An absolute waste of money

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

An "Arsenic and Old Lace" inspired gag gets the ball rolling on this absolutely delightful entry in the film series based on the long running comic strip. Ralph Byrd takes a back seat in this entry to the top billed Boris Karloff who gets top billing. He's a recently released felon who leads a band of bank robbers using suspended animation to get in and out without being seen. Unbeknownst to them, Tess Truehart (Anne Gwynne) is unsuspended inside the protectory confines of a phone booth, and while she doesn't turn into Superman, she is able to notify Dick Tracy and describe the duo, one of whom shot and killed the awakening bank guard. Karloff, realizing that they need to eliminate certain witnesses, goes on a psychotic rampage, the most horrific part involving sending a live man through a crematorium. Fast moving, funny and nail biting, this has moments where it is just plain silly (a "Hold That Tiger!" singing parrot) and often ironic. A badly scarred man reacts to Karloff's name of Gruesome as rather appropriate, and other characters have the typical odd quirks that you could only expect in a Dick Tracy comic strip/feature film. Of the supporting characters, June Clayworth stands out as a professor whose genius does her in. Tony Barrett is also memorable as the handsome piano player with a devilish love of crime, and the oddly named Skelton Knaggs really the gruesome one as the sinister inventir of the grenade like object that freezes people in their tracks. Well thought out and expertly written, this gets a true heart of love from me.

After a good trio of RKO Val Lewton pictures, Karloff's career would kind of slide into less prestige B-movies and television. Here in "Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome", Karloff returns to the kind of heavies notable during his Warner Bros. or Universal Studios periods. He stars as a recently released crook who just so happens to literally stumble into a scientist's new experiment which renders humans "frozen" and helpless, with no movement. This new invention allows Karloff's Gruesome to initiate a series of bank robberies, using the chemical gas to subdue the clerks, security guards, bank employees, and clients in place mid movement while he and his associates rob joints in the city. Enter Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd), on the case to help the police catch Gruesome and his gang, during his investigation the detective is led to a scientist named Dr. A. Tomic (Milton Parsons), which eventually puts him in the crosshairs of Gruesome. The movie includes Skelton Knaggs in goggle-eyed glasses assisting Karloff in an attempted capture of a comatose patient by disguising themselves as paramedics, Karloff shooting a potential female informant in cold blood as she walks down a quiet, empty street from the driver's seat of his car, Karloff and Tracy in a protracted shootout, Karloff collapsing in a street after stumbling upon the gas resulting in finding himself in a morgue (!), and Anne Gwyne (House of Frankenstein; she stars as Tracy's love interest) the only awake witness to an ongoing bank heist while everyone else is frozen by the gas. Dialogue heavy for sure, and the gas' effects are rather cheesy. Karloff handles the dastardly persona with kid gloves, bossing around those involved in his criminal activities, orchestrating the robberies and capable of the most heinous of acts if it means protecting himself from another trip to the slammer. Byrd is totally outshone by Karloff, and the less of him the better (which is kind of sad considering the movie is supposed to be his starring vehicle). Knaggs' soft voice and creepy eyes in those glasses (and diminutive size) is rather quite a contrast to Karloff's brutish antagonist. The cops are spinning their wheels for much of the running time, as the villains stay ahead of them. A set up in the hospital is what leads to Tracy getting the upper hand on the crooks. RKO seems to be imitating something you'd see from Warners in the 30s during the Cagney/Robinson/Bogie period of gangster shootouts…Karloff certainly wields a mean pistol. Another menace to add to Karloff's rogues gallery... The movie plays up an against-the-clock rush-time due to a pushy reporter who happens upon details of the case while Tracy and the cops are discussing everything at the station. As there is no honor among crooks, Karloff's team decide to try and turn on him, which is a big no-no.

Sporting one of the greatest faces in the history of cinema (not to mention one of the most distinctive and recognizable voices), William Pratt ("Boris Karloff") might very well have stepped full-blown from one of the Chester Gould DICK TRACY strips. Unlike the lousy (not to mention oh-so-expensive) Big Screen fiasco with Warren Beatty in the title role, DICK TRACY MEET GRUESOME is at least watchable- and Boris himself is the reason; had they thrown in the likes of, say, Rondo Hatten and/or Peter Lorre to further the Gould visual style, and had they gotten an actor of at least marginal charisma to play the lead, this one could've been one for the ages: it's not badly directed and the cinematography is appropriately low key. Its greatest fault lies in the WRITING; a familiar refrain, to be sure, but it's the reason this one isn't worth more than a single look.

I first saw this movie on late-night TV in the 1970s, and have seen it a few more times since. It has held up very well, except for the bank robbery scene, which really does get annoying on repeated viewings.The very effective opening sequence introduces us to the menacing Gruesome (Karloff), his partner in crime Melody, and creepy new associate X-Ray (Skelton Knaggs). Gruesome collapses after inhaling some experimental gas and ends up in the morgue. He awakens and lights a cigarette; Pat Patton, at this desk nearby, notices something in the air but goes back to his writing, and is soon knocked cold by Gruesome, who makes his escape. There's a deft mixture of suspense and comedy in this scene, capped by Patton's line to Tracy, "If I didn't know better I'd swear we were doing business with Boris Karloff!" By contrast, the bank robbery looks like a 50s sitcom, as the release of paralyzing gas causes everybody on the premises to freeze-frame in a cartoony manner. It's easy to understand why the scene was handled this way; a more realistic treatment that showed the bank customers clutching their throats and writhing as they crumbled to the floor might have been deemed too grim. But I wish this scene hadn't been played entirely as a joke, because it dispels the dark mood established by what went before. Most viewers probably don't consider the talky scene in which Tracy meets Professor I.M. Learned to be a highlight, but it's one of my favorite parts. I can't tell if June Clayworth (who plays Learned) was much of an actress, but she is just right as the mousy scholar who might or might not be trustworthy. Learned's confrontation with Tracy is alive with ambiguity, and fun to watch. There are many nice touches. Gruesome always has a toothpick in his mouth, and it shifts like the darting tongue of a reptile. When Gruesome and X-Ray bluff their way into a hospital by impersonating doctors, a desk guard asks Gruesome if he knows how to work the elevator. "Like the fingers on my hand", Gruesome replies, making a trigger-finger gesture.Strong cast, brisk pace, and nice visual style lift this movie a cut above the average programmer.