The Glass Key + Street of Chance

The Glass Key
(1942) dir Stuart Heisler w/Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Brian Donlevy, Bonita Granville, William Bendix [85 min; 35mm]
This violent, cynical tale of political skullduggery was the second pairing of glamorous stars Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, who skyrocketed to fame in This Gun for Hire. Scripter Latimer brilliantly adapts the complex tale that Hammett considered his best book. Ladd is loyal “fixer” to a shady politico (Donlevy), who gets framed for murder when he turns on the mobster who got him elected. William Bendix is memorable as the thug who tries to set Ladd “straight.” A seminal film in the development of Hollywood noir, briskly and brutally directed.

Street of Chance
(1942) dir Jack Hively w/Burgess Meredith, Claire Trevor, Sheldon Leonard [74 min; 35mm]
The first adaptation of a suspense novel (The Black Curtain) by Cornell Woolrich, America’s most prolific purveyor of noir thrillers. A man (Meredith) loses his memory after being struck by a falling beam, and as he struggles to piece his life together (with the help of noir’s grand dame, Claire Trevor) he realizes he’s lived the preceding year with another person’s identity! Is this all a tortured twist of fate—or a sinister, calculated plot? Strong noir cinematography by Renoir collaborator Theodore Sparkhul.