The Glass Key Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

The Glass Key Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson January 18, 2019

I first discovered Veronica Lake during a screening of So Proudly We Hail! (1943) in a US war film class. Lake had top billing along with co-stars Claudette Colbert and Paulette Goddard in one of the very few war films to focus centrally on women. In a most unforgettable scene I don't want to give away for those who haven't seen it, Lake announced herself as a blonde bombshell who could truly "strut her stuff." A year earlier, Lake appeared in four films, including This Gun for Hire for which she co-starred with Alan Ladd, who had his first breakthrough role. Ladd and Lake re-teemed in director Stuart Heisler's (Tokyo Joe) noir drama The Glass Key, which was the fourth of Dashiell Hammett's five novels. Ladd plays Ed Beaumont, the chief assistant to Political Boss Paul Madvlg (Brian Donlevy), who heads the local Voter's League in an unspecified city. Madvig is backing Reform Party candidate Ralph Henry (Moroni Olsen) whose daughter Janet (Veronica Lake) seems besotted with the Ladd character. But Ed is all business and is more determined to help his boss win than he is in scoring a romance. The plot thickens Taylor Henry (Richard Denning), Ralph's good-for-nothing son, is found murdered. All fingers point at Paul as the prime suspect. Paul's glamorous daughter, Opal (Bonita Granville), was Taylor's beau so jealousy is considered a motive. Taylor also had some unscrupulous intentions toward the daughter and an argument ensued between he and Paul, leading to a possible self-defense. Spinning the wheel of corruption is gambling king Nick Varna (Joseph Calleia), who not only controls the rackets but also the district attorney and newspapers. Ed gets entangled with Varna and his goons in an apparently hopeless plight. Could Ed's capture spell doom for Madvig and Henry's political fortunes?

The Glass Key is a solid wartime noir with a consistent, workmanlike performance by Ladd. Brian Donlevy (The Great McGinty) is also effective as the abrasive and vulnerable boss. Lake is a bit like the femme fatale and is given little to do. William Bendix (Wake Island) is scary and imposing as Varna's top thug. The Glass Key is highly notable for it aggressive screen violence, which was not lost on the critics. The Boston Globe observed that Alan Ladd "takes one of the worst beatings ever seen on the screen during his attempt to run down the mystery." The movie's main weakness is screenwriter Jonathan Latimer's plot gets too convoluted. A reviewer for the New York Times put it succinctly: "All too often it paralyzes the adaptor by the necessity for exposition, and at those points the sleight of hand fails and the characters become no more than puppets in a bizarre pattern. The whole plot is strung on a rather long bow." On the whole, though, The Glass Key received rave reviews and while it's become a rather forgotten noir, I wouldn't rate it as highly as The Maltese Falcon.

*The Glass Key was first made in 1935 (also by Paramount) and starred George Raft, Edward Arnold, and Claire Dodd.

The Glass Key Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout Select has made The Glass Key number sixty in the boutique label's series. This is the third time Heisler's film has been available on Blu-ray, following Koch Media in DE and Arrow in the UK a few years back. Although Shout didn't undertake a new restoration, the print used is in decent condition but could look better. There are a lot of white speckles sprinkled throughout but the picture is still watchable. There are some image stability issues and motion blur present. Detail and texture is good. Ruth Lewis, a film critic for The Austin (TX) American described Theodor Sparkuhl's camerawork as "ominous shadowy photography." This is particularly evident inside one of the dingy bedrooms within Varna's lair (e.g., see Screenshot #10). The MPEG-4 AVC-encoded transfer boasts an average video bitrate of 24997 kbps on this BD-25.

The 85-minute feature has been given the customary twelve chapter markers.

The Glass Key Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono mix (1570 kbps, 24-bit). As to be expected from a seventy-seven-year-old film, a lot of audible hiss pervades the track. There are occasional pops and crackles so the master must have been partially damaged. I had to turn the volume up to hear the dialogue so keep the optional yellow English SDH handy on your remote. Composer Victor Young's score is sparsely used but shows nice pitch and good bass.

The Glass Key Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Alan K. Rode and Steve Mitchell - this is the first time that Kode and Mitchell have recorded a track together and they make a jovial conversational duo. About 80-90 percent of the track is not screen specific. They spend much of their time discussing the major players, their careers in Hollywood, and where they were artistically while making The Glass Key. There's maybe one small gap but their chatter makes up virtually all the feature's run-time. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailer (1:37, 1080p) - a decent-looking trailer for The Glass Key that has been window-boxed.

• Photo Gallery (4:23, 1080p) - a slide slow comprising a mixture of various ad campaign materials: black-and-white publicity shots from Paramount's press kit, some B&W stills from MCA TV's promotional division, and color images of posters and lobby cards. There are also reproductions of some sheets and slicks done by foreign distributors.

The Glass Key Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Glass Key makes a good entry in Shout Select's series, especially for North American consumers who didn't pick up Arrow Academy's disc two years ago. The Arrow has more extras, including a visual essay on the film and a radio dramatization. The Shout does have an exclusive commentary (the Arrow also has one by literary/film expert Barry Forshaw). Shout's transfer and audio presentation are average. True noir lovers will want to own both versions. RECOMMENDED to fans of Ladd and Lake.