Dashiell Hammett's complex mystery of murder and political corruption was made into a film twice--once in 1935 and this 1942 version. Alan Ladd plays the assistant to a political boss (Brian Donlevy) whom he believes is the dupe of a powerful senator. When the boss's son is murdered, Ladd pieces it all together from the minutest scraps of information, but not before he “gets it bad” for the senator's daughter, Veronica Lake, and takes it in the gut from his henchman, William Bendix. Silver and Ward's new book, “Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference...” notes:
“The Maltese Falcon excepted, the 1942 version of The Glass Key remains the best adaptation of a Hammett story... Alan Ladd's stoic portrayal makes Beaumont even more of a cipher than in the novel...(and) considerably more amoral... Most memorable, however, are the scenes between Bendix and Ladd. Bendix emphasizes his vulgarity by spitting on the floor and stuffing his mouth with food; ...he fondles Beaumont, calls him ‘sweetheart' and ‘baby,' and enjoys beating him almost literally to death... Sparkuhl's low-key photography is an evocative change from the full-lit 1935 version...as is former pulp writer Latimer‘s catalogue of 'tough' lines such as ‘He trow'd another Joe,' ‘We got to give him the works,' or the oft-repeated ‘Gimme the roscoe.'”