Dick Tracy vs. Cueball

The second of several old Dick Tracy films, this movie pits Tracy against another motley crew of villains. A bald convict named Cueball is the chief outlandish baddie in a rogues gallery of characters. This time around Tracy tries to bust up a diamond stealing conspiracy involving employees of a jewelry firm, an antique shop owner and of course, the bald Cueball.

Once again Morgan Conway does an admirable job as the sleuth from the Chester Gould comic. Anne Jeffries does a good job reprising her role of Tess from the first film. Lyle Lattell as Pat Patton is much more visable in this film than in the first and provides some decent spots of comic relief. The running gag is that he keeps getting knocked out by Cueball. It's no surprise that he became a staple of this series. Ian Keith as Vitamin Flintheart steals the show though, with his dimwitted antics that are showcased in the scene in the antique shop.

The compliments about the characters end at the main villain, Cueball. While most Dick Tracy characters from the strip have a one or more distinct characteristics (Flat Top's flat top, Prune Face's face and Measle's measles), Cueball has one lame gimmick: he's bald. He's extremely dumb as his weapon of choice: a belt. Cueball seems to bumble around and by luck find out that everyone is double-crossing him. You can't help but laugh as the stone-faced lummox whips out his belt which is an effective but underwhelming selection of weaponry. His death scene is even more humorous, considering that he knows it's coming, but doesn't make a sound.

All in all the second major Dick Tracy motion picture is a nice throwback to the glory days of comic strips. At the very least it's better than the disappointing Warren Beatty update. The weak main villain does hamper it though. Too bad none of these movies featured some of the villains from the comics. They would have been better if they had.

So where else would viewers see a friendly neighborhood dive called The Dripping Dagger, replete with a gleaming graphic of blood falling from a wicked-looking stabber. Sort of whets the old desire to drop in for a drink and maybe a piece of unelective surgery. Pretty good Tracy tongue-in-cheek. These programmers were always played straight, but the outlandish names tip off the real intent. Tracy's trying to track down a murderous jewel thief whose shaved head resembles that of a new-born. In those days, pure baldies were a rarity unlike today's hairless male fashion. Great cast that includes such visual eccentrics as the sepulchral Milton Parsons and the unfortunate Skelton Knaggs whose cratered face peering through a magnifying lens would frighten Frankenstein. But stealing the show is blowzy old Esther Howard who looks like she's been on a 60 year bender, and acts like a 60-year old Mike Tyson. So when she backs down even the burly strongman Cueball, we believe it. Actually, these entries get their appeal from the parade of human eccentrics that populate them. To me, however, the biggest mystery is why Tracy doesn't spend more time at home with the very uneccentric looking Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffries) who is enough to turn any man's head, square-jawed cop or not.

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.

Dick Tracy vs. Cueball starts at the comic strip level and then zips along with some finely turned performances (mostly by the supporting characters). Dick Tracy comes off a little wooden and bland."Cueball" , looks so perplexed and worried through the whole film that you kinda feel sorry for him , even though he goes around choking people to death .He does give his victims(most of them) the chance to talk it over or play it straight-above board, but they don't .They take him for a big goof.. er cue-ball...and well, they get what's coming to them.The visuals in this film are superior. Kudos go to cinematographer George Diskant and director Gordon Douglas for his interesting camera placements etc...Gotta love "The "Dripping Dagger"sign. If you like that "1940's Hollywood look", this film is worth a look.

The second of RKO's Dick Tracy movie series from the '40s. This is the last one featuring Morgan Conway as Tracy. The plot this time involves some stolen diamonds and a bald killer named Cueball (Dick Wessel). Cueball strangles his victims with a braided leather hatband. Why the writers gave him such a specific weapon instead of just a rope or piano wire or something I don't know but it's interesting. Cueball is not big on people double-crossing him, which several characters in the movie find out firsthand. Like the others in the series, this is an enjoyable "B" picture. I was very happy to see Vitamin Flintheart, one of my favorite characters from the Dick Tracy comic strip, show up here. He's wonderfully played by Ian Keith as a sort of send-up of John Barrymore. Another fun character was Filthy Flora (Esther Howard), who runs the Dripping Dagger bar. Interesting characters are what set the Dick Tracy film series (as well as the comic strip) apart from other detective stories.