Pretty Good

Good movie but grossly overrated

Best movie ever!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A nefarious murderer known to Dick Tracy (Morgan Conway) only as "splitface" has a target of 14 victims, and it's up to Tracy, his bumbling associates and the feisty Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys) to find and stop him. There's spooky hypnotists, a creepy mortician (any other kind in old movies?) and a mysterious femme fatale (Jane Greer) whose nightclub owner father may or may not be hiding the hideous fiend (Mike Mazurki). Dick has an adopted son, here, a science wiz kid played with amusing over confidence (in the character, not the actor) played by Mickey Kuhn. Milton Parsons, playing the aptly named coroner "Deathridge", is totally deadpan and hysterical.The film starts off on a creepy note with a young woman being strapped on the street, deathly afraid as Splitface face, unseen, approaches. While no real motive other than revenge is given for these gruesome murders, that is insignificant in the way it that the film is presented. There are some terrific elements in the dark photography, and the final confrontation between Dick Tracy and Splitface is exciting. Morgan Conway, cast as the title character, was not as well accepted as the previous actor, Ralph Byrd, and after only two films would be let go from that part, but he does a good enough job in this film that I could have seen him continuing. Anne Jeffreys is definitely the best test to heart that I have ever seen, and her intermingling with the smartly made up Greer is delightfully catty. I can see how film producers would thus cast Greer as Femme fatales in the genre of film noir where she excelled. While the series only lasted for four films, I found all of them to be extremely enjoyable and fast-moving. It certainly could have lasted another half dozen or so.

Previously, the DICK TRACY features I've been watching were the Republic serials starring Ralph Byrd; this 1945 film saw RKO take over production and reduce the running times to one-hour pictures. They also have a new hero here in the form of Morgan Conway, who isn't quite as much fun as Byrd was. The good news is that this fast-paced crime outing has a top villain the form of the hugely imposing 'Splitface', a nightmarish-looking creation who'd give Rondo Hatton a run for his money. The thrills and spills that follow are slick and surprisingly adult-themed in places, particularly that vicious opening murder sequence.

Splitface is the first of four Dick Tracy films from RKO. Morgan Conway is dull as the square jawed comic strip police hero. The film is really a noirish police thriller than a comic strip movie.Only the casting of Mike Mazurki as the scarred Splitface gives it a comic strip menace, a man who can stab people in a brutal fashion as he goes after the people who put him behind bars. There is also another villain, astrologer and hypnotist Professor Starling who can mesmerise people with his gaze.The film is pacy, we get Tess Trueheart waiting for a date with Tracy but really it comes across as creaky. It just goes to show that Warren Beatty really did an excellent job in his film version many decades later.

The first installment in RKO's short Dick Tracy series of films in the 1940s. This one sees Tracy (Morgan Conway) working on a case involving a string of murders committed by Splitface (Mike Mazurki). This series was churned out quickly and cheaply. So don't expect an "A" production from them. That being said, it's a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an hour. Fast-paced, fun detective stories with action and some comedy. Mike Mazurki is a great villain. Conway does fine as Tracy. Lyle Latell plays Tracy's bumbling sidekick Pat Patton. He's the movie's comic relief. Anne Jeffreys plays his Tracy's girlfriend Tess Trueheart. Also an early role for Jane Greer. Give it a shot and I'm sure you'll find it an enjoyable time-killer.