Simply Perfect

From my favorite movies..

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This no-holds-barred dramatisation of the Dashiell Hammett novel contains the writer's familiar elements of tough men and shrewd women, complex plotting and lots of violence. I certainly wasn't expecting to see the absolute pounding Alan Ladd takes at the hands of William Bendix and his crony - top marks to the make-up team for making his battered and bruised face so true-to-life.To find out exactly how Ladd ends up in the position of being so viciously interrogated by these two hoodlums, you have to go back two or three plot-lines in a typically convoluted Hammett narrative. Ladd is the right hand man of his friend and mentor Brian Dunlevy who's running as governor in a corrupt unidentified American town. The story details take in political intrigue, corruption of the press, the murder of a key witness, blackmail, torture, suicide and perversion of justice, all this in under 90 minutes.The story certainly bowls you along even if you might occasionally scratch your head as you try to piece together the plot, but like some of the best noir / gangster films of the day, the plot details effectively don't matter. With sharp dialogue, realistic fight-scenes and well-observed political intrigue, this is an ahead-of-its-time thriller which delivers a real punch.We're made to wait a while for Ladd and Lake's first joint appearance but there's definitely something in the air. William Bendix is great as always as the bloodthirsty henchman, the tiny Lake smoulders impressively and the ever-watchable Dunlevy is effective as the win-at-all-costs politician compromised by events. The direction is fast and fairly furious, watch out in particular for Ladd's dramatic escape through a window right into a table of shocked diners.I couldn't pretend to follow all the characters sometimes shady alliances and dubious decisions, but as a rip-roaring political movie, this key certainly opened my door.

"The Glass Key" was Dashiell Hammet's favourite of his own stories and this excellent adaptation of his 1931 novel is full of pace, twists and typically hardboiled dialogue. Its intricate plot features corruption, treachery, murder and romance but it's the various relationships that exist between the main characters that really provide its most intriguing ingredient. Predictably, as the action takes place in the world of big city politics, deceitfulness, deviousness and double-dealings are everywhere.Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy) is the political boss from the wrong side of the tracks whose life becomes increasingly chaotic after he falls for Janet Henry (Veronica Lake) and stops thinking with his brain. His first decision is to transfer his support to Janet's father Ralph (Moroni Olsen) who's running for governor as the reform candidate and this brings him into conflict with local gangster Nick Varna (Joseph Calleia). Nick has enjoyed a longstanding arrangement with Paul which ensured that (for an appropriate payment) his gambling joints have been protected from any interference by the police. The continuation of this arrangement, however, becomes incompatible with Paul's new political allegiance and he instructs the police chief to shut down Nick's clubs immediately.Ed Beaumont (Alan Ladd) is Paul's right hand man and advises strongly against the course of action that Paul is taking. He's not convinced about Ralph Henry's sincerity and also firmly believes that Janet is simply using him to help achieve her father's ambitions. Ed's suspicions are confirmed one night at the Henrys' residence when Janet makes it clear that she doesn't think very highly of Paul. Ed is extremely loyal to Paul and gives her the brush-off.Ralph Henry's son Taylor (Richard Denning) drinks and gambles too much and is heavily in debt to Nick Varna. Paul's 18-year-old sister Opal (Bonita Granville) is involved in a relationship with Taylor which Paul strongly disapproves of and so, when Taylor is found dead and it looks like murder, Paul becomes the prime suspect and Ed sets out to clear his boss' name.Paul's refusal to accept Ed's advice leads to a rift between the two men and Ed's refusal to cooperate with Nick Varna in framing Paul, leads to him being beaten repeatedly by Nick's henchmen before the sequence of events that follow culminate in the identity of the real murderer being revealed.There are a few standout scenes in this movie such as when Ed and Janet meet for the first time and the magnetic attraction between them is palpable. Similarly, when Ed is viciously beaten by Nick Varna's thug called Jeff (William Bendix), what transpires is particularly unpleasant but also interesting to watch , as it's obvious that Jeff enjoys his work for reasons which go beyond simple sadism. The scene in which Ed falls from a building and smashes through a glass roof on his way to the ground is also notable as it's the movie's most expertly filmed piece of action.The presence of the Ladd and Lake partnership helped to make this movie a great box office success and their typically deadpan performances add to the intrigue as their motivations are not always immediately apparent. Brian Donlevy is great as the cheerfully corrupt Paul. who despite his background achieved considerable financial success but without ever managing to acquire any additional sophistication along the way. William Bendix provides the pick of the supporting performances as an extraordinary thug whose actions contribute significantly to the story's final outcome.

