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As Good As It Gets

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

With "The Glass Key" George Raft bounced back in popularity after some of the worst reviews in his career ("The Trumpet Blows", "Limehouse Blues") and I agree with the other reviewers, it is a pretty good movie. It was supposed to be Dashiell Hammett's favourite of the books he had written. The nominal female lead was the delectable Claire Dodd. She could play any role - as long as it was high class - no "dese, dems and dose" for her. She could be the archest "cat" or the perfect secretary when she played Della Street to Warren William's Perry Mason. Unfortunately here she is not playing opposite George Raft, what sparks they could have made. She was in her snooty society girl mode and played Janet Henry, daughter of "above reproach" Senator Henry. She has also turned the head of genial Paul Madvig (Edward Arnold) who is sick of always being called upon to get shady characters out of scrapes - he wants to clean up the town and his act.His right hand man Ed Beaumont (Raft) is also concerned about Madvig's daughter Opal (insipid Rosalind Culli) who is a bit too friendly with Janet's ne'er do well and obviously cad of a brother Taylor (Ray Milland). When Taylor is found murdered "someone" implicates Madvig, who was known to have disliked him and Ed has an uphill battle trying to convince Paul that he is not the "Mr. Popularity" around town that he thinks he is. He even goads Paul into a fight to find out who that "someone" is. It wouldn't be a George Raft movie without some pretty realistic fight scenes including one with an attack dog and another where Ed gets out of a sticky situation by kicking his protagonist in the shins!!! Roughed up by a vicious thug (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams in the role of his career) who is no match for Ed in the "smarts" department. After another playful going over, Ed has to start a fire in the hideout and then crash through a roof to the safety of a family who promply call an ambulance.The "someone" is finally found - he is Schloss, brother in law of a driver involved in a nasty car accident who had gone to Paul for help only to be turned away. You do get a feeling who the murderer is but it is all wrapped up very nicely. Unfortunately Raft's leading lady was not vivid Claire Dodd but boring Rosalind Culli. Culli? Keith? Culli-Keith?? What was her name?? In fact the only reason she is now remembered is for the confusion with her name. As Rosalind Culli she was announced to appear in "The Glass Key", during the filming her name was changed to Culli-Keith but when the movie opened, hey presto she was Rosalind Keith!!!

Stark cinematography, crisp story-telling and quirky humor make this a ground-breaking film, showing later film noir creators the basics.The classic Dashiell Hammitt story gets a unique treatment. The still, anticipatory mood punctuated with abrupt, staccato dialogue is an inspired match for George Raft, playing perfectly to his strengths. Like Raft the film is stylish, watchful and reticent. He doesn't have to fake a thing. Edward Arnold is at his best as Paul Madvig in the center of the drama.As for plot, the ne're-do-well son of a senator is found dead in the gutter, and all the "evidence" points to his girlfriend's father, Madvig, a political boss in town. Arch-enemy Shad O'Rory (Robert Gleckler) pulls out all the stops to bring him down while Madvig's right-hand man Ed Beaumont (Raft) goes through hell to prove his innocence.In one torturous sequence, Raft never speaks a word while being abused (not to mention mocked), and that silence is visually compelling. There is a delicious use of stark shadows throughout. Instead of a bombastic soundtrack we get subtle use of organic sound. A key scene of violence is underscored marvelously by a swinging light fixture and a solo rendering of "Walkin' the Floor" echoing up the stairs.Pig-eyed Guinn Williams is somehow both comic and brutal as Shad's hired thug. Charles Richman is everything a senator should be. Claire Dodd is the passionate sister of the murder victim, and Rosalind Culli makes a watery Miss Madvig.It is entertaining to see a very young Ray Milland in the brief role as the murder victim. And then there's Ann Sheridan, memorable in only one scene as one tough nurse.This does not have elements that became stereotypical in the more fully developed film noir - such as the femme fatale and overt lustiness, which were in the popular Alan Ladd remake of this story. This version does hedge on some violent elements and is a little too simplistic in others, leaving some plot points unclear at first. But the its consistent sense of its own style and sense of reality with the more believable cast let this first version stand on its own.

This early adaptation of Hammett's novel is not as well known as the Alan Ladd version but is very much worth seeing. Different in some ways, eerily similar in some ways, it's usually a little more raw than the later remake (the car crash that opens the film is still jarring today). And as the other reviewer notes, it has all the classic noir elements. Definitely worth seeking out.

In the unlikely event that the term "film noir" means anything, it must be the meeting of the US detective film and the sinister Germanic look.The process can be seen well and truly evident in this rarely seen version of the Hammet story. This one has the down beat view of human nature, sinister nocturnal scenes, notably Raft's discovery of Ray Milland's body and the grim shadowed world of thug Williams in his best rôle.Neglected in favour of the Alan Ladd version which borrows from it - disposing of the stroppy brother with a kick on the shins, the dog attack - this one plays better because it's easier to believe Arnold is running a city and for director Tuttle's use of comedy actors like Irving Bacon, in serious material. Raft as Ned Beaumont, the minder, fits right in here.Notice the significant difference is the presence of the mother character in the space that the fiancée takes in the later film. The spectacular auto stunt opening gets things moving rapidly too. This one doesn't work up the intensity of the best of the forties thrillers - no erotic smolder and feelings of growing doom but it's still a good viewing that stands with the best crime films of its day.