The Glass Key (1942)

Glass Key (1942)

Toronto Film Society presented The Glass Key (1942) on Monday, August 12, 1985 in a double bill with Key Largo as part of the Season 38 Summer Series, Programme 5.

Production Company: Paramount.  Director: Stuart Heisler.  Producer: Fred Kohlmar.  Screenplay: Jonathan Latimer, based om the novel by Dashiell Hammett.  Art Directors: Hans Dreier, Haldane Douglas.  Music: Victor Young.  Photographer: Theodor Sparkuhl.  Editor: Archie Marshek.

Cast:  Brian Donlevy (Paul Madvig), Veronica Lake (Janet Henry), Alan Ladd (Ed Beaumont), Bonita Granville (Opal Madvig), Richard Denning (Taylor Henry), Joseph Calleia (Nick Varna), William Bendix (Jeff), Frances Gifford (Nurse), Donald MacBride (Farr), Margaret Hayes (Elosie Matthews), Moroni Olsen (Ralp Henry), Eddie Marr (Rusty), Arthur Loft (Clyde Matthews), George Meader (Claude Tuttle), Pat O’Malley, Ed Peil, Sr., James Millican (Politicians), Edmund Cobb, Frank Bruno, Jack Luden, Jack Gardner, Joe McGuinn, Frank Hagney (Reporters), John W. DeNoria (Groggins), Jack Mulhall (Lynch), Joseph King (Fisher), Al Hill (Bum), Freddie Walburn (Kid), Conrad Binyon (Stubby), Vernon Dent (Bartender), Stanley Price, Kenneth Christy (Men in Barroom), Dane Clark (Henry Sloss), William Wagner (Butler), Charles Sullivan (Taxi Driver), Lillian Randolph (Entertainer at Basement Club).

Glass Key (1942)

This Gun For Hire was Alan Ladd’s first major role, and Paramount needed to put someone opposite Veronica Lake, who was considered to be a “hot property” at that moment, and the studio needed to put her in a picture as soon as possible.  Even before This Gun For Hire was released, Paramount had cast Ladd in a remake of the George Raft thriller, The Glass Key.  His co-star was to be Patricia Morison, but after a few day’s shooting, it was decided she was too tall to be playing opposite Ladd.  The studio decided to reteam Ladd and Lake, even though their first film had not yet been released.

This remake of The Glass Key, the (original came out in 1935), like other of Dashiell Hammett’s works, goes into the relationship between the underworld and public officials and their interrelationships.  This particular version does not adhere to the novel that closely, but with its view of pervasive corruption, double-crosses, and murder, it becomes “…a grim, ruthless story of crooked political intrigue, and murder, and brutality.”  (M.F.B., Sept. ’42).  As suggested by Hammett in his book, and in the film adaptations, the alliance was often closer and more usual than most people in a democracy would care to realize.  It is the story of a slightly corrupt, but good natured politician who is saved b his henchman from being implicated in a murder.

Veronica Lake said of Alan Ladd:  “There is no actor with whom I’m more closely connected than Alan Ladd.  And yet we had less to do with each other than most other acting teams….Bothof us were very aloof people.  We were a good match for each other.  It enables us to work together very easily and without any friction or temperament.  Naturally, the public linked us romantically.  But neither of us cared what the public conjured up about us.”  (Veronica, 1971).  When Paramount teamed the two together, they had hoped the two would hit it off, but Veronica Lake was married, so no other attempts were made, other than the fact that they worked well together on the screen.  Unfortunately Alan Ladd, who was seldom heard to say anything unflattering about anyone, admitted in the 50’s that he had not enjoyed working with her.

Though they only made six co-starring films, (This Gun For Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), Duffy’s Tavern (1945), The Blue Dahlia (1946), Saigon (1948), the names Ladd and Lake will always be associated in film buffs’ minds.

Notes by Fred Cohen

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