DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME (1947)
Article 2246 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-10-2007
Posting Date: 10-6-2007
Directed by John Rawlins
Featuring Boris Karloff, Ralph Byrd, Anne Gwynne

Dick Tracy investigates a bank robbery in which the people in the building were frozen in their places due to a gas. One of the robbers, known as Gruesome, was recognized as a man whose corpse was brought in a few days ago, but which came to life and walked out.

This fairly entertaining entry in the Dick Tracy series benefits from the presence of several familiar faces; Boris Karloff, Skelton Knaggs and Milton Parsons (as Gruesome, X-Ray, and Dr. A. Tomic) all appear in the movie. Both Parsons and Knaggs had appeared as different characters in other Dick Tracy movies. The movie also features Jason Robards Sr., Robert Clarke and Lex Barker in small roles. I was a little disappointed not to find Ian Keith in this one, as his continuing character of Vitamin Flintheart was one of my favorites. It’s nice to see Ralph Byrd in the Tracy role again; he comes as close to that square-jawed Dick Tracy look as any actor could. Though Karloff’s presence adds to the proceedings, the character of Gruesome really doesn’t make for a memorable villain, though he does inspire a comment in which Karloff’s name is dropped. Nonetheless, it’s fast moving and efficient. This would be the last of the series.