Review of The Glass Key (1942) by Stephen M — 08 Aug 2009

Brian Donlevy's crooked, McGinty-ish politician angers a criminal associate (Joseph Calleia, effortlessly sinister) by pledging his support for a reform candidate whose beautiful daughter he has taken a fancy to.

Murder, political chicanery and a smouldering love-hate relationship between the would-be governor's daughter (Veronica Lake) and Donlevy's right-hand man (Alan Ladd) ensue. The Glass Key falls a little short of being one of the true classics of film noir.

Tonally, I found it rather peculiar and the ending was one of the corniest I've seen for a long time. In general, the movie is several shades lighter than pure noir, although there are a couple of extraordinarily perverse moments that really do hit the spot, not least the sadomasochistic beating Ladd receives from one of Calleia's goons.

In one of the other darker scenes, Ladd prevents a hostile newspaper editor from running a defamatory story about Donlevy by canoodling with the guy's trophy wife until he commits suicide. It's fair to say that Ladd was not ideally suited to this sort of material, but the film contrasts the benignity of his features with the ruthlessness of his character's actions to excellent effect.