The final Tracy film brings in yet another Tess Truehart, this time played by Universal Scream Queen Anne Gwynne– and we’ve got some interesting characters in the mix, but we’ve lost not only Junior this time around but Vitamin Flintheart– which really detracts from this one.
It does have Boris Karloff as Gruesome–a big actor for such a role and he’s great as usual, but the rest of the film is not up for it– there’s too much humor in a bank scene which isn’t funny as the villains drop a container of freeze gas that was developed by Dr. A. Tomic (played by creepy Milton Parsons who was in the first film) and we have the appropriately named Skelton Knaggs as the sinister shady character named X-Ray– Skelton always adds something to anything he’s in and there’s no exception here– his triple thick glasses give him an otherworldy look that benefits from his equally strange speaking voice.
The DICK TRACY Films are all fun and each offers something, but even Boris Karloff can’t bring enough to keep this one from landing in fourth place by a distance.
MY RATING: 8.0
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