This Gun for Hire
Even during the filming of "This Gun for Hire", Paramount knew it had a potential star and announced Ladd's next film, an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's story, "The Glass Key" (1942). This had been a successful vehicle for George Raft several years earlier, and Paramount wanted "a sure-fire narrative to carry him on his way." There had also been talk Ladd would appear in "Red Harvest", another story by Hammett, but this never was made.