Customer Reviews

Dick Tracy [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great treat for Dick Tracy fans. Before television we had to go to the Saturday morning movie matinees to see our action heros.

Cartoonist Chester Gould created this action hero in the early 1930's and by the middle 30's the FBI and gangsters were in all the newspaper & radio headlines. So Gould countered with Dick Tracy G-man (in the movie serials) & Dick Tracy cop hero in the comic strip.

The "Dick Tracy" (1937) Republic Pictures 15 episode action serial launched Ralph Byrds career as the super crime solving G-man/Sherlock Holmes sleuth. The movie version was always the international view while the comic strip was the local city crime storyline.

Thanks to VCI Entertainment for a great restoration job & super loaded 2 DVD package.

This 15 episode action packed serial is over 290 mins long and is presented with great picture & sound.

Extra features include: a background Commentary by famous Dick Tracy writer Max Allan Collins who penned the comic strip for 15 years after Goulds retirement. Special photo montage & Photo Gallery. Bonus 1945 Radio Show: Dick Tracy in B-Flat - a musical rendition of Dick Tracy with the voice of Bing Crosby as Tracy, Dinah Shore as Tesh Trueheart, Bob Hope as Flathead and many more big radio stars of the 40's. This is fun stuff.

Summary: Action serials are always more about the action packed journey & how our hero escapes the bad guys at the cliff hanging ending chapters than the actual story. We need to have a thrill filled 20 minutes each week and then painfully wait until next week for the continuing saga to take us to more excitement until the finale on chapter/week 15.

Dick Tracy delivers all we expect in an action hero and this being one of the first serials gives us a taste of the world of 1937. Enjoy.

There are lots of familiar faces in this one, such as Smiley Brunette, Lee Van Atta, Carleton Young (who was Ellery Queen on radio), Francis X. Bushman. But part of the charm of this serial comes from the sprinkling of rather bizarre characters such as the clown, the demented scientist, the miner, and of course the principal bad guy, the Lame One.

Anyone who has seen FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS will notice lots of similarities and for this reason, I suggest getting DICK TRACY first. The other serial used a lot of footage from this one. The flying wing, the hunchback scientist, Carleton Young, the crushing ship chapter ending are all in the later serial.

Ralph Byrd is the definitive Dick Tracy. I didn't remember his being a G man, but the serial does predate my acquaintance with the comic strip.

All in all, this is definitely one of the better serials. As an earlier Republic serial, you won't see as much stunt action, choreographed fights and telegraphed chapter endings as in the later ones, but the elements are still there. This is one of the times I wish there was a 4 and a half star designation.

IF YOU ARE A SERIAL FAN... THEN THIS IS A GREAT DVD FOR YOU. THERE ARE ENOUGH CLIFF-HANGERS TO SATISIFY ANY BUFF AND IT IS WONDERFUL TO SEE THESE OLD MOVIES MAKING A COMEBACK ON DVD. MARENGO FILMS HAS DONE A GREAT JOB OF RESTORING THIS OLD FILM THE VIDEO PORTION IS NEARLY PERFECT AND THE SOUND QUALITY IS EXCELLENT... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE WHO LOVES SERIALS.

Ralph Byrd defined the role of America's favorite G-Man by playing Dick tracy in over 10 films and a television series. Dick Tracy (Republic, 1937) was his first foray into the role that became his. The Lame One, head of the Spider Ring is attempting to take over North America, but first he must get rid of Dick tracy. The Lame One has captured Gordon, Dick's brother and through a Brain surgery has made him his slave. The Lame One and Co. navigate the skies using the Flying Wing, a miniture version of the Stealth Bomber (later re-used in the Fighting Devil Dogs). Dick and his G-Men must foil the Spdier Ring's attempts throguh 15, 20 minute chapters of pulse pounding excitement

Solid Gold for a classic film lover!

DICK TRACY was a serial produced by Republic only six years after the popular comic strip hero made his first appearance in the Chicago Tribune- New York News Syndicate Newspapers. Throughout fifteen chapters the detective dueled with the Spider Gang whose leader was known as the Lame One. DICK TRACY was one of the better serials made during the 1930's.

Ralph Byrd had the role of Dick Tracy and the supporting cast included Kay Hughes, Smiley Burnette, Lee Van Atta and Francis X. Bushman. My favorite movie prop in this serial had to be the Flying Wing.

Ralph Byrd and the supporting cast do a fine job of bringing Dick Tracy to the screen. There's plenty of action, of course, and the well-known "stealth bomber" plane that is indeed worth seeing. Lee van Atta does a fine job as the kid (equally good in Crash Corrigan's Undersea Kingdom serial too) helping Tracy, while the villains are smart and sinister. John Piccori, as a mad scientist assisting the ringleader hams it up splendidly, and Carleton Young, as Tracy's brother who is turned into a villain by the mad doctor, is wonderfully cold and unscrupulous. Personally, I like the Dick Tracy vs Crime, Inc. serial that came a little later better. It has a more intimate story with a more convoluted mystery as the suspects are eliminated one by one by the real killer. That is the only reason I rate this a 4 instead of a 5. I hope the other Tracy serials turn up on DVD soon.

DICK TRACY was a serial produced by Republic only six years after the popular comic strip hero made his first appearance in the Chicago Tribune- New York News Syndicate Newspapers. Throughout fifteen chapters the detective dueled with the Spider Gang whose leader was known as the Lame One. DICK TRACY was one of the better serials made during the 1930's.

Ralph Byrd had the role of Dick Tracy and the supporting cast included Kay Hughes, Smiley Burnette, Lee Van Atta and Francis X. Bushman. My favorite movie prop in this serial had to be the Flying Wing.

Ralph Byrd and the supporting cast do a fine job of bringing Dick Tracy to the screen. There's plenty of action, of course, and the well-known "stealth bomber" plane that is indeed worth seeing. Lee van Atta does a fine job as the kid (equally good in Crash Corrigan's Undersea Kingdom serial too) helping Tracy, while the villains are smart and sinister. John Piccori, as a mad scientist assisting the ringleader hams it up splendidly, and Carleton Young, as Tracy's brother who is turned into a villain by the mad doctor, is wonderfully cold and unscrupulous. Personally, I like the Dick Tracy vs Crime, Inc. serial that came a little later better. It has a more intimate story with a more convoluted mystery as the suspects are eliminated one by one by the real killer. That is the only reason I rate this a 4 instead of a 5. I hope the other Tracy serials turn up on DVD soon.

Not the greatest serial and not the greatest quality release! The serial is just weak! The villains are really pathetic and it really gets old seeing them get bettered by Tracy's crew episode after episode! Lots of action in every episode and if you can take Smiley Burnet's clowning and blundering it's a good time if taken in small doses. An episode a week would be ideal! This is a one disc issue so the video quality is not exactly sharp and clear but is acceptable for the material as well as the somewhat low level of the soundtrack! Everything is fairly clean with no excessive background hum or pops. Stay away from the Madacy 2-disc issue as this has excessive hum and noise as well as pops and video skips (a la Alpha Video)! This is a good budget version release and should do the trick for most viewers but it's not on the level of the better restored serials out there now!

One of the most popular serial heros. Testimony to this is the fact of four serials. The only others were Flash Gordon (4) and Zorro. The action was good and it was very popular. Ralph Byrd was the definitive "Tracy" A good story line was in evidence. Get them all and you won't regret it. The Cliffhangers are great.