Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

DKosty123 Ella Raines is a very good actress who did not get a lot of breaks in her career. She has talent, but it seems that she never really caught the shooting star type of role. This one gets close to it.There is a very good cast here with Donlevy and Coburn. The story is solid. The script is good and Arthur Lubin is here directing. The film noir here is solid. The story is by Jay Dratler .who wrote Laura among some other popular stories on film.It turn out this one is a good movie. It still does not make her a star, but it is a pretty good entry on her resume which has some other good films.The plot twists are enough to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat as in many a film noir, things do not go the way they are supposed too.

seymourblack-1 This wonderfully twisted tale of the events that take place before and after an attempted murder is both highly entertaining and full of surprises. It was written by Jay Dratler who also co-wrote the screenplays for other film noirs such as "Call Northside 777", "The Dark Corner" and "Laura" and his skills as a storyteller and a writer of snappy dialogue are both in strong evidence in this movie.Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) is a wealthy industrialist whose wife Irene (Helen Walker) colludes with her lover, Jim Torrence (Tony Barrett) to murder him. She arranges for the two men to share a car journey to Denver during which they have to stop on a mountain road to change a wheel after a tyre (which Jim had previously damaged) suddenly blows. Jim uses the opportunity to hit Walter over the head with a wrench and leaves him for dead. As Jim prepares to continue his journey, a large van pulls up and the driver offers him assistance which he refuses, but this incident spooks him so much that he drives off in the car at high speed and accidentally crashes head-on into a tanker full of fuel. Walter regains consciousness in time to jump into the back of the van but soon passes out again.When the wreckage of Walter's car is later discovered and the occupant is so badly burned that he's unrecognisable, the presumption is made that Walter is the dead man and further evidence found by the police soon leads them to believe that Irene is culpable.Walter eventually arrives at the small town of Larkspur, Idaho where he's offered a job as a mechanic at a gas station run by an attractive young widow called Marsha Peters (Ella Raines). From a remark that Jim had made when he attacked him, Walter knows that his wife was behind the attempt on his life and so, when he reads in a newspaper about her arrest on suspicion of his murder, the opportunity to take revenge by doing nothing to help, becomes very attractive.Walter and Marsha fall in love and when she learns about what happened to him she persuades Walter to do the honourable thing and return to San Francisco to tell the police his story. Unfortunately, when he does this, further unexpected developments follow and he finds himself charged with the murder of Jim Torrence."Impact" is a film in which certain sharp contrasts are made. The city is compared unfavourably with the small town where people are much more friendly and supportive, the difference between the evil Irene and the kind and decent Marsha couldn't be more stark and Walter's conduct in his professional and personal lives are also incredibly different.When Walter first appears , he's seen as an extremely dynamic and forceful businessman but is then later shown as a very caring husband who Irene calls "Softy". He's also normally confident and direct in his manner but during his time in Larkspur, he goes through a period of confusion and self-doubt. The fact that Brian Donlevy is able to bring all these aspects of Walter's personality together in a believable way is very commendable and enjoyable to watch.Helen Walker and Ella Raines are both excellent in their roles and Charles Coburn provides the pick of the supporting performances as the veteran detective who's assigned to investigate the case.

Alex da Silva Brian Donlevy (Walter) is duped into taking his wife Helen Walker's (Irene) 'cousin' to another town. They never make it. In the only scene of any kind of impact, a car crash determines the course of this film.The acting in this film is slightly sub-par from everyone except Helen Walker who steals the show in all her scenes. The character of Brian Donlevy hasn't been written very well. We see him as a man totally in control at work who is confident, determined and bullying. For him to be involved in a marriage where he revels in the name "Softy" is a complete nonsense, unless it was a sarcastic nickname. Experience shows that he would either be a controlling monster in his home life as well, or prone to episodes of sexual humiliation where he can relinquish control. A permanent label of "Softy" is just ridiculous. His character is slightly limp and frustrating during this film. He is NOT a softy so why does he act like one? Mechanic Ella Raines has been given absolutely no character whatsoever to explore so she comes across as rather dull. Considering that we spend over half the film in the company of these two, not surprisingly, the film drags. Charles Coburn (Lt Tom Quincy) is usually good value in any film, but he falls short by putting on an Irish accent. He can't do it convincingly and he can't maintain it. Why did he bother? Aside from the characters, we have a very unconvincing love story between Donlevy and Raines. Not only does short, chubby Donlevy not have the looks required for a young woman like Ella, but he is from her dad's generation and would not get a look in. We also get a nice piece of Chinese racism with the characters of maid Anna May Wong (Su Lin) and her uncle Philip Ahn (Ah Sing). His name might as well be "Ah So" and both these characters spout Chinese wisdom at every opportune moment because that's what Chinese people do! The story scores points for an interesting beginning, albeit with an annoying Donlevy leading us through the proceedings, but it then falls flat and I'm afraid we are left with not much of an impact at all. It's watchable but not recommended.

Michael O'Keefe Very good acting and story line make for a suspenseful drama. A very successful San Francisco business man Walter Williams(Brian Donlevy)is on his way to wrap up some important business in Denver and his devious wife Irene(Helen Walker)backs out of the trip at the last minute; but wants her husband to pickup her cousin(Tony Barrett), who is actually her lover. The plan of rigging the car to crash backfires and Mr. Williams is the survivor, not the victim of the wreck. Helen is stunned, but plays the dutiful widow as Walter decides to remain in hiding with the chance to begin a lower profile life. Police Lt. Tom Quincy(Charles Coburn)believes he can locate the supposedly dead Williams as a surprised Irene is jailed and charged with conspiracy to murder. This is arguably film-noir. Kudos to director Arthur Lubin and Donlevy for one of his best roles. Also in the cast: Ella Rains, Art Baker, Anna May Wong and Robert Warwick.