Impact (1949)

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Movie
Original title Impact
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1949
length 111 minutes
Rod
Director Arthur Lubin
script Jay Dratler ,
Dorothy Davenport
production Leo C. Popkin for
Cardinal Pictures
music Michel Michelet
camera Ernest Laszlo
cut Arthur H. Nadel
occupation

Impact into is black and white twisted American film noir of Arthur Lubin from the year 1949th

action

San Francisco in the present time. Walter Williams, a successful top manager, is married to the beautiful but capricious Irene, who is secretly cheating on him with a younger man. Walter wants to take Irene with him on a business trip to Denver, and since he has some business to do near Sausalito before leaving, he suggests that they meet her there and drive on together. Irene does not keep the appointment under a pretext and when Walter calls her, she asks him to take her cousin Jim, who happens to be the same destination, from Sausalito in his car to Denver. Walter does not know his wife's alleged relative and innocently accepts her request.

Jim is actually Irene's lover, who makes sure that the car breaks down in a secluded spot with a flat tire. The two men repair the damage together, but Jim knocks the rival unconscious with a wrench. After he throws Walter down a steep slope, he thinks he is dead. When two moving truck drivers witness how Jim gets back into the car after the crime, he panics so much that he steers the car into an oncoming tanker, which he does with an explosion and the burning out of his vehicle.

Despite a serious head injury, Walter is not dead, but comes to and even manages to climb onto the moving van unnoticed. In this way, he goes unnoticed as far as Nevada, where he finds out that Irene has no relative named Jim at all.

Since the cremated corpse can no longer be identified, the police assume that Walter is the dead person. The statements of the two moving truck drivers, however, reveal inconsistencies, so that Lt. Quincy, a near retirement police officer, begins an investigation. A first clue arises for him when Walter's briefcase is found in the moving van. There are fingerprints on it that are identified as those of Jim Torrence, who is already known to the police due to his criminal history. The second clue comes from a search of a laundry delivery for Jim, during which Quincy discovers handkerchiefs with Irene's monogram. More evidence will soon be found to suggest that Irene and Jim jointly planned Walter's murder. The material is enough to bring Irene to justice on charges of murder.

In the meantime, Walter made it to Idaho, where he met Marsha Peters in the small town of Larkspur, a beautiful young soldier's widow who ran her husband's auto repair shop pretty badly after his death. She falls in love with the stranger who introduces himself under a false name, hires him as a mechanic and places him as a tenant in her mother's house. By chance, the mother discovers who Walter really is, and since she speaks to his conscience, he finally reveals himself to Marsha too. Marsha urges him to contact the police and prevent Irene's conviction, but Walter is too deeply hurt and says his wife deserves a conviction.

He decides to leave Marsha too, but while he - now on his own - waits for his train at Larkspur station, he again reviews all the arguments. In this key scene, in which he hears the voices of Irene, Marsha and Marsha's mother one after the other, he makes a decision. Together with Marsha he travels to San Francisco and makes a statement to the police, which explains his long stay in Idaho with the fact that he suffered amnesia - triggered by the attempted murder . As Lt. Confronted with the fact that her husband is still alive and her lover is dead, Quincy Irene accuses Walter of killing Jim and claims that he had threatened her on previous occasions with killing Jim if she broke the extramarital relationship don't quit. She names her Chinese housemaid Su Lin as a witness to this argument, but she has since given up her job.

Walter is then charged with murder. At Marsha's urging, he reports to Lt. Quincy, after all, everything that he had concealed so far. Quincy then continues to investigate, but the attempt to contact Su Lin is initially unsuccessful. Her uncle Ah Sing shields her. Su Lin is personally indebted to Walter, and since her testimony would actually confirm Irene's statements on one insignificant point, she fears that it will do more harm than good to Walter. During the next court hearing, Marsha discovers Su Lin in the audience hall, who then flees. Marsha follows her to Chinatown, where she catches up with her and learns why Su Lin refuses to testify. However, Su Lin casually mentions that Irene went out on the night of the murder and that she discovered a hotel room key in Irene's coat pocket the following morning. Using the key, Quincy then determined in the airport hotel in Oakland, where Jim had reserved a room under a false name for the night of the murder, but had not appeared for the meeting with Irene.

In court, Walter's attorney confronts Irene with a handwriting comparison that proves that she and Jim planned the murder of Walter. The charges against Walter are then dropped; Irene is arrested again. Walter receives an order from the board of directors to open a new plant in Denver. Marsha will go with him.

Production and theatrical release

"Impact" was the second film from Harry and Leo Popkin's small company Cardinal Pictures, which produced six films from 1949 to 1951, of which the racial drama "The Well" (1951) was the most significant. The producers hired Arthur Lubin , who directed the first five Abbott and Costello films in 1941/42, to direct "Impact" . Scriptwriter Jay Dratler , one of the great film noir specialists in Hollywood, recommended himself through templates for award-winning crime films such as "Laura" (1944) and "Call Northside 777" (1948). Behind the camera stood the Austrian émigré Ernest Laszlo , who at this point could already look back on 22 years of professional experience, but whose great career (one Oscar , seven other Oscar nominations) only came a year later with "Inherit the Wind" (1960) started.

The main actor was the 48-year-old Irishman Brian Donlevy , who had been nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role in the adventure film "Beau Geste" (1939). He had played major roles in the films "The Great McGinty" (1940), "The Glass Key" (1942) and "Hangmen Also Die" (1943). Helen Walker , who plays the unfaithful wife in Impact, was best known to contemporary audiences from George Marshall's crime comedy Murder, He Says or from her supporting roles in Cluny Brown (1946) and Nightmare Alley (1947). Ella Raines, on the other hand, was well-established with her leading roles in the films "Phantom Lady", "Hail the Conquering Hero" and "The Suspect" (all three in 1944). Charles Coburn , who plays the aging police lieutenant, won an Oscar in 1944 for his supporting role in the romantic comedy "The More the Merrier" (1943) and was popular with many films - such as "Bachelor Mother" (1939), "The Lady Eve "," The Devil and Miss Jones "(both 1941)," Kings Row "(1942) and" Heaven Can Wait "(1943) - a term. The film also offered a reunion with Anna May Wong, who is now seriously ill .

The exterior shots for “Impact” were filmed in different locations in California : San Francisco , Sausalito , Larkspur , Simi Valley and Santa Monica . The film premiered on March 20, 1949 in New York City . The distribution was initially taken over by United Artists , from 1953 on Beverly Pictures.

Reviews

The opinions of the critics about this film differ widely, with its classification as film noir in particular being controversial. Gary W. Tooze describes "Impact" as "clandestine jewel" ( undiscovered piece of jewelery ) and "true noir masterpiece" ( true masterpiece of film noir ). Mordlust.de however, judges, "the few noir aspects of the Beginning" lost "soon in a lengthy, shaky history with the flair of a court drama and one rich man finds his true Bestimmung'-tearjerker" .

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