Dick Tracy Collection: (Dick Tracy, Detective / Dick Tracy vs. Cueball / Dick Tracy's Dilemma / Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome)

Description

"Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome" starring Boris Karloff. Interview with creator Chester Gould. "Dick Tracy in B Flat" starring Bing Crosby (Tracy), Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore & Jimmy Durante. 4 Radio Broadcasts.

Customer Reviews:

For the Budget Conscious May I Suggest..........2006-11-12

I just watched two of these Tracy flicks, Dick Tracy Detective and Dick Tracy meets Gruesome and both were pretty good. They are Universal productions so unlike a Monogram or similar studio, these have a decent production quality.
I wont review the movies here but if your a Tracy fan you'll enjoy them. I got three of these flicks on the 50 Movie Pack Mystery ASIN: B0001HAGTW here at Amazon, and it was half the price of this package, its only 3 of the 4 films but you get another 47 movies to make up for it and the prints were decent.

Dick Tracy: The Ultimate Collection.......2001-02-20

If you liked the Dick Tracy comics, you'll love these 4 films. The first 2 on disc 1 star Morgan Conway, a little known actor, who does look the part. The other 2 on disc 2 bring back Ralph Byrd who played the role in 4 cliff hanger serials in the 30s. Plus there are some nice little extras after each movie on each side of each disc. So put on your yellow trenchcoats it's time for some grade B mysteries of grade A caliber.

Classic Dick Tracy (Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome / Dick Tracy VS Cueball / Dick Tracy's Dilemma)

Average customer rating:

Dick Tracy
Don't bother
Dick Tracy Bonanza
Dick Tracy Bonanza

Classic Dick Tracy (Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome / Dick Tracy VS Cueball / Dick Tracy's Dilemma)
Starring: Morgan Conway , Anne Jeffreys , Lyle Latell , Rita Corday , and Ian Keith
Director: Gordon Douglas , and John Rawlins
Manufacturer: Bfs Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005N5RV
Release Date: 2001-10-09

Description

3 Great Movies on 1 DVD. Star Power, Exciting Genre with Extras on each DVD.

Customer Reviews:

Dick Tracy .......2004-10-19

(...) the three films and a scant extras on CLASSIC DICK TRACY make it a tremendous value.
The films:
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome - Boris Karloff plays Gruesome, who robs banks and likes to incinerate his victims.
Dick Tracy vs. Cueball - Dick Wessel plays Cueball, who steals diamonds and likes to strangle his victims with a leather strap.
Dick Tracy's Dilemma - Jack Lambert plays The Claw, who steals furs and likes to hack his victims with the hook at the end of his right arm.
The extras: Short text biographies of Boris Karloff and Dick Tracy creator Chester Gould, a very short selected Karloff filmography, and a harmless page or two of Dick Tracy trivia.

"Gruesome" and "Dilemma" star Ralph Byrd as Tracy, a role his square jaw suggests he was born to play. Morgan Conway plays the super cop in "Cueball." Byrd played Tracy in an earlier serial, while Conway was the first to play him in a movie.
These short films were produced by RKO Radio Studios, which gave us some of the greatest psychological crime dramas in history. The production values, cinematography, and supporting cast are all above average for these quickly produced low budget films.
RKO gilded its reputation by presenting films that probed the twisted psychology or its heroes and villains. The beauty of formulaic entries like these Dick Tracy movies is that they avoid that approach entirely. The Bad Guy is wired to receive signals from nothing higher than his reptile brain. Gruesome, Cueball, and the Claw are simply evil, all greedy appetite with a well-honed fight-or-flight response. They have no depth at all. The short biography on Gould tells us that he wrote Tracy in reaction to the "glamorized" gangsters of the 1930s. He wanted to give the public a Good Guy to root for. Ergo Dick Tracy, a vacant trenchcoat and fedora who's hardwired to that attic space in the brain that controls our dedication to Justice and fighting Evil. Beyond canceling dinner dates with sweetheart Tess Trueheart (a running gag throughout all the movies, one which wore thin pretty quick) and chasing criminals, there isn't much to Tracy's personality. The criminals may have been drained of their glitz, but they're still a lot more interesting than the hero.
I enjoyed all these movies immensely. I'm not all that familiar with Dick Tracy, but I imagine we have Gould to thank for having his villains hang out with characters like Filthy Flora in such colorfully named dives as The Hanging Noose and the Dripping Dagger. Vitamins Flintheart, a bad and annoyingly flamboyant actor, and Tracy sidekick, seems a Gould character as well. The transfer seems uniformly well done. Things stay in focus and there's no buzzing on the soundtrack. Better yet, the transfer prints were in very good shape, considering their age. Best of all, these pleasant films are suitable for all ages.

Don't bother.......2002-12-25

The collection of Dick Tracy movies offered by the Roan Group is much better, and the Roan DVDs offer all of the movies on two discs. This set is not worth spending your money on. You will pay a lot more for a lot less by buying this.

