Impact

1963
5.3| 1h1m| en
Details

Crime reporter Jack Moir is framed by crooked nightclub owner, 'The Duke'. In prison, Moir plans his revenge.

Director

Producted By

Butcher's Film Productions

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted
Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
jamesraeburn2003 A top journalist, Jack Moir (Conrad Philips), is framed for a train robbery by nightclub owner and Soho crime lord, The Duke (George Pastell), because he considers that he has become too interested in his activities in his newspaper columns and fears that it could arouse the interest of the police. Moir does time but, when he gets out, he vows to bring The Duke to book.An utterly routine and totally missable crime thriller from Britain's poverty row studio Butcher's Films. The Cinematograph Act 1927 stipulated that UK cinemas had to show a certain number of British made films. The result was what became known as the quota-quickies - cheaply and hastily made movies that earned themselves such a bad reputation that they gave our film industry a bad name. Yet, there were some exceptions that have become to be regarded as classics but, alas, this is not one of them. Its ultra-low budget is evident with its rickety sets - it clearly did not stretch far enough to shoot a train robbery sequence! - and never did an hour seem like an eternity as it is all chat and no interest. The film's brightest moments come from Ballard Berkeley as Moir's boss and Linda Marlowe as his girlfriend who offer energetic and likable performances in what little screen time they have. But, unfortunately, they are not given enough to do and any brief flicker of enthusiasm quickly evaporates.
naseby Not anything to write home about, but I've always like Conrad Phillips in these budget-flicks from 'Butcher's films' which seem to be doing the rounds on obscure Satellite/Freeview channels and, put out by 'Reknown Films' on DVD.A pretty thin story, of a reporter, Jack Moir (Phillips) who constantly bothers a local hoodlum nicknamed 'The Duke' Dukelow, with bad publicity about him. Needless to say, the latter has him put out of the way by framing him for a mail-train robbery of around £60,000. Moir is sentenced to 20 months in prison and swears/exacts revenge on his release. It's pretty staid to be honest. Two points, as Malcolmgsw points out, that 20 months for robbery of £60,000 especially involving coshing a cop, is a ludicrously short sentence, which would probably start at least eight years plus, even if you didn't serve the full term of it. Another load of rubbish surely is, as has also been said elsewhere, that the police (led by Mike Pratt) would surely not expect him to be hanging around waiting to be pinched with the evidence that was 'planted' on him (that he hadn't known about until they unearthed it). Of course, though, cops are cops 'We're a very narrow-minded lot' as was quoted in the film 'Villain' from Inspector Matthews. From an interest point of view, Ballard Berkeley as Moir's Newspaper boss puts in an early appearance before his 'famous' one as 'The Major' in Fawlty Towers. Anita West, 'The Duke's' resident singer and floosie disappeared as a character actress (sorry, actor) sometime in the seventies/eighties (Crossroads) but puts in a welcome appearance too. A pretty laughable ending is also had to add to the purile writing of the story. Again, bad skiffle and jazz music as well as short back-and-sides and Brylcreem add to the atmosphere but worth it only for a curious look of B-support movie featurettes..
Leofwine_draca Butcher's Film Productions are the chaps behind a series of low-rent, low budget British thrillers made throughout the 1950s and '60s, but IMPACT is very much a lesser product even by their low standards. This is a lifeless thriller with a simple storyline and not much in the way of incident or intrigue to recommend it.The storyline sees journalist Conrad Phillips being framed and sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. He's eventually released, at which point he swears revenge on the man responsible: crime boss George Pastell (Hammer's THE MUMMY). Unfortunately the revenge plot is hardly an exciting one, and despite a fist fight or two this is very low key and a film where barely anything happens.The film features a role for Ballard Berkeley (FAWLTY TOWERS's Major) as a newspaper editor and a few scene-setting moments of the era. Pastell is the best thing in it and the only person who seems to be making an effort in terms of his performance. This is still entirely forgettable, though.
malcolmgsw If you are of a certain age ,like me you will remember films like this on the supporting half of double bills at your local Odeon,Gaumont or ABC.Some of them were quite good.Unfortunately this is not.It is riddled with implausibilities.For budget purposes much of the action is described rather than shown.The initial set up is implausible.After all wouldn't it have been easier for Phillips to have been killed or beaten up rather than locked up in prison.Wouldn't the police have thought that it was rather unlikely to have found some of the stolen mailbags in a car at the station.Phillips would have been sentenced to nearer 10 than 2 years if he had struck down a policeman.Maybe even 30 years as the Great Train Robbers.Then when he gets out he goes to the club and then sees the "witness".I could go on but little point .This is on the same disc as Serena which is a far superior film.