planktonrules Review of The Glass Key

The Glass Key (1942)

Despite some excellent performances, the film was very muddled and uneven

[6/10 · 13 November 2006]

I really wanted to enjoy this movie a lot more than I did, as I am a big fan of Alan Ladd. However, apart from a couple excellent performances, the film was a big let-down and was not even close to being as good as THIS GUN FOR HIRE or THE BLUE DAHLIA--two other famous Ladd films from the same era. This isn't the fault of Ladd, who as usual did an excellent job playing a tough guy (which is interesting coming from a guy as tiny as Ladd). In addition, William Bendix had an even more impressive role in the film as a sadistic animal who revels in beating people to a pulp. The sheer pleasure he obtains hurting other people is amazing and scary to watch! Now as for the rest of the film, apart from some snappy dialog, the rest of the characters are pretty one-dimensional and unconvincing. The bottom line is that this film had many of the elements of good Film Noir except for a decent script. The movie was often confusing and the ultimate solution to the mystery seemed to come from no where! In fact, it was as if they'd written and written and decided to just tack on an ending generated by a coin flip and call it a day! In the end, this is a watchable but horribly flawed film. You can certainly do better with other Noir or Ladd pictures.