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.

Dick is faced with a series of brutal murders in which the victims, all from different social and economic backgrounds, are viciously slashed to pieces. Suspects abound but Tracy, getting a clue that there will be fifteen murders in all, must find the common thread among the victims before more are killed. These RKO B pictures are really good. I've very surprised that given Hollywood's lack of creativity these days that no one is developing a Dick Tracy series. The movie will not change your life, but it's satisfying and a decent watch.

You can take this as intended, a minor story with familiar characters cast more of less (however incongruously) in noir terms -- noir at least in terms of the out-of-the-blue deaths of the victims.Or you can watch it as one in several in a line bridging comics and movies. It wasn't until Tim Burton's "Batman" then Beatty's "Tracy" that we will really have a comic reality with abstractions specific to comics.It is a major addition to the vocabulary of film realities, still evolving but probably as important as noir and the detective narrative. You could probably skip this movie in tracing the history back, but if you happen to stumble on it there are some interesting features.One is the very deliberate attempt at noir. The detective clearly emulates Bogart's speech. The girls are noirish, which is to say that they are halfway between characters and props. The photography is deliberately in that direction.But instead of referencing the comic itself, it derives from the radio version of the comic in the way the story moves. (A mutilated con takes revenge on the jury that convicted him.)Along the way, we have a smooth night club owner (who doesn't know how to manage apostrophes), a creepy mortician named "Deathridge," and a spooky "student of the occult" who seems to have deep insights into the noirish fate to come.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

DICK TRACY has the film noir look of the '40s and some interesting plot devices involving a slasher out for revenge. With its brief running time and low-budget values, it's strictly the kind of fare that used to play the lower half of double bills for the Saturday matinee crowds.Still, it's not bad as far as these B-pics go (some excellent B&W photography)--but MORGAN CONWAY is nobody's idea of what the famous sleuth should look like. RALPH BYRD was a much better choice in those Tracy serials--he must have been busy when they got to making this one. Anne Jeffreys is pert and pretty as Tess but has little to do. (Did Hollywood ever give her a substantial role?) Little Mickey Kuhn (he was Beau Wilkes in GWTW and the young man Vivien Leigh flirted with in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE) is delightful as the boy detective who helps solve the case.For the villain of the piece, we have Mike Mazurki wearing a scar that looks like a decent make-up job and hulking in the shadows whenever the next murder takes place. Not bad, and certainly one of the better entries in the DICK TRACY films of the '40s--but what it needed was square-jawed RALPH BYRD in the title role.Summing up: a good programmer.