Movie Review: Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)
Synopsis: Pat Patton helps a fellow police officer by bringing in a drunk man who later appears to have died in the back of his car. The man, a criminal known as Gruesome, later revives in the morgue and escapes before later using the same gas that paralyzed him to rob a bank. Dick Tracy investigates and soon believes Gruesome's chemical is the work of a missing scientist. He is up against the clock though. A local news reporter is determined to print his story in a few hours, potentially jeopardizing Tracy's case.
Who's in it? The movie stars Ralph Byrd, Boris Karloff, Anne Gwynne, Lyle Latell, Edward Ashley and June Clayworth.
Review: I've had Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome on my watch list primarily because, as I've mentioned in the past, I'm a big Boris Karloff fan. So, now that I was caught up with the earlier Dick Tracy films, I made sure to watch it this morning. Sadly, I didn't like this one as much as the previous films, and not just because there were new faces playing the main characters.
There were a couple things that really stood out for me when it came to this movie, and not necessarily in a good way. One of the main ones was there was a lot about this film that reminded me a bit too much of the campy 1960s version of Batman. This included the use of a paralyzing gas that worked instantly and often left people in humorous positions and the word play with some of the names, especially Dr. Irma M. Learned (or I. M. Learned) and Dr. L. E. Thal (Dr. Lethal). To be fair, some of this might be from the comic itself (I still haven't read it) and the previous movies had some of that too but at minimum, it was a bit too much on display this time.
It was probably just me, but it also felt as though the main protagonist, Tracy (played by Byrd instead of Morgan Conway) wasn't as involved as in previous films. He's there at the right moments but it seemed as though Patton (Latell) got more screen time or, at very least, more memorable scenes.
The same is true of Tess Trueheart (Anne Gwynne, replacing Anne Jeffreys). It was refreshing not seeing her put in unnecessary danger for a change, but other than the bank scene, she was reduced to a background character with very little to do with the plot. Other Dick Tracy staples, like Junior, were completely written out. Though, in all honesty, I didn't miss Junior.
I will say this though; Boris Karloff did not disappoint. He was solid in his performance as Gruesome, playing the character as menacingly as you would expect a character named Gruesome to be. He even pulled off some physical comedy early in the film, when his character was paralyzed and Patton used it to humorous effect.
I also thought the Tracy/Gruesome final showdown was reasonably good. Tracy was unarmed, outnumbered and facing a criminal with the ability to paralyze him. I legitimately wondered how he was going to get out of that situation alive.
Final Opinion: There were things I did like about this movie. However, when compared to the previous two films, it clearly was a step down. Had it not been for Boris Karloff's performance, I may have given it an even lower grade.
My Grade: C
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Here are some reviews of other Boris Karloff movies:
Movie Review: The Body Snatcher (1945)
Movie Review: The Walking Dead (1936)
Movie Review: Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)
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