Impulse

Though it is short and sweet, Cy Endfield still struggles with this slightly contrived British murder/mystery. The rather wooden Arthur Kennedy ("Curtis") meets the glamorous "Lila" Constance Smith) in an hotel bar whilst his wife "Elizabeth" (Joy Shelton) has gone away for the weekend. After what seems like the briefest of introductions, he forgets any semblance of the sanctity of his marriage vows and as a result gets tangled up with some murderous diamond smugglers before a predictable ending. It's not a great example of the genre, more a rather stodgily paced vehicle for a visiting American star.

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.

(1954) Impulse CRIME DRAMA

Co-written and directed by Cy Endfield that has reality salesman, Alan Curtis (Arthur Kennedy) who while his English wife, Elizabeth Curtis (Joy Shelton) is away visiting her mom somewhere else. The first thing he does while his wife is away is drink at a pub, drinking next to him is a woman who appears to be on the run from the police. And upon him driving home, he then sees that same attractive woman stranded by her car as she attempted to get away from the the two men looking for her. And he allows her to stay in his flat until they get a mechanic to fix up her car. Except that she has a job as a night singer at a club for Jack Forrester (James Carney), and upon meeting him, he warns him not to get involved. Alan does not listen as he becomes more infatuated with her but continues to lie to him.

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.

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.