"Impact" (1949) is a narrative film that relies on psychology to drive its characters actions, purposes and values. It is a moody noir piece not badly acted and adequately directed or better at every moment. Arthur Lubin directed the twists and turns of this intelligent film, from a story by Jay Dratler and script by Dratler and Dorothy Reid. Its story can be told in a single sentence: Walter Williams is a man who rose out of nothing against the usual U.S. disdain for individual ability to become the key man at a major corporation; then he loses both his adored wife and his position in life for a time, and has to decide whether to let the wife who tried to have him killed be punished for his murder or to risk going back to take up his life again. Music is by Michel Michelet, with strong cinematography by Ernest Laszlo. The Art Direction was supplied by Rudi Feld, with challenging set decoration by Jacques Mapes and very good costumes by Maria Donovan. The producers were veterans Joseph H. Nadel and Harry M. Popkin and Leo C. Popkin. Brian Donleavy stars in this understated film, and his usual vocal strength and calm demeanor make a lot of his varying situations and moods. As the two women in his life, Helen Walker and Ella Rains bring intelligence and liveliness to taxing parts. Charles Coburn, Mae Marsh and Robert Warwick all do well with unusual roles. Others in the cast worthy of note include Clarence Kolb, Art Baker, Anna May Wong, Philip Ahn, Jason Robards Sr., William Wright, Tony Barrett, Glen Vernon, Thomas Browne Henry, Erskine Sanford and Harry Cheshire. I find this to be an ambitious and generally successful; film, which will stay in the memory a long while. It presents a strong circumstantial murder mystery, but concentrates on the characters, their motivations and reactions. It is, I suggest, unusually realistic and worth seeing more than once.
Review of Impact
