The Glass Key

The Glass Key is a 1942 American crime drama based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The picture was directed by Stuart Heisler starring Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd (who plays the actual lead despite being billed third). A successful earlier film version starring George Raft in Ladd's role had been released in 1935. The 1942 version's supporting cast features William Bendix, Bonita Granville, Richard Denning and Joseph Calleia. Plot After falling for Janet Henry, the daughter of reform candidate for governor Ralph Henry, shady political boss Paul Madvig is determined to help Henry get elected. Paul's right-hand man, Ed Beaumont, rightly distrusts both Janet and her father, and suspects that they are stringing Paul along only to dump him after the election. Janet becomes engaged to Paul, but is put off by his crudity. She is attracted to the more sophisticated Ed, who fends off her advances out of loyalty to Paul. The deluded Paul boasts that Henry has practically given him the key to his house, but Ed warns him that it is liable to be a glass key, one that can break at any moment. When Paul tells one of his supporters, the gangster Nick Varna, that he is cleaning up the city and that Varna will no longer receive protection from the police, Ed grows even more concerned. Complicating matters further, Ralph's ne'er-do-well son, Taylor, owes Nick for gambling debts, while Paul's young sister, Opal, is in love with Taylor. Paul has told her to stay away from Taylor, but she defies him. Opal becomes fearful about what Paul might do to Taylor. Ed later finds Taylor's lifeless body in the street. Paul is the prime suspect, much to Nick's delight. When Nick hears that Ed and Paul have split over Taylor's death, he tries to recruit Ed. Ed turns him down, so Nick has him brutally beaten repeatedly by his sadistic henchman Jeff, to force him into revealing details of Paul's corruption to the editor of the newspaper Nick controls. Ed contrives an escape and is hospitalized. When he recovers, he learns that Nick has found a "witness" to Taylor Henry's killing, Henry Sloss. Paul has Sloss brought to his office, but he is gunned down before he can talk. As a result, Paul is indicted for the murder and jailed.