Dick Tracy Bonanza.......2001-11-13

In 1945, the world beheld Dick Tracy, a popular comic strip, materialize to screen. The first film (which is not in this collection), was entertaining, but lacked the excitment, and the panache of the comic strip.
RKO Radio Pictures (it's distributar), realized this, and started to make pictures that were almost identical to the beloved comic strip.
"Dick Tracy Meets Cueball", was in the greatest Gould tradition. For one, Morgan Conway is just the image of good old Dick, and the story, is amazingly entertaining.
The others were exellent too, and here are the ratings and casts for each of them:

Dick Tracy Meets Cueball ***** PG
with Morgan Conway
Anne Jeffreys
Dick Wiesel
Lyle Latel
Rita Corday
Ian Keith

Dick Tracy's Dillema ***** PG
with Ralph Byrd
Lyle Latel
Ian Keith
Jack Lambert
Kay Christopher

BORIS KARLOFF.RALPH BYRD in
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome ***** G
with Anne Gwenn
Lyle Latel

Dick Tracy Bonanza.......2001-11-13

Great Detectives: Dick Tracy vs Cueball/Shadow

Average customer rating:

Great Detectives: Dick Tracy vs Cueball/Shadow
Starring: Great Detectives: Dick Tracy Vs Cuebal
Manufacturer: Mill Creek Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007P0Y04
Release Date: 2005-03-22

Crime Stoppers, Vol. 2: Fog Island/The Black Raven/Dick Tracy vs. Cueball

Average customer rating:

Dark & stormy nights...

Crime Stoppers, Vol. 2: Fog Island/The Black Raven/Dick Tracy vs. Cueball
Starring: Morgan Conway , Anne Jeffreys , Lyle Latell , Rita Corday , and Ian Keith
Director: Gordon Douglas , Terry O. Morse , and Sam Newfield
Manufacturer: Sling Shot
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005QCWZ
Release Date: 2001-10-16

Customer Reviews:

Dark & stormy nights..........2007-02-12

I enjoy films about people secluded in gloomy castles during storms. These films are quite enjoyable, despite a few slow moments in "Fog Island". This Volume 2 of "Crime Stoppers" isn't as exciting as the first, but still includes some fine old gems of the B-genre of the 40's. Vol.2 is good, but Volume 1 is excellent, with Karloff, Dick Tracy, etc. I'm hoping for a Volume 3...

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Dick Tracy VS Cueball

Manufacturer: Synergy Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000PC72RC
Release Date: 2007-04-13

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome + Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball (Double Feature)

Average customer rating:

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome + Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball (Double Feature)

Manufacturer: East West Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Product Features:

2 Feature Films
All Regions DVD

ASIN: B000IG86Y8

Product Description

Two movies on one DVD, first DICK TRACY MEETS GRUSOME, Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd)goes up a villain named Gruesome (Boris Karloff) who robs banks with a nerve gas. The second movie DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL, Dick Tracy (Morgan Conway) allows his girlfriend Tess (Anne Jeffreys) to act as a buyer for stolen gems, but his plan backfires when she is captured by homicidal Cueball (Dick Wessel).

Mystery Classics Volume 2: Dick Tracy Detective, Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome, Dick Tracy vs. Cueball, The Shadow Strikes (Scourge of the Underworld)

Average customer rating:

Mystery Classics Volume 2: Dick Tracy Detective, Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome, Dick Tracy vs. Cueball, The Shadow Strikes (Scourge of the Underworld)
Starring: Mystery Classics
Manufacturer: Mill Creek Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0009W3092
Release Date: 2004-01-01

Average customer rating:

Introducing Ian Keith As Vitamin Flintheart
Good Tracy adventure, but there are better.

Dick Tracy vs. Cueball
Starring: Morgan Conway , Anne Jeffreys , Lyle Latell , Rita Corday , and Ian Keith
Director: Gordon Douglas
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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Customer Reviews:

Introducing Ian Keith As Vitamin Flintheart.......2003-04-08

DICK TRACY VERSUS CUEBALL was a 1946 movie about a bald-headed robber and murderer who was sought by Dick Tracy. It was the second Dick Tracy film produced by RKO Radio Pictures and it marked the final appearances of Morgan Conway in the role of Dick Tracy and Anne Jeffreys as Tess Trueheart. The cast also included Dick Wessell in the role of Cueball and Ian Keith as Vitamin Flintheart.

Good Tracy adventure, but there are better........2003-03-13

The Dick Tracy movies from RKO offer a lot to keep them fresh even many years later. Without ever seeming spoofy, they inject a lot of Gould's cartoony sensibilities into what are basically hard-boiled thrillers.

Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball offers fewer of these virtues than others. I enjoy all of these pictures, but will use this space to say why you may enjoy others better.

Among DTvC's debits are the fact that Cueball is dull: he's simply a big bald thug, strong but not particularly smart. In addition, Vitamin Flintheart plays a role in this film; the actor portraying him is excellent, but the character is annoying and (despite his prominent role in the comic strips) out of place here, even though he is given a task to perform in the plot.

The movie's worst crime is that Tracy's sidekick Pat is made to be too [clumsy]- three times Cueball escapes due solely to his incompetence.

This is well-acted for a B-programmer, by a colorful cast, some of whom are given far too little to do. It is also less of a mystery than others; even when we know who is doing the killing in other Tracy movies, we don't know why. Here we know everything, and the story just sort of plays out without any real momentum being built until there is only 10 minutes left. There is a good chase climax which culminates ultimately in a weak, cop-out ending. There are also few of the noirish expressionistic shots that made the others so watchable. Like I said, it's all fine, but there are other episodes that are better than merely fine.

I like fan-favorite Ralph Byrd in the Tracy role as well, but Morgan Conway always seemed more the Tracy type to me, and he acquits himself well in this, one of his two attempts. Anne Jeffries is also very appealing as Tess. But then you consider that other episodes also included Boris Karloff, Anne Gwynne and Jane Greer, then you start to wish for more here.

I can't recommend buying this one individually when there are cheap collections of two or more Dick Tracy movies out there, but it IS inexpensive. And the quality of the dvd is quite good. I have noticed a marked increase in quality from Alpha Video since they first started to sell dvds.

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