Dick Tracy Returns (1938)

Directors:

John English
William Witney

Writers:

Barry Shipman (original screenplay) &
Franklin Adreon (original screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 August 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Romance

Tagline:

AMERICA'S FAVORITE HERO leaps into vivid life from the famous newspaper strip cartoon NEW action, NEW mystery...but the same old master-sleuth - (original one-sheet poster)

Plot:

Dick Tracy battles spies and saboteurs in his efforts to bring to justice the Stark gang, a criminal family led by the vicious Pa Stark. |

Plot Keywords:

Saboteur | Gang | Spy | Dick Tracy | Boss

Cast

Ralph Byrd	...	Dick Tracy
Lynne Roberts	...	Gwen Andrews (as Lynn Roberts)
Charles Middleton	...	Pa Stark
Jerry Tucker	...	Junior
David Sharpe	...	Agent Ron Merton
Lee Ford	...	Mike McGurk
Michael Kent	...	Agent Steve Lockwood
John Merton	...	Champ Stark
Ray Bennett	...	Trigger Stark (as Raphael Bennett)
Jack Roberts	...	Dude Stark
Ned Glass	...	Kid Stark [Chs. 1, 13]
Eddie Foster	...	Joe Hanner, Taxi Driver [Chs. 1, 13] (as Edward Foster)
Alan Gregg	...	Jimmy 'Snub' Madison, thug
Reed Howes	...	Agent Rance
Bob Terry	...	Agent Reynolds (as Robert Terry)

Runtime:

260 min | 254 min (15 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures

Trivia:

Chapter Titles: 1. The Sky Wreckers 2. The Runaway Of Death 3. Handcuffed To Doom 4. Four Seconds To Live 5. Death In The Air 6. Stolen Secrets 7. Tower Of Death 8. Cargo Of Destruction 9. The Clock Of Doom 10.High Voltage 11. The Kidnapped Witness 12.The Runaway Torpedo 13.Passengers To Doom 14.In The Hands Of The Enemy 15.G-Men's Dragnet

Movie Connections:

Followed by Dick Tracy's G-Men (1939)

One of the best serials

There are good serials and there are mostly bad ones. The bad ones are cheaply made and very boring and use lots of "stock footage". This is the exception. The storyline is very original and is full of action. There are also lots of location scenes and the special effects were used here for the first time and not made for some other serial and reused here. I can see why serials were discontinued around the early fifties. TV came along and by then the serials were nothing like this one. It would be nice to get a nice print on a DVD of this one. My only problem and the reason I would give this a 9 instead of a 10 is the background music. For most of the scenes it is great but when they start fighting it goes to some speeded up uncomprehensible music that should only be used in a cheap western, otherwise it is terrific.