Dick Tracy's Dilemma (1947)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Blistering performances.

DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA is my first exposure to the comic book detective and it's a good one. This is a low budget slice of pulp fiction with an emphasis on incident and action which helps the hour-long running time to simply fly past. The story sees the square-jawed detective going up against a sinister killer known only as The Claw who utilises a hook hand to murder his unsuspecting victims.It's a dark and atmospheric little piece with a simple story that really works. Ralph Byrd was an old hand at playing the part of Tracy and although he could be any generic crime-fighter he does well with the part. The best part of the film though is Jack Lambert's limping villain. Lambert comes across as a mixture of Rondo Hatton and Jack Palance and is one of the most imposing characters of the decade. James Cameron must have been a fan as scenes of Lambert slowly limping after his victims surely inspired the ending of THE TERMINATOR.The horror aspects of this low budget film work in its favour and make it a dark and brooding production. Ian Keith is on hand to supply some much-needed comic relief as the amateur Shakespeare actor Vitamin who gets involved with the case. DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA is no classic but for a B-movie it's great fun.

RALPH BYRD takes over the Dick Tracy role with good results, looking more like the square-jawed comic book hero than Morgan Conway. He's on the trail of "The Claw" (played very effectively by JACK LAMBERT) and the film is chock full of many noir-like scenes involving "The Claw" and his pursuit of victims, who seems to enjoy using his hook to kill a few unlucky men.IAN KEITH is back as Vitamin Flintheart, once again upstaging everyone with his theatrical flair for speeches and having a little more to do with the plot and KAY CHRISTOPHER fills in for Anne Jeffreys as Tess Trueheart.But, in truth, Byrd is given little opportunity to show how well he was cast in the part since most of the crime drama involves the intriguing villain with the hook for a hand who drags his foot and walks the shadowy streets on his hunt for the kill.Summing up: Good little crime drama about fur thieves proves that low-budget thrillers like this from RKO could be rewarding enough for noir fans.

Rather like the comic strip upon which this series of films were based, the villains are usually the most interesting. Crippled when a robbery went horribly wrong, the Claw is now as twisted in body as he is in mind. "You're a killer, Claw!" screams one of his fellow henchmen at him and he's got it spot on.When the Claw isn't on screen, the film drops a notch as the good guys aren't that interesting and Tracy is just dull. Still, he gets the job done and the case is solved and the evil Claw meets a fitting end after a thrilling chase through a scrap yard.Low budget and in black & white these films may be but with their short running time, they never outstay their welcome and are fast and entertaining. Something today's overblown two hour plus films could learn a thing or two from. Less is often more at certain times.In case anyone is wondering, the above Summary quote is from the song, 'The Power of Love,' by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

This one has Tracy after a gang of fur-robbers' fence, with a couple of brutal murders thrown in along the way for a good measure.A quite well made entry in the series, I agree that you don't always need a lot of money to make a well thought-out and entertaining film (the stupefyingly bad Blair Witch Project aside). The script and acting is satisfactorily brisk and logical, with a nice RKO-bound seedy and menacing atmosphere in evidence. Down those mean streets the Falcon never went! What makes it stand out however is the OTT performance by Jack Lambert as the Claw - a potent mix of Rondo Hatton's Creeper from the Pearl of Death and Long John Silver - the education system sure must have gone wrong with him!As for Byrd for my money he was perfect as Tracy, with his jaw sticking out further than the brim of his hat producing even more shadows!