Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake seemed to be the only two members of some other species: tiny, blond, beautiful and cold-blooded. They weren't actually paired in their first film, This Gun For Hireduring most of their screen time, hit man Ladd was holding Lake hostage, and she wound up in the arms of good guy Robert Preston. But the moment Ladd sat down next to Lake on a train and they slid cool, suspicious sidelong glances at each other, it was obvious that these two belonged together. The studio realized it, and even before This Gun For Hire was released they began production on The Glass Key.
Ironically, Ladd and Lake have even less screen time together in this inordinately complicated tale of Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy), a crass ward heeler suspected of murder. Madvig teams up with a high class politician and falls in love with his beautiful daughter, Janet Henry (Veronica Lake), not realizing these wealthy people want his political influence but will never accept him socially. Alan Ladd is Ed Beaumont, Madvig's much smarter right-hand man, who tries to save his boss after Madvig is accused of murdering Janet's wastrel brother, who was having an affair with Madvig's sister Opal (I said it was inordinately complicated, didn't I?)
This is a handsomely produced and well shot film, and the high forties gloss disguises a remarkably cold and brutal heart. No one is really sympathetic. The setting is one of those nasty, poisonous little cities that were Dashiell Hammett's specialty. It's not only gangsters and corrupt politicians who distrust, double-cross and try to destroy each other. Madvig's sister thinks he's guilty and gives evidence against him; so does his fiancée. The Henry family has its own schisms and dark secrets. Grudges abound, and everyone is either a powerful manipulator or a weak puppet. Ed Beaumont is a chilly, amoral hero. In one scene he seduces (or allows himself to be seduced by) a man's wife in order to provoke the man to kill himself, then grabs and destroys the man's will the minute he's dead. Beaumont's loyalty to Madvig is never fully explained, and not necessarily admirable either, since Madvig is not only corrupt but stupid. Even this, the closest relationship in the movie, is marred by repeated rifts and lack of trust. Alan Ladd's beautiful, chiseled mask of a face and his peculiarly opaque manner perfectly suit his mysterious character. Veronica Lake's exquisite, frosty loveliness is equally appropriate: she's both a classy trophy and a deceitful schemer. As much as these two belong together, the romantic denouement feels tacked on to the story. This is a world no one should enter without brass knuckles, and a well-hardened heart.
And I haven't even mentioned William Bendix as one of the most colorful of all noir thugs, a psychotic goon named Jeff who gets enormous pleasure out of beating Beaumont to a pulp, all the while addressing him as "baby" and "sweetheart." In the movie's best scene, Ed visits Jeff in a crummy dive and coolly extracts information from him while the drunken Jeff wraps his arm around Ed's shoulders and eagerly anticipates another beating session. "We're going to have a drink together," he says, eyes shining and misty, "And then I'm going to knock your teeth out!" Forties movies are rarely this lurid.
A more typical forties touch is Miss Lake's hats, which will repeatedly have you asking, "What's that thing on her head?" Less stylish than This Gun For Hire, and not as satisfying as Ladd and Lake's third pairing, The Blue Dahlia, The Glass Key is a good example of how casually well-made, and surprisingly subversive, classic Hollywood movies could be.
Ironically, Ladd and Lake have even less screen time together in this inordinately complicated tale of Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy), a crass ward heeler suspected of murder. Madvig teams up with a high class politician and falls in love with his beautiful daughter, Janet Henry (Veronica Lake), not realizing these wealthy people want his political influence but will never accept him socially. Alan Ladd is Ed Beaumont, Madvig's much smarter right-hand man, who tries to save his boss after Madvig is accused of murdering Janet's wastrel brother, who was having an affair with Madvig's sister Opal (I said it was inordinately complicated, didn't I?)
This is a handsomely produced and well shot film, and the high forties gloss disguises a remarkably cold and brutal heart. No one is really sympathetic. The setting is one of those nasty, poisonous little cities that were Dashiell Hammett's specialty. It's not only gangsters and corrupt politicians who distrust, double-cross and try to destroy each other. Madvig's sister thinks he's guilty and gives evidence against him; so does his fiancée. The Henry family has its own schisms and dark secrets. Grudges abound, and everyone is either a powerful manipulator or a weak puppet. Ed Beaumont is a chilly, amoral hero. In one scene he seduces (or allows himself to be seduced by) a man's wife in order to provoke the man to kill himself, then grabs and destroys the man's will the minute he's dead. Beaumont's loyalty to Madvig is never fully explained, and not necessarily admirable either, since Madvig is not only corrupt but stupid. Even this, the closest relationship in the movie, is marred by repeated rifts and lack of trust. Alan Ladd's beautiful, chiseled mask of a face and his peculiarly opaque manner perfectly suit his mysterious character. Veronica Lake's exquisite, frosty loveliness is equally appropriate: she's both a classy trophy and a deceitful schemer. As much as these two belong together, the romantic denouement feels tacked on to the story. This is a world no one should enter without brass knuckles, and a well-hardened heart.
And I haven't even mentioned William Bendix as one of the most colorful of all noir thugs, a psychotic goon named Jeff who gets enormous pleasure out of beating Beaumont to a pulp, all the while addressing him as "baby" and "sweetheart." In the movie's best scene, Ed visits Jeff in a crummy dive and coolly extracts information from him while the drunken Jeff wraps his arm around Ed's shoulders and eagerly anticipates another beating session. "We're going to have a drink together," he says, eyes shining and misty, "And then I'm going to knock your teeth out!" Forties movies are rarely this lurid.
A more typical forties touch is Miss Lake's hats, which will repeatedly have you asking, "What's that thing on her head?" Less stylish than This Gun For Hire, and not as satisfying as Ladd and Lake's third pairing, The Blue Dahlia, The Glass Key is a good example of how casually well-made, and surprisingly subversive, classic Hollywood movies could be.