Synopsis for
The Glass Key (1942) More at IMDbPro »

In Baltimore, political boss Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy) is head of the voter's league and pushing through the reform ticket to gain more power. When he is confronted by Janet Henry (Veronica Lake), the daughter of Politician Taylor Henry (Richard Denning) who is running for Governor, Medvig changes position and decides to back Taylor. When the wastrel son of Henry is killed, fingers are pointed at Madvig, primarily because competing gangster Nick Vama (Joseph Calleia) has taken over a major local newspaper and is generating copy that claims Madvig's guilt. Paul Madvig's right hand man and friend Ed Beaumont (Alan Ladd) see that Madvig is flip-flopping on his politics because he desires the charms of Janet Henry and he says so which causes the pair to break up pushing Ed to pretend to Vama for a job. Vama realizes that Ed isn't on the level and has his henchman Jeff (William Bendix) torture him for information. Ed escapes and gets the word to Madvig that Vama has information that can convict him but realizes that Janet Henry is too involved to ignore and actually Ed falls in love with her.