Movie review - "Dick Tracy vs Gruesome" (1947) **1/2

 Easily the most fun of RKO's four Dick Tracy movies - partly because of Boris Karloff as the villain but also because the plot finally is more outlandish to suit the colourful baddies. In this case there's a gas which makes people freeze.

Ralph Byrne was an underwhelming Tracy but I didn't grow up on him. Anne Gwynne is back as Tess who has a little more to do apart from have Tracy cancel their dates. It has handsome RKO production values. But after WW2 TV started to make B pictures less profitable so the series was cancelled.

Movie review - "Dick Tracy's Dilemma" (1947) **

 After two Morgan Conway installments, RKO replaced him (or Conway quit) with Ralph Byrne, who had played Dick Tracy in serials. Byrne is a little better than Conway but underwhelming. There's a new Tess Truehart... and the return of a supporting character from the previous film, the actor Vitamin Flintheart played by Ian Keith, who plays an important role... taking over an informer who has been killed.

This is similar in style to the first two - Tracy goes after a colourful killer on a rampage. In this case it's the Claw, played by Jack Lambert. He goes after a fake-blind beggar, played by Jimmy Conlin - the events leading up to his death are quite scar.

Imaginative direction by John Rawlins. Made with some care. But this series is missing it for me.

Movie review - "Dick Tracy vs Cueball" (1946) **

 The second in RKO's short lived Dick Tracy series. Morgan Conway returns as Tracy as does Anne Jeffreys as Tess. He also has an adopted kid.

Dick Wessel plays the outlandish villain. The plot is very linear - it has Cueball killing people and Tracy tracking him down. It lacks a twist. Cueball's bald head is about as colourful as it gets. 

Ian Keith adds a bit of dash in too much make up as this actor friend of Tracy's. I kept expecting him to pay off in someway. Maybe he's in the comic.

It's handsome and professionally put together. Just lacks flair of a Mr Moto or Charlie Chan. Gordon Douglas directed.

Movie review - "Dick Tracy" (1945) **

 The RKO B picture unit were very polished by this stage - Sid Rogell executive produced, William Berke directed. It looks handsome, the support cast includes familiar "B" faces like Sid Rogell and Mike Mazurki, plus an up-and-comer, Jane Greer. Mazurki plays Splitface, who is killing off people one by one. He's the most Dick Tracy-esque aspect of the film - at least, as I associate it with via the Warren Beatty movie.

It's decent B movie stuff. Nothing exceptional or too individual. It's all played straight. Morgan Conway is perfectly fine as Tracy.

Movie review - "Dick Tracy" (1990) ***

 I'm of the movie going generation for whom Warren Beatty really doesn't mean that much. Sorry, just being blunt. When Ishtar and this came out it wasn't as though there was Beatty fever.

There's much to admire here. The gorgeous production design. The tone. The story is effective. The colourful characters. The world. The costumes. The acting. The music.

Warren Beatty's direction is maybe a little off. Or it could be him. Or maybe me. I felt it needed someone harder - Beatty had soft elements about him. It should have been Clint Eastwood (who turned it down) or maybe Robert de Niro. I bought Beatty as a shy lover not so much the tough guy.

I agree with the screenwriter who worked on this who said John Landis would've been a more suitable director. I agree. Walter Hill's version would've been interesting - a Warriors style take.

Al Pacino's haminess suits it. Fun to see people like Dick Van Dyke, Dustin Hoffman and James Caan. Sondheim's tunes are perfect.

Movie review - RKO Dick Tracy#1 - "Dick Tracy, Detective" (1945) **

Ralph Byrd had played Dick Tracy for a serial over at Republic but when RKO wanted to make some feature films of the character he was injured so the studio went for Morgan Conway instead. Conway sounds a little like Humphrey Bogart and he's fine in the role. Mike Mazurki plays the villain Splitface, who is killing the jurors who sent him to prison. Regulars for the series included Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys), Dick's adopted son (Mickey Kuhn) and his parner Pat Patton (Lyle Latell). This is a decent enough mystery - Spitface is a strong villain and it hums along at a fair speed.