What if your perfect marriage wasn’t so perfect? I know what you’re thinking: insane premise in the 40s! Insane as it may be, that’s the starting point for Impact (1949), a brisk little noir that begins with the kind of betrayal the genre was made for: a wealthy businessman blindsided by a scheming wife. Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) thinks he has it all: money, a successful career, and Irene (Helen Walker), a glamorous wife who always seems a little cool to the touch. Turns out that instinct is correct. She’s plotting with her lover to bump him off and live happily ever after with the insurance money.
But noir is nothing if not about things not going according to plan. The murder attempt fails, someone dies, and Walter is left wandering; injured, presumed dead, and stripped of everything he thought anchored his life. Instead of crawling back to his old identity, he winds up in rural Idaho, where Marsha Peters (Ella Raines) offers him a job at her garage. What follows is part noir, part pastoral redemption story: Walter finds solace in honest labor, the warmth of community, and a new kind of love.
That mix is what makes Impact so interesting. Its San Francisco scenes are straight out of the noir playbook: sleek houses, shadows across the walls, double-crosses in hushed tones. But once Walter stumbles into the small-town garage, the film feels closer to Frank Capra than Billy Wilder. Noir usually suffocates its characters in despair, but Impact lets in some fresh air, suggesting that you can escape betrayal and start over; if you’re willing to turn a wrench and let go of the city.
The performances help bridge the tonal shift. Donlevy, typically cast as heavies or cynical types, softens as Walter learns to live without wealth or status. Raines, who had already built her noir credentials in Phantom Lady (1944), grounds the film with warmth and resolve. And Walker is terrific as Irene, cool and venomous enough to remind you why noir loved dangerous women.
Impact isn’t canon noir on the level of Double Indemnity (1944) or Out of the Past (1947), but it’s an enjoyable entry in the second tier of the genre. It reflects postwar anxieties about the fragility of domestic life, the temptations of greed, and the American dream of starting over in small-town decency. It may begin in the shadows, but it ends in daylight: the rare noir with a redemption arc.
Impact
Written by Arthur T. Horman, Jay Dratler, and Dorothy Davenport; Directed by Arthur Lubin
1949
111 minutes
English
Recommended way to watch (at time of publication): Streaming on Kanopy (Free with a public library card)
You’ll like this if you like: Phantom Lady (1944), A Perfect Murder (1998), Double Indemnity (1944)