"The Glass Key" should have served as the model for all subsequent films based on hardboiled crime fiction. Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd, William Bendix and tiny, delectable Veronica Lake all seem born to play their parts: Ladd, in particular, is perfect as the snappy, no-nonsense Ed Beaumont. Director Stuart Heisler gets the bleak atmosphere down pat. And, most important of all, the script is true to the morally ambiguous vision of Dashiell Hammett (except for that minor but cringe-inducing change to the ending, of course). There are no "good guys" in this tale: some of the characters behave much more reprehensibly than others, but there are only degrees of bad. This is what made Hammett's writing special, and it's why "The Glass Key" stands head and shoulders above many other, better-known examples of film noir like Howard Hawks' wildly inconsistent adaptation of Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep". (In the scene during which Ladd is held captive and roughed up by Bendix, Akira Kurosawa fans will immediately recognize the inspiration for a pivotal scene in the Japanese master filmmaker's "Yojimbo".)

Dashiell Hammett's writing style is by and large acknowledged as being exceedingly beneficial to movie interpretations. It's handsomely evocative of atmosphere and situation and the angle is practically always that of a neutral onlooker, a stand-in for the audience. The Glass Key and Miller's Crossing signify two distinguishing readings of Hammett. The former is a straightforward conversion, the latter takes basics from Red Harvest and then sets them afloat in a plot which reverberates with a virtual mirror image of The Glass Key but also wanders gamely into original ideas.This second and better known adaptation of the classic Hammett novel, released just seven years after the first, focuses more on the political stratagem and one particular murder which functions to throw a dainty milieu of suspicion and caginess into disarray, flaunting a murder mystery accompanied by a backdrop of politics, gambling kingpins, flirtation and almost farcically eager brutality. A vital part of Stuart Heisler's almost Hawksian version is the casting of Ladd as Ed. Hammett wrote about commanding but aloof guys, who demonstrate a stiff and closely controlled style of code and who seldom show feeling or vulnerability. His hard cases were pessimistic, solidly committed to their work, unscrupulous, plucky, and apparently not influenced to feelings. Ladd wears some of these characteristics with his physical look, taut and severe, keeps his actions in check to look cool and unruffled. He punches only one character, though it's just a calculated move instead of a ceremony of bluster. The only actual aggression that Ed makes use of is an unsurprisingly brusque and snappy reply to the aggravation of Richard Denning.The physical stiffness and steadfast temperament of this character is a bit diluted by Ladd's compromises in playing Ed as good-humored and affable. His recuperation from a savage pounding becomes a spell where he, like 007, flirts with nurses. The pressure of Ladd's assumed role, an up-and-coming matinée icon and celebrity, appears to have permeated the portrayal of Ed and modified the Hammett protagonist into something resembling a Hollywood negotiation. On the other hand, Brian Donlevy takes advantage of his character being the political organizer who wrestled his way up from bottom, while Ladd is just his henchman and sounding board. Veronica Lake is the fickle daughter of the gubernatorial nominee who initially makes a play for Donlevy but dithers between him and Ladd, while Joseph Calleia has the gambling house franchise throughout the metropolis. Merged skillfully, the effect is an amusing thriller.The most thrilling, as well as the funniest, and most loaded scene is definitely the epic battering incurred by Ladd in a spell of amusingly forward sado-masochism as William Bendix bashfully pleads for his "little rubber ball" to spring back for more. Filmed and performed with misleading airiness, the scene is key to the film, parading a sensual riptide that plants ongoing suspicions throughout. Tinkering with his customary pokerface as he twists cagily through a labyrinth of political intrigues and underworld traps in the name of his superior, Ladd stays just as ice-covered whether conveying his passion for Lake or his allegiance to Donlevy. The effect is a taunting sexual vagueness, significantly augmented, at least until the excuse finale, by the fact that Hammett's protagonist, here thick-skinned enough to confess a readiness to throw Lake under the bus if required in furtherance of his intentions, has been case-hardened by being abridged into a star mouthpiece for movie-going audiences. But man, love that William Bendix. His entire role is comprised of wanting nothing more than to beat Ladd into a pulp, and is insatiably enjoyable at being a big lug with nothing more on his mind.