Dick Tracy's Dilemma

Originated by Chester Gould's syndicated comic strip, Dick Tracy has been a durable cinematic character with appearances ranging from 1930s serials to an over-hyped 1990 blockbuster-style motion picture starring Warren Beatty and Madonna--but the character's film appearances are perhaps most fondly recalled from the 1940s RKO Pictures series. Written with stacco dialogue and seldom running more than an hour, they were welcome "B" movies at almost every matinée.

Clocking in at exactly sixty minutes, DILEMMA plays out a fast clip. A fur heist and insurance scam turns deadly when a criminal employs "The Claw"--and not only does the movie rack up an impressive body count, it has considerably more suspense than the usual Dick Tracy flick. Ralph Byrd, who frequently played Dick Tracy, is quite good, but the edge of this film comes from the supporting cast: Jack Lambeth's the Claw is memorably dark; Ian Keith, a noted stage actor whose film credits include QUEEN Christina, scores as the comic Vitamin Flintheart; and Bernadene Hayes proves memorable in the brief role of Longshot Lillie. The cast is very nicely rounded out by Kay Christopher as a particularly appeal Tess Trueheart and such character actors as Lyle Latell, William B. Davidson, Tony Barrett, and Tom Keene.

High art it isn't, but DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA is fun in and of itself, fast moving, well acted, and well director by "B" movie workhorse John Rawlins. Certainly among the better outings for the famous character, it's very entertaining. Recommended for Dick Tracy fans everywhere.

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!

The third in RKO's short Dick Tracy series of movies from the '40s. This one features Ralph Byrd as Tracy. Byrd reprises his role from the Republic Dick Tracy serials he was famous for. Morgan Conway had played Tracy in the first two RKO films. I thought he was fine but admittedly Byrd is better. It's just a rare case of perfect casting as Byrd really does seem like Tracy physically. The plot to this film is about Tracy investigating a series of crimes, including murder, linked to The Claw. He's a villain that, you guessed it, has a metal claw in place of one of his hands. Fun, fast-paced detective story with more of the interesting characters I expect from a Dick Tracy story. In addition to the killer The Claw and my favorite Vitamin Flintheart (Ian Keith), there's a blind beggar appropriately named Sightless and a fence named Longshot Lillie. Fun stuff.

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.

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.