One of the fifty worst films of all time? No. The worst of the four "Dick Tracy" feature films? Yes, but that doesn't make this a bad film, unlike what a 1978 film history book insinuated. It's still fast moving, action packed, often funny and more than just a passable time filler. This time, Dick Tracy (Morgan Conway) is on the lookout for Cueball (Dick Wessel), a bald ex-con still pulling jobs, now committing murders in a diamond theft racket. Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys) disguises herself as a socialite to find some stolen gems and crack the racket, while Dick Tracy searches for Cueball who is cracking necks. The supporting characters continue to be fascinating, with Ian Keith as a ham actor adept at imitating the common man you see on the street every day, Esther Howard as a saloon "madam" (who still looks like a waterfront bag lady) hiding Cueball, and Byron Foulger and Rita Corday as the brains behind the smuggling racket.
While I rank this lower than others in the four part series, it isn't by much, with only a few minor flaws to keep it from being just as good. Esther Howard, who would score big in the film noir classic "Born to Kill", is unforgettable here, playing the same type of roles Thelma Ritter would later excel at (most similarly Ritter's part in "Pick-Up on South Street"), gets the showiest role and steels the film, and Corday is quite good in a scene where she bravely stands up to the much larger Wessel. Jeffreys once again proves herself the best of the Tess Trueheart's, putting on an uppity demeanor when decked out in furs and jewels. The conclusion is one that might have been pretty horrifying to watch in its day, absolutely gruesome in its insinuations. This was the end of the line for Conway as Tracy, making only one more film and replaced by serial Dick, Ralph Byrd.
While I rank this lower than others in the four part series, it isn't by much, with only a few minor flaws to keep it from being just as good. Esther Howard, who would score big in the film noir classic "Born to Kill", is unforgettable here, playing the same type of roles Thelma Ritter would later excel at (most similarly Ritter's part in "Pick-Up on South Street"), gets the showiest role and steels the film, and Corday is quite good in a scene where she bravely stands up to the much larger Wessel. Jeffreys once again proves herself the best of the Tess Trueheart's, putting on an uppity demeanor when decked out in furs and jewels. The conclusion is one that might have been pretty horrifying to watch in its day, absolutely gruesome in its insinuations. This was the end of the line for Conway as Tracy, making only one more film and replaced by serial Dick, Ralph Byrd.