfriend to meet afterward, under the assumed names of "Mr. & Mrs. Jack Burns".
The wounded, dazed Williams falls asleep in the back of a moving van and ends up in the small town of Larkspur, Idaho. Using the name "Bill Walker", he gets a job as a service station mechanic and falls in love with Marsha Peters (Ella Raines), a young widow who is the station's owner. Meanwhile, the police arrest Williams' wife for his "murder". After Marsha eventually persuades Walter to go back to clear his wife, he is charged with murdering Torrance. Marsha enlists the help of kindly police detective Quincy (Charles Coburn) to prove Walter's innocence.
- Brian Donlevy as Walter Williams
- Ella Raines as Marsha Peters
- Charles Coburn as Lt. Tom Quincy
- Helen Walker as Irene Williams
- Anna May Wong as Su Lin Chung
- Robert Warwick as Capt. Callahan
- Clarence Kolb as Darcy
- Art Baker as Eldredge - Defense Attorney
- William Wright as Prosecutor
- Mae Marsh as Mrs. King (as Mrs. Peters)
- Sheilah Graham as Sheila Graham
- Tony Barrent as Jim Torrence
- Philip Ahn as Ah Sing
- Glen Vernon as Ed (as Glenn Vernon)
- Linda Leighton as Miss Revere - Telephone Operator (as Linda Johnson)
- Jason Robards, Sr. as Judge (as Jason Robards)
- Erskine Sanford as Dr. Henry Bender
- Ruth Robinson as Apt. Manager
- Lucius Cooke as Burke
- Tom Greenway as Moving Van Driver
- Ben Welden as Moving Van Helper
- Joel Friedkin as Uncle Ben
- Joe Kirk as Hotel Clerk
- William Ruhl as Fingerprint Expert (as Bill Ruhl)
- Mary Landa as Della - Walker's Secretary
- Harry Cheshire as Irene's Attorney
The "Bayview Apartments" - the site of the Williams' Nob Hill penthouse - in actuality is Weeks and Day's historic Brocklebank Apartments at 1000 Mason Street in San Francisco. The actual town of Larkspur, California was used for filming the fictional town of Larkspur, Idaho. Several areas in and around Larkspur can be seen, including the Probert family's home and gas station at 234 and 238 Magnolia Avenue, the location that was recently occupied by The Tavern at Lark Creek.
This was Anna May Wong's first screen appearance since 1942. Character actor Tom Greenway made his first appearance on screen as an unnamed moving van driver. Gossip reporter Sheilah Graham appears as herself, reading a news item about the case on the radio.
Product placement
In the 1940s, it was still uncommon for brand name products to be seen in movies, but this was a notable exception. A Bekins moving van is prominent in several scenes. The movie trade paper Harrison's Reports typically called attention to cases in which such products appeared on screen, and always took a stand against that practice. Although its review did not mention Bekins, the Harrison’s review noted "advertising plugs worked in for such products as Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, Raleigh cigarettes, Coca-Cola, Mission Orange soda pop, Mobil gasoline, oil and tires, Gruen watches, and the trade name Rexall."
In addition, Laykin et Cie (of I. Magnin & Co) is featured in the opening credits. Laykin et Cie was a leading West Coast jeweler during the period with an important salon in San Francisco during the time the movie was shot in 1948. In the opening scenes, Donlevy's character Walter Williams presents his wife with a custom Laykin et Cie intertwined diamond double heart brooch with the initials "IW" (for Irene Williams) which was produced for the film. Throughout the film, Irene Williams continues to wear various Laykin et Cie jewels of the period.
Critical response
At the time of release, the film critic for The New York Times, Bosley Crowther, in reviewing Impact panned the script and plot, writing, "If anyone seeing this picture is willing to string along with that as a fair definition of 'impact,' we can't vouch for the film's appeal to him. For it seems fairly obvious that the authors have geared their intellects to the suppositional level of that phony lexicon. And everything which happens in the picture is as cheaply opportunist and contrived as that arbitrary definition. You either swallow it whole—or you don't. Frankly, your correspondent doesn't."
More recently, critic Gary W. Tooze praised Impact as the quintessential B film: "As far as 'modest' film noirs go, this is one of the best. A simple plot idea is twisted to the max for late 1940s audiences."
- List of films in the public domain in the United States
