Impact

Crime reporter Conrad Phillips' series of articles about gangster George Pastell annoy him so much he frames the reporter for mail robbery. While in, Phillips talk about his hopes for revenge with cell mate John Rees. When he's out, he goes to Pastell's club and proceeds to annoy him into wanting Phillips dead. When Rees comes in and offers all the information on Phillips a vengeance-seeking crime boss could want, he bites.

It's an inexpensive second feature from Butchers, which means it's very inexpensive. Nonetheless, it's competent, and I could figure out if Rees was helping Phillips, or wanted a payoff from Pastell. Now that's suspense! A very nice balance in script and production, and a particularly nice part for Rees.

Dozy, formulaic, B-movie crime story which must have cost about three quid to make, featuring all the usual ingredients of the low-budget genre: 1. the wooden hero (Conrad Phillips, who co-wrote it) with pretty but otherwise pointless girlfriend; 2. the 'Mr Big' villain, plus equally pointless Moll, who uses a night club as a front for his crimes (and which appears to be financially viable despite being populated largely by his own henchmen); 3. Clueless coppers, who only appear at the start of the film in order to arrest the wrong man; 4. A banal script which avoids any kind of continuity of motivation or behaviour, so that any kind of irrational action will do.

The plot concerns ... no, let's not bother about that. Of virtually no interest (and therefore the most interesting thing about this film) is the appearance of Ballard Berkley, trying to be a tough-talking newspaper editor, who later became a stalwart of Fawlty Towers, and who must have forgiven Phillips enough by the 70s for writing this dross to appear with him in one episode -The Wedding Party. It is mercifully short, and no one gets hurt.

A routine quickie offering from the Butchers studio that doesn't exactly catch fire. Conrad Phillips is always watchable and does well with his role as a revengeful newspaperman out to get 'The Duke'. There is real chemistry in the scenes with sexy Anita West (of short lived BLUE PETER fame), but absolutely no chemistry at all with his rather underwritten girlfriend Diana (Linda Marlowe).

George Pastell plays the chief villain by the book- to many in my generation he will always be remembered as the twitchy train conductor in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.

Otherwise the usual fun is to be had spotting familiar locations and actors who went on to greater fame in other vehicles- such as the ever-dependable Ballard Berkeley (FAWLTY TOWERS) and Mike - billed here as Michael - Pratt (RANDALL & HOPKIRK deceased).

Terrible film from 1963 (locations appear to be shot during the freezing winter of 1963).

The whole plot is ridiculous and implausible.

The acting is poor and the settings in the freezer store are beyond belief. No breath condensation at all and a complete lack of reality. The whole thing in the freezer was just appallingly done.

Impact is a 1963 British crime thriller directed by Peter Maxwell and starring Conrad Phillips and George Pastell. It was written by Maxwell and Phillips, and produced by John I. Phillips and Ronald Liles for Butcher's Film Service.

Seeking vengeance for newspaper articles written about him, crooked Soho nightclub owner "The Duke" kidnaps crime reporter Jack Moir and frames him for theft. While serving a two-year prison sentence Moir plots his revenge and, upon release, embarks on a scheme to clear his name.

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.