CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!
FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
mark.waltz One of the fifty worst films of all time? No. The worst of the four "Dick Tracy" feature films? Yes, but that doesn't make this a bad film, unlike what a 1978 film history book insinuated. It's still fast moving, action packed, often funny and more than just a passable time filler. This time, Dick Tracy (Morgan Conway) is on the lookout for Cueball (Dick Wessel), a bald ex-con still pulling jobs, now committing murders in a diamond theft racket. Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys) disguises herself as a socialite to find some stolen gems and crack the racket, while Dick Tracy searches for Cueball who is cracking necks. The supporting characters continue to be fascinating, with Ian Keith as a ham actor adept at imitating the common man you see on the street every day, Esther Howard as a saloon "madam" (who still looks like a waterfront bag lady) hiding Cueball, and Byron Foulger and Rita Corday as the brains behind the smuggling racket.While I rank this lower than others in the four part series, it isn't by much, with only a few minor flaws to keep it from being just as good. Esther Howard, who would score big in the film noir classic "Born to Kill", is unforgettable here, playing the same type of roles Thelma Ritter would later excel at (most similarly Ritter's part in "Pick-Up on South Street"), gets the showiest role and steels the film, and Corday is quite good in a scene where she bravely stands up to the much larger Wessel. Jeffreys once again proves herself the best of the Tess Trueheart's, putting on an uppity demeanor when decked out in furs and jewels. The conclusion is one that might have been pretty horrifying to watch in its day, absolutely gruesome in its insinuations. This was the end of the line for Conway as Tracy, making only one more film and replaced by serial Dick, Ralph Byrd.
classicsoncall The best thing about "Dick Tracy vs. Cueball" is the great cast of characters, all of whom were probably even more interesting than the title villain. I'm thinking of names like Percival Priceless (Douglas Walton), Filthy Flora (Esther Howard), and that strangely wonderful Vitamin Flintheart (Ian Keith). Even that creepy little guy named Rudolph played by Skelton Knaggs, I wish he had more screen time. You really couldn't take your eyes off him the few times he appeared. As for Cueball (Dick Wessel), there wasn't very much of a gimmick to his character - he had a bald head, and he didn't seem particularly frightening most of the time, always second guessing himself about how much he wanted for the stolen diamonds and how he was going to get it.The other cool thing about the picture was all those great period details. Come on now, could there really have been a bar named 'The Dripping Dagger'? With the neon outline of a knife and a simulated drop of blood - you just have to love that touch! With a proprietress to boot - Filthy Flora! You know, I don't doubt there could actually be a character like that for real, but I sure wouldn't want to run into her.I just saw Morgan Conway for the first time a few days ago in "Dick Tracy Detective" where he didn't make much of an impression. I liked him a lot better in this one, maybe because he seemed more in control. But that whole business about the murder weapon hat band was a little weak, Tracy having been set in the right direction by Junior Tracy (Jimmy Crane). Say, I'm curious about something. The ad for the hat band gave an address of Box 520, Desert City. You think the post office would know where to send correspondence? Keep an eye on an early scene when Mona Clyde places a note under the shop door to the Priceless Antiques shop. It appeared that she placed it entirely under the door, but when Tracy comes by to retrieve it, a large portion of the note is visible before it's picked up on the other side.At just over an hour, the film breezes by pretty smoothly, almost too quickly to enjoy the great atmosphere and impressive assortment of filming angles that add to the mystery. Just don't be too hard on the story for it's use of too convenient coincidences to solve the case, and especially that lame ending when Cueball gets his foot caught in the train tracks. Come on, don't you think even you could have gotten free?
Hitchcoc I have to agree with one of the previous reviewers. The title character seems rather depressed and confused. He doesn't have that monomania that these super criminals should have. He doesn't understand the diamond business and is constantly being swayed by the ebb and flow of the other bad guys. The fact that he strangles on once in a while isn't immaterial, but he seems rather pathetic. I suppose a man with a shaved head at one time would have seemed rather threatening. By modern standards, he would go about unnoticed. I wonder if they stopped making these films because they didn't have the budget to do justice to the villains and make them more that what they are. It is a reasonably well paced little movie and manages pretty well. I can't remember if Tracy had any personality in the comic strip. He certainly has almost none here. There is a little comic relief with his idiot sidekick getting struck on the head. He has more concussions than Troy Aikman. How a guy like this would keep a job on the police department is beyond me. It's still fun and worth an hour.
jcholguin Dick Tracy must solve the murder of the courier of $300,000 worth of diamonds. Only clue of the strangulation are bits of a material embedded in the neck. Soon two more killings and the same material. Tracy discovers that a specially ordered hat with a band around it is the murder weapon. From this Tracy deduces the killer - Cueball, that bald and passionless man. Friend or foe, old or young, no one is immune from the clutches of Cueball.Most of the scenes are at night which lead to a dark and gloomy feeling of dread in the city. This feeling adds to the sense of evil that Dick Tracy battles. A fine film with a fitting outcome for Cueball.
