It's Andy Fish!

Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Mike Mazurki and Jane Greer

DICK TRACY was a breakout character from his first appearance in newspaper comic strips in 1931- created by Chester Gould the hard-boiled Tracy took a few years to really find his way but when it did it became a blockbuster– an action packed adventure strip featuring a bizarre cast of characters and villains– Chester Gould new how to create characters.

In 1935- Republic Pictures, the premiere serial film-maker of the day licensed DICK TRACY for the first of FOUR serials– and although they are acclaimed by serial fans for fast paced action and thrilling stunts– as a Tracy fan I can say I’ve tried watching them but I find them like watching paint dry.

Missing from the serial are all of the great villains and side characters– it wasn’t until RKO decided to make a quadruple set of B-Movies featuring the great detective and wisely gave them all a true Film-Noir setting, with heavy shadows, shady characters, a healthy dose of violence and all of the great characters that populated the strips. Although the villains in each of the four films were original creations, each of them could have fit in the Tracy Comic Universe with little changes.

DICK TRACY, DETECTIVE (1945) – the first film in the series features Morgan Conway as Dick Tracy and Anne Jeffrey’s as his longtime love interest Tess Truehart. Also in the cast are Lyle Lattel as Tracy’s right hand man Pat Patton, Joseph Crehan as Police Chief Brandon and Mickey Kuhn as Junior Tracy- Dick’s adopted ward.

Our film opens with a violent attack on a young woman on a dark city street, and soon we learn that the attacks are the result of a serial killer known who calls himself Splitface. Sending demand notes to his victims, Tracy soon tracks down the killer and his motive. There are some great creepy background characters including a psychic Professor Starling (who meets a grisly on camera death) and the man with the face for a horror film Milton Parsons as an undertaker who may or may not be implicated in the crimes.

It’s a fast paced 62 minute film and it’s loaded with fun and adventure. Full disclosure: in the days before VCR’s I would set my alarm to wake up to catch these Tracy films at 2am showings on Channel 5.

Highest Recommendation; 9.4