The Glass Key

The second pairing of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, Stuart Heisler’s The Glass Key is an extraordinary example of early film noir with the added benefit of Paramount’s sophisticated style and high production values: take note of the extravagant sets from the highest levels of society (the rococo dining room “nook” in the Henry household) to the lowest (the scummy bar and upper chamber where thug Jeff blows his top). Based on a novel by Dashiell Hammett and released one year following perhaps the most famous adaptation of his work, John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (1941), the film boasts a dense but brilliantly woven mystery plot, enthusiastic and career-best performances by many cast members, and a near perfect admixture of action, intrigue and pathos. Ladd plays Ed Beaumont, wing man and best friend to criminal political operative Paul Madvig (Donlevy) who is supporting the election of reform mayoral candidate Ralph Henry (Moroni Olsen) mainly because he’s head over heels for his daughter Janet (Veronica Lake). When Henry’s gambling addicted son Taylor (Richard Denning), who had been secretly dating Madvig’s sister Opal (Bonita Granville), is suddenly murdered, everyone seems to have something either to hide or to expose, including rival mob boss Nick Varna (Joseph Calleia) and the newspaper publisher (Arthur Loft) who’s on his payroll. Donlevy crackles as the lovably goofy, smitten gangster whose friendship bond with Beaumont is beautifully and naturally drawn, and William Bendix roars as the crude, sadistic, aggrieved heavy Jeff who beats Beaumont to a bloody pulp every chance he gets; the sequence of Beaumont’s kidnapping and ultimate escape is one continuous thrill. Rainstorms pound, revelations abound, and the seductive chemistry between Ladd and Lake is something special to behold.