Impact

Back in the day when 'B' movies were common and an additional bonus that preceded the 'main feature' (and ruined by the terrible localized Pearl & Dean' ads) this would have been a largely un-impressive and forgettable time filler Sixty years on the remaining appeal of this hour-long quickie is its nostalgia value only... but that doesn't mean it's not worth your time, especially if you're an older person, like me.

It's a reminder of how simple and mundane life was during the mid-fifties to early sixties. It's also rather like watching an episode of 'The Saint' (with Roger Moore) without The Saint actually present!

Despite the wearisome cliches and absurd plot, the cast put on a good show.

If you're in the mood for some YouTube nostalgia, then don't be put off by all the other very negative reviews. It's actually a pretty good way to spend an hour.

This is a 1960s B movie short. It is a poor film which starts interestingly enough but quickly loses impact.

It is low budget that inspires to be some type of American gangster flick. It contains some straightforward performances, a dicey script with more holes than a colander.

It is rather surprising to see Ballard Berkeley better known as the Major in Fawlty Towers as a younger rather straight talking newspaper editor.

Conrad Phillips plays Moir, an experienced crime reporter who has been pursuing a gangster known as the Duke.

The Duke in retaliation fits him up for a train robbery and the police arrest him and he is sentenced to two years in jail. In jail Moir plots his revenge.

I have big doubts how the police would think a well known crime reporter can suddenly get involved in a train robbery.

As for the revenge plot. The climax takes place in a cold storage warehouse. It is underwhelming in its sheer hokeyness. I think the filmmakers got bored as it suddenly ends.

Presumably this raw & racy little Butcher's quickie with a neat little sting in the tail, scripted by leading man Conrad Phillips (with the usual noisy jazz score and the cast once more buttoned up against the cold) is set in 1965, since the newspapers reporting the robbery with violence for which the hero spends a year in Wormwood Scrubs are dated November 1963.

A drab little effort which sees investigative journalist "Jack Moir" (Conrad Philiips) framed and convicted for a mail heist. The remaining drama combines all the usual aspects - a local "Mr. Big" - this time hammily played by George Pastell; an incompetent police investigation and - luckily for him, his former colleagues from his newspaper (Ballard Berkeley & Linda Marlowe) who believe him innocent. Once he is released from prison, he is bent on revenge. The biggest snag for me with this crime caper is that they clearly invested heavily in the jazz-style soundtrack and so wanted to get their money's worth - it's intrusive to the point of being annoying and is frequently used to generate tension instead of any script!

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.