Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)
Overview
A gang of criminals, which includes a piano player and an imposing former convict known as 'Gruesome', has found out about a scientist's secret formula for a gas that temporarily paralyzes anyone who breathes it. When Gruesome accidentally inhales some of the gas and passes out, the police think he is dead and take him to the morgue, where he later revives and escapes. This puzzling incident attracts the interest of Dick Tracy, and when the criminals later use the gas to rob a bank, Tracy realizes that he must devote his entire attention to stopping them.
Cast
Boris Karloff
Gruesome
Ralph Byrd
Dick Tracy
Anne Gwynne
Tess Trueheart
Edward Ashley
Dr. L.E. Thal
June Clayworth
Dr. I.M. "Irma" Learned
Lyle Latell
Pat Patton
Tony Barrett
Melody
Skelton Knaggs
X-Ray
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CinemaSerf
Now this made me laugh - it is certainly one of the more preposterous of these adventure yarns. Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) and Tess Trueheart (Anne Gwynne) are called in to investigate a series of intriguing bank robberies where the customers/staff are poleaxed by a nerve gas that enables the robbers to calmly rob the place without anyone even knowing. Of course, at the bottom of the dastardly scene is "Gruesome" - one of the livelier outings for Boris Karloff that I've seen. The script is terrible, and the still-life effects are pretty cheap and cheerful photographic freezes, but you can tell that they - including the wonderful research scientist "I.M. Learned" and Skelton Knaggs ("X-ray") - are having a good time on set. They are there to entertain us, and that they do.
