Watch Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome For Free

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Blistering performances.

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

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.

The reason I like to dip into old "mysteries" is because sometimes they are extremely clever. This one has one of the more interesting ideas behind it.Oh, the movie itself is as dull as a soft brick. A newspaper rat threatens to report on the problem, throwing people into a panic and causing a run on the banks... unless Tracy comes through in a few hours.But the idea is sweet.The bad guy here is played by Boris Karloff. In the first few minutes, there is a joke about the strangeness being like dealing with Boris Karloff. He plays a guy who apparently dies and then comes to life. He coopts a good-hearted but twisted scientist who has created a seemingly magical formula. The formula causes people to freeze (while banks are robbed) , allowing for an inexpensive cinematic effect.The bad guy's sidekick is x-ray. Tracy's final ruse has him bandaged up like the mummy. The film itself is a bore. But you can imagine the glee in the home of the writer, when he put this together. Writers. Love em.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

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.

I have long been familiar with Dick Tracy through first his comic strip when I was a kid in the '70s, then an Archie series that showcased animated comic strips, then an early '60s cartoon series from UPA, then Warren Beaty's 1990 movie and now from the last of four RKO Tracy movies from the '40s. As he had in some late '30s Republic serials and the previous RKO entry, Ralph Byrd plays the title character whose nemesis here is the other title character played by the legendary Boris Karloff. It involves a gas that paralyzes people for several minutes that makes it easy for Karloff and his cohorts to come in an rob a bank. Also in the bank is Tess Truehart (Anne Gwynne) who happens to be in a phone booth when the gas goes off so she isn't affected and calls boyfriend Tracy as the robbery takes place. Nicely dramatic and comedic use of freeze-frame throughout with subsequent action sequences an added bonus. Very good performances from Karloff and his cohorts Skelton Knaggs as X-Ray and Tony Barrett as Melody. The good guys aren't so bad either! I liked Pat's line about doing business with Boris Karloff the best. Well worth seeing for fans of '40s series programmers. P.S. Jason Robards, Sr. plays the bank vice president here.