I love, love, love the era of “pulp” fiction writing.  I’m not talking about Quentin Tarantino’s take on it, I’m talking about the era from roughly the very early 1920’s (some works appeared during the very late 1910’s) through roughly the 1940’s, when authors such as Raymond Chandler, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Lester Dent, Walter Gibson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and, yes, Dashiell Hammett produced literal mountains of incredibly strong works of fiction.  (Yes, I’ve left off many other authors I could include in this list but I’ve got a movie to review!).

Between the works of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett you have the foundation of almost all modern American crime/detective dramas.  So popular were their works that several of them were made into very famous films.  1942’s The Glass Key, the second screen adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novel, may not be quite on the classic level of the previous year’s The Maltese Falcon (the third time that Hammett novel was filmed!) yet is nonetheless a great piece of work that, despite its age, remains full of intrigue, larger than life characters, and deep, dark, and delicious shadows.

Though third billed, then relative newcomer Alan Ladd is the star of the film.  He plays Ed Beaumont, a steel eyed “fixer” for Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy), a man who at the beginning of the film is clearly identified as a big time crook.  Elections are around the corner and Madvig wants nothing to do with the very respected reform candidate Ralph Taylor.  After all, should Taylor get into office, Madvig’s “profession” might well go up in smoke.

However, a chance encounter with Janet Henry (the stunning Veronica Lake), Ralph Henry’s daughter, has Paul Madvig madly in love, and suddenly the crooked man decides to back the reformer and clean up his own organization.  Naturally, this alarms his old “friends,” who don’t take kindly to his changed ways.

Eventually there is a murder, and it is then that Ed Beaumont springs into action, trying to figure out whodunnit when everyone, even Madvig’s sister, thinks his boss and good friend did the deed.

I’ve purposely tried to be vague about the plot and the various character’s motivations, but suffice it to say that the film’s story twists and turns in delightful ways while offering plenty of memorable scenes.  Of them, my favorite might well be the climactic meeting between Beaumont and the goon Jeff (William Bendix in what may be one of his all time best roles).  Pay close attention to the way Alan Ladd’s Beaumont handles that bottle of Ketchup as they talk!  Great, great scene.

A terrific film and a very easy recommendation, even to those who may be allergic to old films.