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| Released: |
1942 |
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| Genre: |
IMPORTANT
REMAKE
CRIME
THRILLER
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| Origin: |
US |
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| Length: |
85 |
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A politician (Brian Donlevy) asks a henchman (Alan Ladd) to clear him of murder. |
Reviewed by Chris Tookey
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| | Superior remake of the 1935 film by Frank Tuttle, with more developed characters than exist in Hammett's original novel. Later critics have liked to point out Ladd's sexual ambivalence: he seems more drawn to Donlevy than the official femme fatale (Veronica Lake). And there are erotic undercurrents to the beating which William Bendix administers to Ladd, one of the most memorably violent in screen history (Bendix did, in fact, knock Ladd unconscious at one point, and the blow remains in the film). The Glass Key stands out as one of director Heisler's best films, but credit may be due mainly to cinematographer Theodor Sparkuhl, who provides it with all the necessary film noir lighting and atmosphere. | | | "Hammet fans hated our version of their favorite author's classic. Others never liked the original version with George Raft and felt we'd accomplished an improvement on the story. Either way, it all came off for me as a humdrum affair." | | (Veronica Lake, 1971) | | |
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, Veronica Lake 
, from Dashiell Hammett's novel
