Bill Denton wrote:
>Latimer also wrote the screenplay for THE GLASS KEY
(1942), with Alan
>Ladd and Veronica Lake. It was on TV the other week
and I gave up
>half-way through it, too. I don't know if I can blame
Latimer or Ladd
and
>Lake, who used up most of their limited talent in
giving each other the
>eye.
Bill, was the movie on commercial TV, interrupted every five
minutes by ads? This second version of "The Glass Key" is
generally considered to be pretty good. I've given up on the
earlier George Raft version which doesn't make any sense
whatsoever, but I'm a big fan of the Ladd movie. Particularly
Latimer's script which is very faithful to the novel. Granted
Ladd and Lake weren't exactly Academy Award material, they
did have a noir chemistry that worked pretty well in several
movies, including "This Gun For Hire." And his Novocained (a
kinder word would be "unruffled") countenance was exactly
what was called for in interpreting Hammett's enigmatic
antihero. Come to think of it, he's a perfect fit for Sam
Spade, the blond Satan. Two other plusses: Brian Donlevy's
town boss and William Bendix's sadomasochist thug.
Dick Lochte
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