Impulse

If you have never heard of Constance Smith look at the tragic details of her life on this site. It makes terrible reading and says a lot about the corruption in film making. She was beautiful and far more talented than other actors who rose to stardom. Her life is also a cautionary tale in what was and still is a male dominated industry. She acted with such actors as Jeffrey Hunter, Jack Palance and Richard Widmark. In this film she is cast with Arthur Kennedy and both of them give more than this tepid thriller deserves. What it does show in the early scenes is a portrait of the cosy mediocrity of English life in the mid-1950's. For those who are interested in the social life of the period it is also worth seeing. It is not Film noir as some here have said, but a pedestrian example of criminality with Arthur Kennedy who accidentally gets involved with it. Film Noir was more an American and French genre than British. It is a great pity that in the declining years of its genre Constance Smith was not given better roles. If you want to watch her potential then watch this film.

Alan Curtis has reached a point in his life where he's bored with the everyday, his job and wife no longer satisfy him, one night he comes to the aid of a beautiful young woman Lila, and makes a decision that transforms his life.

I'm really surprised by the mainly mediocre reviews for this film, I personally really enjoyed it. It morphs from a melodrama with light comedy into a crime thriller, some really fine performances, Arthur Kennedy was wonderfully charismatic, and had a wonderful speaking voice. Jean St Clair was huge fun as the lusting next door neighbour.

Constance Smith was undoubtedly the star of the show, such a beauty. It was an interesting character study, how a perfectly decent and sorted man could be dazzled seemingly to commit murder by a beautiful woman. If I have one major criticism it would have to be the ending, why on Earth did't Joy throw his packed suitcase at him.

Estate agent Arthur Kennedy learns the hard way to be careful what you wish for when he laments he's getting into a rut in this nifty, well-photographed little Tempean potboiler with attractive London locations probably inspired by 'D.O.A'.

Kennedy is a far more interesting actor than the usual imported American you'll find in this sort of nonsense and quicker than you can say "briefcase" he's to his neck in a plot involving a flint-hearted femme fatale in cahoots with criminals after stolen diamonds that you'll probably find as bewildering as he does.

A bored man gets himself in a heap of trouble while his wife is away in Impulse, a 1954 British film starring Arthur Kennedy and Constance Smith, directed by Cy Endfield.

Arthur Kennedy, a brilliant actor, did make some films in England, though I'm not sure why. He had a wonderful Broadway and US film career, receiving several Oscar nominations. On top of which, he had to work with Constance Smith. By 1954 she had been fired by Rank and dropped by 20th Century Fox. She came to a terrible end.

In Impulse, he plays a real estate agent who is restless. He lives in a small town that offers no excitement. With his wife (Joy Shelton) away for the weekend, he goes to a bar and notices a beautiful woman (Smith) who seems to be ducking the police.

Later, her car has broken down so he offers her a lift. She's a nightclub singer and has to get back to London. He attends the show.

Before he knows it, he's involved with stolen jewelry, a murder, and dangerous criminals, not to mention a woman who can ruin his marriage.

Actually, the stories of Smith and and Jean St. Clair, who played the neighbor, are much more fascinating than this film.

From 1952 to 1969, St. Clair was married to Jack Baer, an art dealer who owned a gallery. They divorced in 1969, but in the early '70s, she was imprisoned for setting fire to his gallery.

Constance Smith, as mentioned, was fired first from Rank for being difficult, then dropped by 20th Century Fox after a series of B films. She was replaced early on in the film "I'll Never Forget You" starring Tyrone Power.

In 1962 she was sentenced to three months in prison for stabbing her boyfriend, documentary maker and film historian Paul Rotha. In 1968, she stabbed him for a second time and was charged with attempted murder. They married in 1974, and broke up in 1978. Smith tried several times to kill herself. Due to drug and alcohol addiction, her last years were spent in hospitals or working as a cleaner.

Impulse pales in comparison.

Arthur Kennedy went to England to shoot this stinker, one of innumerable Baker & Berman local productions made before that B-movie team hit paydirt with "Jack the Ripper" and other more commercial projects. It did not get an American theatrical release, like so many quota quickies of the period.

He plays a realtor whose Good Samaritan aid to femme fatale Constance Smith gets him in big trouble. She's a night club singer involved with stolen diamonds and a boring set of uninteresting characters, hardly what B-movie fans cherished in the '40s and '50s -where's some snappy dialogue or fine acting?

Instead the movie plods along, and en route to a sort of happy ending, Kennedy's misadventures never ring true. Clearly a short shooting schedule, near-zero budget and lack of imagination accounts for this not worthy time-killer.

It's the duty of filmmakers to entertain or perhaps enlighten, but such drivel shot on automatic pilot is an insult to a paying audience, and fortunately US filmgoers were spared in this case. The director's credit is in question per IMDb, but hardly worth fighting for -I like to think that Cy "Zulu" Endfield was not responsible.