Although there are some flaws in this film, I rate it a 10 for the best ever Film Noir if for no other reason than I've watched it over and over for 55 years. The 2005 smash hit TV show LOST is themed in the concept of renewal, as is "IMPACT." Thinking he has a perfect life, Brian Donlevy will soon find out he's standing on a mountain of betrayal. He'll go from being a top level businessman (with an apartment on Nob Hill, at the building across from the Fairmont Hotel, the one with the walled in parking lot out front, where everybody in San Francisco film noirs lived in the 1950's... Never mind!) Anyway, as he recovers from the daze of attempted murder he'll accidentally stumble upon a new and quite different life, one that most any of us could enjoy. Then come the hard choices..... I first saw this movie on a single day booking at the Silver Theatre at age 11. What stuck in my mind after seeing it is that if life ever went sour to the point of contemplating suicide, a wise alternative might be a fake suicide --- followed by a renewed and drastically different second life, as in this movie. There was no suicide, fake or otherwise, in this picture; but I thought that was a healthy idea to place into a young viewer's mind; whether intended or not. Then there's Ella Raines. Hmm! Friends, forget Marilyn Monroe or any of the other 1950's sexpots. Keep Marilyn, do what you like, I don't care. Just introduce me to Ella Raines. Pretty, thin, lithe, smart. Yum!
Review of Impact
