Beautify your face!
If the first half of The Glass Key‘s film adaptation was scattered, deflated, & flat as week-old Dr. Pepper, then Pt. II was the epitome of each of these expressions. The characters, hard-boiled & run-down in the novel, became thin cardboard marionettes of every Hollywood romance figurine we’ve seen hashed & rehashed over & over. Ned – the book’s center of suspense, confusion, & suave hilarity – was molded into some greasy-haired, doe-eyed Man of Emotion, moved intrinsically by even the slightest thing, often losing his grip on the objective (or the “goal” of his gambling) & falling for women, instead of using them for information. Maybe I’m cynical, but I’m tired of the same boy-meets-girl story in films, especially in films based on novels that had none of it. The one serious love interest in the book was between Ned & Mom, & there was no such latter character in the movie, thus erasing any need for some sticky-sweet adoration. It seems to me that just about every decision to change the plot to fit the screen was in vain, especially in making Opal & Paul siblings, & just about every bit of the ending, as well.
One: Senator Henry’s confession in order to save his daughter from being arrested loses all of the suspense & adventure from Hammett’s story, &
Two: Paul allowing Ned & Janet to run off suddenly & get married is about as trite as trite can get. Ned’s stone face, born from the gutter, is non-existant throughout the entire film, & especially in the film’s climax, in which he is turned suddenly into some gushing schoolboy. Not only was this disgusting to me, but downright offensive. I hope Mr. Hammett took action against the screenwriters & sued them for every liberty that the film brought in.
& it might just be me, but during Ned’s beating by Jeff & Rusty in the film, didn’t he look an awful lot like The Warden from that Japanese gore flick Riki-Oh?:
