Pint-sized film noir icon Alan Ladd (This Gun For Hire, The Blue Dahlia) returns to familiar territory in this adaptation of a novel by Dashiell Hammett. Ladd plays Ed Beaumont, one of these little tough right-hand men that corrupt politicians seemed to rely on in olden times. The corrupt politician is Paul Madvig. Paul’s in the middle of a big governor’s race and is backing the candidate from the “I’m Backed By Crooks” party.
Things get off to a roaring start when Paul is shooting his mouth off at a political gathering about Ralph Henry, the candidate for the Reform Party. This earns him a slap across his face from Veronica Lake who probably had to be lifted up to slap his face instead of his belly button. She’s sneering at him and let’s on that she’s Janet Henry, Ralph’s daughter.
Paul, being like most men and attracted to women that mistreat him, immediately declares that he’s fallen in love, must marry her, and will switch his support to the Reform Party in an effort to win her heart. I suppose people have supported candidates for stupider reasons. This is after all the country where Nick Nolte won People’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1992!
Paul’s sudden change in his support in the gubernatorial race causes him some problems with some less than reputable types, such as Nick Varner. Nick is a mobster who runs the local gambling joints. He and Paul had been both supporting the same candidate before Paul went and got himself bitch-slapped into a relationship. Now Nick is somewhat dismayed that Paul is using his new-found morals to get his casinos closed down.
There are further complications with Paul, Janet, and Ed. Janet has a brother (Taylor) who likes to think that all he needs is one big win to get ahead and then he could pay off his gambling debt to Nick Varner. To further muddy the waters, Paul has a sister named Opal. Guess who Opal is in love with? Janet’s brother, Taylor!
At Paul’s behest, Ed tracks Opal to a room with Taylor and hauls her back to Paul’s. Taylor is a pretty big guy and tries to “bring it” with Ed, but Ed barely changes expression and kicks him hard in the shin, incapacitating the big dope. It was a great scene that demonstrated what made Alan Ladd such an effective tough guy. He’s not very big, but he has an economy of action that makes every movement he takes appear that much more powerful.
It’s against this backdrop of political intrigue and personal passions that the defining event of the movie is played out. Somehow or other, Ed stumbles onto the recently deceased Taylor. His pal Paul is implicated. Paul denies he had anything to do with it and doesn’t seem too concerned about being charged with murder, figuring that he’s too powerful for anyone to do anything about it and goes about his business.
Ed, who has no illusions about the nature of people and their ability to desert a “friend” in need, tries to tell Paul to go get everything cleared up. Eventually, they have a falling out, and Ed supposedly goes to see Nick Varner about a job. Ed, though, has this fierce, almost religious, loyalty to his friend and is only there to ascertain what, if anything, Varner has on Paul and this murder. Varner knows a good soldier when he sees one and makes Ed a generous offer of money and his own gambling business.
The meeting goes as expected: Ed sneers at Varner, throws his money back at him, and tears up an affidavit that implicates Paul. Varner sics his boys on Ed and one of them, Jeff (William Bendix), takes a great deal of pleasure (probably a little too much pleasure) in administering one of the more brutal beatings you’re likely to see. Ed manages to escape and tells Paul that Varner is fixing things so that the murder beef will be hung on Paul.
Ed spends the reminder of the film driving men to suicide, causing others to strangle their friends, and even manages to frame Janet for a murder she didn’t commit. Ed knew she didn’t do it, but it was all part of his scheme to smoke out the truth so its perfectly understandable that they’d end up falling in love. She could also understand where Ed was coming from since she had already tried to frame Paul for a murder he didn’t commit!
Alan Ladd is once again captivating in his portrayal of a man who doesn’t exactly conform to the values most people would appreciate, yet he has his own internally consistent code of conduct that you stand by a friend no matter what. Raven from This Gun For Hire remains his greatest role, being a more fully formed character with a past and flashes of emotional pain. Ed is a lesser character, essentially a more distilled version of Raven, with none of the tortured past to provide context for his actions or give him any depth.
Lake doesn’t get much screen time and her character doesn’t fare too well, conforming to the “women as scheming Mata Hari” stereotype that many film noir films employ. Maybe she’s redeemed by admitting her love for Ed and in their scenes together they share the same kind of smarts about the way the world works. Perhaps that’s why they’re attracted to one another – they see themselves reflected in each other, but that wasn’t fully explored and the ending seemed abrupt, forced, and downright false. Still, The Glass Key is well worth watching, not as good as This Gun For Hire, but better than The Blue Dahlia. Plus you also get some crazed Bendix scenes!
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