Der gläserne Schlüssel (1942)

Der gläserne Schlüssel: Directed by Stuart Heisler. With Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, Bonita Granville. A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.

“In watching this and the first film version of The Glass Key you have to wonder why Brian Donlevy is making an alliance with the u0026#39;reformu0026#39; forces led by Senator Moroni Olsen. The way I see it, Donlevy is a mug and he knows it, but he figures heu0026#39;ll step up in society if allies himself with the right people. Itu0026#39;s the only explanation that makes sense for Donlevy to cut loose from gambling czar Joseph Calleia.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEverybody in Donlevyu0026#39;s family is getting involved with Olsen. Donlevyu0026#39;s taken a shine to daughter Veronica Lake who canu0026#39;t stand him, but will put up with it for her fatheru0026#39;s sake. Donlevyu0026#39;s sister Bonita Granville is involved with Olsenu0026#39;s playboy son Richard Denning, not something that Donlevy approves of. When Denning turns up dead all kinds of questions are raised.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDonlevy has someone on his payroll who takes care of these problems, Alan Ladd and Laddu0026#39;s not particularly squeamish about the legalities of things. He starts investigating and at the same time tries to protect his bossu0026#39;s reputation. Not so easy as he finds out.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis was the second teaming Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd and they clicked as well as they did in This Gun For Hire. It was also the first time that Alan Ladd and William Bendix worked together on a film. Bendix became one of Laddu0026#39;s best friends on the Paramount lot and his widow Tess Bendix was a prime source for Beverly Linetu0026#39;s revealing biography of Alan Ladd. Bendix portrays a truly malevolent thug who works for Calleia and heu0026#39;s pretty frightening. One of the best examples of a sadist ever done on the screen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy personal favorite in this film besides Bendix is Joseph Calleia the racketeer kingpin of the city. Heu0026#39;s one slick article as he usually is in most of his films and his fate is determined by something he really could not have foreseen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story by Dashiell Hammett on which this is based really does show how close politics and the criminal element mix, even the so-called u0026#39;reformu0026#39; element. Even law enforcement is afraid to move here as typified by the very political district attorney Donald MacBride. Heu0026#39;s not one to move against the local power structure unless he has to.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis version of The Glass Key is not too different from the 1935 version that starred George Raft and Edward Arnold. This one is seen more often and shows that corruption can be quite systemic in some of our local governments. Pity the poor voters.”