
(themoviedatabase.org)
IMPACT-1949-Irene
(Helen Walker), the wife of industrialist Walter Williams (Brian
Donlevy) plots with her boyfriend to murder her husband. Things go
wrong. The boyfriend clouts Williams with a jack and throws his body
into a ravine. He's promptly killed in a fiery crash. Now everyone
(including Irene)) thinks he's dead. The boyfriend hinted that he and
Irene were in cahoots and after a phone call Williams knows she is
behind it. A police officer Quincey (Charles Colburn) investigates
and suspects Irene of murder. Meanwhile, in Idaho, Williams meets
female mechanic Marsha (Ella Raines). He fixes cars while Irene is
arrested for his murder. Later he goes back to San Francisco and
admits he is still alive. Bad move. He winds up on trial for murder.
His housekeeper is Anna May Wong and her uncle is Phillips Ahn. Also
with Art Baker, William Wright, Mae Marsh, Jason Robards Sr., Erskine
Sanford, Ben Welden, Joe Kirk, Thomas B. Henry and gossip columnist
Sheilah Graham as herself.
The story is good up to a point but when
Williams returns and reveals himself it kind of goes downhill to a
unsatisfying conclusion. Director Arthur Lubin had directed Abbott &
Costello's first 5 movies, then the big color remake of THE PHANTOM
OF THE OPERA (1943) and later THE SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES (1946). After
IMPACT, he directed most of the “Francis, The Talking Mule”
series.
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