POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD. I found this film enjoyable and even suspenseful at times, but ultimately frustrating. First, the good things. Unlike some reviewers, I liked Charles Coburn's aging and ready to retire police detective (except for the weird accent). I don't think it wouldn't added much to turn him into a tough gruff cop. And he was convincingly determined to do the job. Ella Raines, as others have mentioned, was good as the two-faced wife who wanted her husband, Brian Donlevy, dead. The little trick -- spoiler alert -- of having the wife's lover try to murder her husband, only to screw it all up and get himself killed, was good. And, at the very end, Charles Coburn's detective work was enjoyable. Now, the bad things. First off, I never believed for one second that Helen Walker's wife character would be even remotely attracted to Tony Barrett's character. He came across as a sort of low-class punk, someone you'd expect to find hanging out in a cheap bar and maybe robbing booze stores. Second, the husband, Brian Donlevy, is supposed to be this tough savvy business guy, yet he doesn't immediately see though the cheap punk character passing himself off as a "cousin," even with the obvious chip on his shoulder. Third, when the "cousin" is blown up and burned "beyond recognition," why wasn't an attempt made to match up his dental records? Didn't they have dental records in the 1940s? It wasn't even mentioned. Fourth, why was I supposed to believe that husband Brian Donlevy was suddenly transformed from a white-collar business guy to a master mechanic? Did I miss something? Maybe I dozed off. Fifth, the husband's name and photograph were all over the newspapers, he was instantly recognizable to anybody who saw the papers and his photographs, yet he roams around this little town and not one single person recognizes him! "Look, it's Walter Williams, the dead guy!" Sixth, the whole way too long small-town romance thing with Brian Donlevy and the girl (Ella Raines) was boring and unbelievable. It needed MST3K bots saying, "Meanwhile, in a different movie..." Finally, I didn't believe for a minute that Brian Donlevy's husband character would suddenly agree to return to San Francisco, walk into the police station, and say, "Well, here I am, alive and well, and oh by the way, I wouldn't come sooner but I had, er, uh (spoiler) amnesia -- yeah, right. And I didn't believe for a minute that the cops and prosecutors would, instead of thoroughly investigating this amazing new development, just snap their fingers and say, "Oh, wow, okay you're under arrest for murder, somebody get his wife out of jail." So, there were way too many problems with what could've been a pretty good (but not noir) crime suspense story.
Review of Impact
