Dick Tracy vs. Cueball

Aficionados of forgotten "B" Pictures should enjoy this one, which for some unaccountable reason is listed by Medved as one of the fifty worst films of all time. Photographed stylishly by George Diskant and directed imaginatively by the under-rated Gordon Douglas (who would go on to direct both Elvis and Sinatra) this film is far superior in look to many of the better known low-budget film noirs of the same period. RKO Studios spent a lot more money building sets and dressing them than did their B picture rivals. Douglas took advantage of the superior production values to invent some very unusual shots often using a subjective camera technique usually not associated with these programmers. Despite the wooden acting of Morgan Conway as Tracey, the cast includes some of Hollywood's best character actors, among them the eternally frowzy Esther Howard as the proprietress of the Dripping Dagger café; Ian Keith hamming it up delightfully as Vitamin Flintheart, and Jason Robards Sr., father of the great Eugene O'Neill actor, Jason Jr., briefly seen as the captain of the S.S. Palomar.