Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Glass Key (1942): Lake and Ladd in Hard Boiled Hammett

As one of the 1940's memorable romantic duo's, Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake were both icy cool blondes, whose passive, almost emotionless acting styles were a perfect match to the other, but their good looks and on-screen chemistry sparked red hot hits at Paramount where both were under contract throughout the decade. In 1942 the two made The Glass Key, a remake of a 1935 crime drama/mystery which starred George Raft. Based on the classic novel by famed mystery author Dashiell Hammett, the film was actually the second pairing of Ladd and Lake, whose first venture, This Gun For Hire, hadn't yet been released when production on Key began. The magnetism they showed in This Gun For Hire was duplicated in The Glass Key not purposely but by chance. Largely forgotten actress Patricia Morison was originally cast as the female lead and actually shot a few scenes when she was deemed too tall as Ladd's paramour. Ladd was a rather diminutive leading man at roughly 5' 6", so petite Lake was cast instead. The studio tried to pair the stars publicly, though they were merely friends and Ladd married actress Sue Carol the same year Key was released. Professionally however, the two fair haired actors went on to make a total of four films together at Paramount, including The Blue Dahlia (1946) and Saigon (1948).

The Glass Key is an early example of film noir, gritty crime drama peppered with romantic liaisons, murder and plenty of hard boiled dialogue. It's a complex crime thriller with moments of genuine edge of your seat excitement. As Ladd and Lake hadn't yet proved themselves the firecracker team they would eventually become, veteran Brian Donlevy was top billed. He plays shady and obnoxious crime boss Paul Madvig, whose attraction to sleek Janet Henry (Lake), causes him to back her father, Ralph Henry, as the reform candidate for governor in their state. Janet tolerates the oafish Madvig to help her ambitious father. Ladd plays Ed Beaumont, Madvigs right hand, who oversees everything pertaining to his boss, including Madvig's younger sister Opal (Bonita Granville), who is secretly seeing the would be governors shiftless playboy son Taylor (Richard Denning). When the no good Taylor is found dead outside the house he shares with his father and sister, Madvig is the number one suspect, since he went to the home to discuss Taylor's involvement with his kid sister Opal (told you it was complex). The story segues with Madvigs enemy, thug Nick Varna (Joseph Calleia) trying to pin the murder on him while Varna's beefy and sinister henchman Jeff (William Bendix) gives Ed a beating the likes the silver screen had never seen to that time, when Ed tries to find evidence to clear his boss and comrade Madvig of the crime.

Hulk of a man Bendix had just made his film debut the same year as this film. He also won an Oscar nomination in one of his very first roles in Wake Island also released in 1942. He is more than memorable as the sadistically smiling heavy (literally!) knocking the soup out of Ladd in the grueling and realistic beating scene which ends with Ladd falling several stories from a window and crashing through a skylight onto the dinner table of horrified diners. Former child actress Bonita Granville (These Three, Nancy Drew) is always good but she's not given a chance here to do much more than cry over her murdered lover, but she does it looking lovely. The screenplay is riddled with great dialogue like Bendix fellow goon bragging on his cooking skills: "My first wife was a second cook in a third rate joint on Fourth street."

Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake would become iconic figures of the 1940's. Ladd as a stone faced tough talker, Lake as the gal with the peek-a-boo hairstyle that wreaked havoc in war munition factories when girls who copied the look, got their long locks caught in factory machinery. The Glass Key proved a success for Paramount and a launchpad for the two comely personalities who charged the film with their high voltage electricity.

18 comments:

  1. I sadly admit that I have not seen this movie-I hang my head in shame.

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  2. I love, Love, LOVE this movie!

    "No wonder people beat you up!" LOL

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  3. I've read the book, but have never seen the movie. I'll have to add it to the netflix list.

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  4. Great pick! When I was in college I was into mysteries & hard-boiled detective fiction & made a point of watching classics like this. I always thought the title of the film was fascinating. Your blog readers should also check out Lady In The Lake--oddly fascinating. Robert Montgomery directs & plays Phillip Marlowe but you only see him once--the movie is shot from a first person pov.

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  5. Great blogg! I have to say I haven't seen MOST of the films you talk about in your post, and I REALLY would like to watch them, in fact I just watched CASABLANCA and I really liked it! I have to admit I decided to watch it because I wanted to see all the outfits and style of the 40's, od course I've heard about it but I haven't had the chance to watch it or the real interest to do it, but as I have been more in love with vintage lately ,now I've decided to watch all classic films as I can.
    Last week I bought Casablanca, next week I'll buy more , I don't know if I can find here all the films you talk about, but I'll try to find them.
    Thanks for your comment in my blog =)

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  6. Don't mean to be argumentative; you are correct that Ladd's wife was an actress, but at the time he married Sue Carol, I believe she was his agent, and that she was agent to other actors as well. I enjoyed your blog and look forward to reading more.

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  7. Yes, timcote7, that's right. She helped him get the role in THIS GUN FOR HIRE from what I understand. Not argumentative at all. I hope you will read more, thanks for stopping by.

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  8. Rupert, great review! I know of this movie of course and you make me want to see it even more. I have not seen this one yet. You know of course I want to see Lake and Ladd in this movie together but you make me want to get excited to see Bendix in this film.

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  9. I know Ladd from his westerns. I live in South Wales and there's a picture of the actor, with his friend STanley Baker, in the Ferndale Rugby club when he was staying at Baker's boyhood home. This review has added the film to my must see list.

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  10. A brilliant film and another excellent teaming of Ladd Lake. I like This Gun for Hire and the Blue Dahlia more, but this is still one of my favourite Ladd movies. Another excellent review mate

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  11. Hooray for my favorite vertically challenged stars! I really preferred The Glass Key over This Gun for Hire.

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  12. Vertically challenged!! I love it zippychik ;)

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  13. I loved this movie and this duo. Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake did look like the ideal couple. I also loved them in The Blue Dahlia. Thanks for all the revues of these wonderful movies.

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  14. I was wondering if you had any input on my favorite actor, Robert Mitchum. I don't see his name listed on the side column. Too bad. He was wonderful.

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  15. Not only is The Glass Key one of the best adaptations of Hammett's work, it is also one of the best films noir out there. And I just have to love the dialogue in this film. It is fantastic.

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  16. As a vertically challenged individual, I would like to point out WE have the advantage. No one ever asks US to reach something on the top shelf!

    The Glass Key was for the most part true to Hammett's novel. (Good thing, as he's one of my favorite authors.) Donlevy was wonderful in it. He never seems to get the recognition he deserves.

    I'd love to see the Raft version as well.

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  17. Mickey,
    I agree with you whole-heartedly that Donlevy doesn't get NEARLY the credit he deserves for his contributions in films and I too would love to see the Raft version of this movie.
    Rupert

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  18. Yes, Brian Donlevy is great as Madvig. Oddly, when I read The Glass Key, I picture Ladd as Beaumont, despite the fact the Hammett describes a character bearing a greater resemblance to Donlevy. And Madvig is described as a man more like Ladd.

    The George Raft version is very faithful to Hammett's novel in many respects, but the style is more like a gangster film than a film noir. Also, Beaumont is portrayed as an all-around swell guy with the magic touch ... In the Ladd film, like the novel, he's a laconic, difficult gambler on a losing streak.

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