The Glass Key Reviews

An action-packed gathering of really good actors

An early scene featuring Alan Ladd in profile seemed to show him as really wooden. But he soon warmed up. Which is just as well, given the lively performances of Brian Donlevy, William Bendix and others, with no holds barred in the action. Even Veronica Lake showed a bit of personality. And it was a cracking good story adapted from Dashiell Hammett's novel.

[Highly rated reviewer]

The Glass Key

Not one of my favourites. Mainly because I didn't realise it was a gangster type film, which I am not into. It might be other peoples cup of tea, but not mine.

Pleasant but missable.

This is a forties classic. I looked forward to seeing the film, but really it was dated and lacked that special quality which some films of this era have. It was pleasant but missable.

The Glass Key

I tired of this rather quickly.

[Highly rated reviewer]

A bit of a yawn

This film is the victim of many false starts and when it does get going it launches into a scene with unfamiliar characters and unfamiliar plotting so you think you've missed something. Poor editing one suspects. Overlong and dull. This era and genre produced some great films. This isn't one of them.

[Highly rated reviewer]

There are better

Of its type, there are better films than this from the 40s. Sure, it's got the nascent film noir quality that was to be used effectively by Scorsese et al later in American cinema. William Bendix giving a particularly brutal and sadistic performance as the arch heavy, with Alan Ladd the cool and smouldering victim of the set piece in violence, but what lets it down slightly is the rather convoluted plot and at times the director has not done his job properly on the spoken acting.