☆ ☆ ½
Dick
Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947) – J. Rawlins
Low budget serial that was soon to move to
TV, featuring Ralph Byrd as the fabled detective. Here, he comes face-to-face with Boris
Karloff as Gruesome, a nasty thug who gets his hands on a scientist’s new
chemical that has the power to freeze people in their tracks, virtually
unconscious (but actually freeze-framed).
This enables a major bank robbery but fortunately Dick’s girlfriend Tess
is in the phone booth at the bank, impervious to the gas and able to call the
cops. The comic book action is writ
large and fairly silly but not so much as Batman the 1960’s TV series (for
example). So, things might be a bit dull
if the proceedings weren’t lifted by Karloff’s special touch. Somehow I thought Tracy would be a bit
sterner but he seems a fun-loving joe here.
No gadgets anywhere in sight.
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