When the new Production Code came out in July, 1934, Hollywood was forced to clean up its act. Up until this time, although there was the Hays Office, the studios routinely ignored this censors board and films were occasionally shocking...even by today's standards. Nudity, extreme violence, cursing and all sorts of sexual behaviors of all types were in a lot of films...and the Production Code of 1934 was a reaction to all this family-unfriendly material. Sadly, the Code often went too far...and many of the great gangster films of the early 30s were no longer allowed to be shown in theaters without significant cuts. I mention all this because although the Code was in full force, "The Glass Key" managed to have a lot of content which seemed Pre-Code! No, there was no nudity or cursing...but wow, is this a brutal and violent movie. Now I am not complaining...I actually think it helped the story...and managed to be grittier than the more famous 1942 remake with Alan Ladd.
Paul Madvig (Edward Arnold) is a Boss Tweed sort of guy...a powerful man who pulls the strings of various politicians and to get elected, a politician would have to be someone Madvig liked. However, a political enemy is determined to destroy Madvig. The only hope Madvig has is his assistant, Ed Beaumont (George Raft)...and Beaumont is determined to help Madvig even if it means nearly getting beaten to death to do it.
When Beaumont is captured and held prisoner, he's beaten pretty vividly by a lunking sadist (Guinn Williams)...so much so that I am shocked the film was released without significant cuts to these scenes. Additionally, Beaumont later decks a woman. They cut away at the very last second so you don't see it connect, but clearly he knocked a woman out...and again, I am shocked this remained in the film and wasn't cut. But all this add to the grittiness of the film...a film which is very much an example of film noir even though supposedly this genre wasn't created until the 1940s! Well worth seeing and a bit better than it's remake.
