October
14, 1942, release date
Directed
by Stuart Heisler
Screenplay
by Jonathan Latimer
Based on
the novel The Glass Key by Dashiell
Hammett
Music by
Victor Young
Edited by
Archie Marshek
Cinematography
by Theodor Sparkuhl
Brian Donlevy as Paul Madvig
Veronica Lake as Janet Henry
Alan Ladd as Ed Beaumont
Bonita Granville as Opal “Snip”
Madvig
Richard Denning as Taylor Henry
Moroni Olsen as Ralph Henry
Joseph Calleia as Nick Varna
William Bendix as Jeff
Donald MacBride as District Attorney
Farr
Margaret Hayes as Eloise Matthews
Eddie Marr as Rusty
Arthur Loft as Clyde Matthews
George Meader as Claude Tuttle
Frances Gifford as the nurse
Dane Clark as Sloss (uncredited)
Distributed
by Paramount Pictures
The main
character in The Glass Key, Ed Beaumont, is a political operative and
not a detective, although he often acts like a detective in his job working for
Paul Madvig. Beaumont’s job is to keep an eye on trouble and then keep Madvig
out of it. Madvig needs a clean reputation, or at least the appearance of one,
to continue his political campaign. Beaumont is a busy man: The film has plenty
of dirty politics and corruption—and one murder investigation. And before too
long, he’s busy trying to keep himself out of trouble, too.
The
Glass Key
is one of three films noir starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. Two were
released in 1942 and one in 1946:
◊
This Gun for Hire (May 13, 1942). Click here for my blog post about this
film.
◊
The Glass Key (October 14, 1942)
◊ The Blue Dahlia (April 19, 1946)
Paul
Madvig’s sister Opal, nicknamed Snip, is in love with Taylor Henry, a ne’er-do-well who gambles and relies on his father’s
money and reputation to keep out of trouble. His penchant for gambling means
that he is in debt to Nick Varna, the local shyster who doesn’t take kindly to
other people defaulting on their debts and thus depriving him of his money.
Paul Madvig falls for Janet Henry, Taylor’s sister. Madvig thinks this is very
convenient: He wants Janet’s blessing for both his love life and his political
career.
•
Madvig: “He’s [Ralph Henry]
practically giving me the key to his house.”
•
Ed Beaumont: “Yeah, a glass
key. Be careful it doesn’t break off in your hand.”
•
Madvig: “Don’t worry. It
won’t.”
Madvig is
completely confident in his political and romantic connections to the Henry
family. Ed Beaumont is much more cautious. He worries about the consequences of
linking one’s political and romantic fortunes so closely, but Madvig is
undeterred.
Ralph
Henry wields a great deal of influence around town, and Janet Henry agrees to
an engagement with Madvig. But the plot takes a nasty turn when her brother Taylor
Henry is found dead and everyone has trouble accounting for their whereabouts. From
this point onward, the plot becomes intricate and complicated. The Glass Key
is another example of a film noir where viewers really need to pay attention to
all the details and visual clues and keep track of names.
(This blog post about
The Glass Key contains most of the spoilers.)
Paul
Madvig is the prime suspect in Taylor Henry’s murder, and most of the film’s
narrative involves Ed Beaumont trying to discern the truth. Someone is sending
anonymous notes to various characters implicating Madvig, and all of them read
the same: “If Paul Madvig didn’t kill Taylor Henry, then how did his best
friend [Ed Beaumont] happen to find the body?”
Then
there is the witness, Sloss. He is hiding in New York City thanks to Paul
Varna, who is anxious to see Paul Madvig lose his campaign bid so he doesn’t
have to fulfil his promises to clean up the city, and thus clean up Varna’s
lucrative and often-illegal operations. Sloss has a story to tell about Paul
Madvig and Taylor Henry, and Varna wants to make sure that Sloss gets the
chance to tell it.
Nick Varna also knows that Ed
Beaumont gave money to Opal Madvig so that Taylor Henry could pay off his
gambling debts to Varna. Varna tells Beaumont that he still has some of
Taylor’s IOUs when Beaumont visits him after Taylor’s murder. Varna bribes
Beaumont to help him convict Madvig of murder:
•
Nick Varna: “You know Sloss?”
•
Ed Beaumont: “Yeah, I know him. Paul tossed him out of
the league’s [Voters League] downtown headquarters last week.”
•
Varna: “That’s where he made a mistake. Sloss came to
me spouting. He saw Paul and Taylor arguing on the street that night. He was
only a couple blocks away.”
•
Beaumont: “That’s good. But you know Sloss won’t stand
up.”
•
Varna: “He won’t have to. I’ve got his affidavit.”
Beaumont has already accepted
Varna’s money at this point, and he takes the affidavit to read it. But instead
of working with Varna, he tears up the affidavit and tosses the pieces into the
fire in the fireplace. He then throws Varna’s money back at him.
Varna’s two henchmen, Jeff and
Rusty, hold Ed Beaumont prisoner because Varna now has to put another plan into
action: He wants Beaumont to give a statement to Clyde Matthews, the newspaper
editor of The Daily Observer. If
bribery won’t work to gain Beaumont’s cooperation, Varna is more than happy to
resort to violence. And Jeff and Rusty are more than happy to keep Beaumont in
a constant state of bloodiness and pain.
William
Bendix is fantastic as Jeff, especially in the scene where he kills Varna. He’s
in extreme close-up, and viewers see only his face as he chokes Varna with his
bare hands. Beaumont witnesses the murder and says, “Better get a doctor in
case Varna is not dead.”
Jeff
says, “Better get an undertaker in case he is.”
