Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)

Pretty Good

Fresh and Exciting

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

There's more wordplay than usual in the final entry in the Series. For better or worse we are given Names that evoke chuckles and sighs. But the Characters personified are more of that specialized Tracy Comic-Strip charm.Boris Karloff is decidedly "Gruesome", carries the show and steals every Scene He appears. Although Skelton Knaggs as "X-Ray" can't be ignored with a sinister voice and coke-bottle glasses. Ralph Byrd as Tracy pretty much just reacts to things happening around. He is straight laced and squared jawed dutiful.The other returning characters show up and go through Their standard routines. Not as good as the first one in the Series but it is an above average B-Movie thanks to Karloff and a clever gimmick. Fast paced and fun.

Dick Tracy and his exploits step into the world of science fiction Ralph Byrd as animation's favorite square jawed police detective gets involved with none other than Boris Karloff as Gruesome in Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome.Usually Boris Karloff is the mad scientist concocting such things as a paralysis nerve gas which leaves folks paralyzed so that others think they could be dead. But here he's a ruthless career criminal who gets a dose of the stuff outside a waterfront dive and appear so dead that he's brought to the morgue by Lyle Latell as Tracy's sidekick Pat Patton. When he gets up and walks out of the morgue making Latell the victim of a horse laugh that's only the beginning.Karloff realizes the possibilities as does the inventor of the paralysis gas for criminal enterprise and he uses it in several bank jobs. But it was his hard luck to have Tess Trueheart in the bank on the first job and in a telephone booth so that the paralysis wouldn't effect her. She recognizes the robbers and Karloff as Gruesome is not hard to miss. Hell Boris Karloff isn't hard to miss. Tess played by B movie queen Anne Gwynne.Byrd is put in some real harm's way in the final confrontation with Karloff. Gruesome is pretty ruthless in eliminating witnesses and Byrd is almost caught in the trap he set for him.Boris Karloff as Gruesome lifts Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome a notch over a lot of B films.

The reason I like to dip into old "mysteries" is because sometimes they are extremely clever. This one has one of the more interesting ideas behind it.Oh, the movie itself is as dull as a soft brick. A newspaper rat threatens to report on the problem, throwing people into a panic and causing a run on the banks... unless Tracy comes through in a few hours.But the idea is sweet.The bad guy here is played by Boris Karloff. In the first few minutes, there is a joke about the strangeness being like dealing with Boris Karloff. He plays a guy who apparently dies and then comes to life. He coopts a good-hearted but twisted scientist who has created a seemingly magical formula. The formula causes people to freeze (while banks are robbed) , allowing for an inexpensive cinematic effect.The bad guy's sidekick is x-ray. Tracy's final ruse has him bandaged up like the mummy. The film itself is a bore. But you can imagine the glee in the home of the writer, when he put this together. Writers. Love em.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

"Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome" was the last of the Dick Tracy films, but the series ends on a high note, with Boris Karloff as Gruesome, and he's true to his name. It's not clear why this series didn't continue.The premise is a funny one - bank robbers use this freezing spray to stop people mid-sentence and mid-movement. Tess Truheart (Anne Gwynne) is in a phone booth when the robbers spray, so she's able to crawl to a telephone and call Dick. Gruesome is the head honcho, but he's not going to be easy to catch.The characters in the film all have the grotesque look of the comic strip characters and the same crazy names, I.M. Learned, A. Tomic (physicist) etc. Gwynne is more like Anne Jeffreys was - beautiful and street smart, more of a leading woman than the ingénue cast in another of the films. I think that characterization of Tess as good-looking and sharp works better for the character than a sweet girl next door type.This Dick Tracy was more expensive the others and stars the preferred Tracy, Ralph Byrd, who also did the Dick Tracy TV series.Enjoyable.