A short biography
The Continental Op
Blood Money
Red Harvest
The Dain Curse
The Maltese Falcon:
The novel
The movie
The 75th anniversary
The Glass Key
The Thin Man
Woman in the Dark
The short story collections
The novels in one
volume
Books about Hammett
Interview with Hammett authority George J. "Rhino" Thompson
Chronology of Hammett's fiction
Hammett's army days
"Dashiell Hammett Place"
Hammett's Post Street
apartment:
A photo tour (2005)
Declared a
landmark (2005)
The Flood Building
Links to other Hammett sites
Contact Mike
mikehumbert.com homepage
This site is dedicated to all the people like Don Herron, Bill Arney, Richard Layman, William F. Nolan, Josephine Hammett Marshall, Julie M. Rivett, Steven Marcus, Joe Gores and others who have kept 1920s San Francisco in the here and now.
Special thanks to Vince Emery for his many helpful contributions to this website.
Entire website copyright 2003, 2004 & 2005 by Mike Humbert.
.
.
The Glass Key was Hammett’s favorite of his novels, and is also the most stylized. The characters are defined only by their outward actions, and their inner motivations are often unclear.
First filmed in 1935 with George Raft, it was the 1942 version that made stars of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. While large chunks of the film were faithful to the novel, the overall tone was lightened considerably, including a thoroughly artificial "Happy Ending."
Although not based on The Glass Key (yeah, right!), 1990's Miller's Crossing resembled the novel in many ways, including its ultra-gritty view of politics, greed and corruption.
March, April, May and June of 1930
2) Knopf, 1931 (hardback with dust jacket - Grosset & Dunlap version was very similar)
3) Knopf, 1942 (hardback with dust jacket. Movie tie-in)
4) Pocket, 1942 (paperback)
6) Dell, 1966 (paperback)
7) Vintage, 1972 (paperback)
8) Penguin, 1980 (paperback)
10) Large Type edition (details unknown)
11) Vintage Crime, 1989 (trade paperback)
12) Orion, 2002 (paperback)
