Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome

Plot synopsis:
Just out of jail, Gruesome (Boris Karloff) goes to the Hangman's Knot saloon, where his old crime crony, Melody (Tony Barrett), is now playing piano. Gruesome takes him to a plastics manufacturer, where X-Ray (Skelton Knaggs) and a mysterious mastermind are in possession of a secret formula and hatching a sinister plot.
Ignoring a warning not to touch anything, Gruesome sniffs a mysterious test tube that paralyzes him. He appears to be dead and is taken to the city morgue.
Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) is at headquarters speaking with college professor Dr. A. Tomic (Milton Parsons), a scientist who suspects someone has been following him. At the morgue, Tracy's sidekick Pat (Lyle Latell) has his back turned when Gruesome wakes up and knocks him out. Pat describes him to Tracy as looking a lot like the actor Boris Karloff (a gag cribbed from Arsenic and Old Lace).
At a bank where Tess Trueheart (Anne Gwynne) happens to be, Gruesome and Melody use nerve gas to incapacitate the customers and the security guard. They rob the place of more than $100,000 and shoot a cop on the sidewalk before Tracy and his men arrive. Gruesome demands half of the loot from X-Ray .... or else.
Tracy tries to learn the secret of the formula from Dr. Tomic's top assistant, Professor Learned (June Clayworth), before going after Gruesome and his gang. It all ends in a shootout, with Gruesome shot by Tracy and then back at headquarters, where Tracy ends up frozen by nerve gas just as he's about to kiss Tess.

Tags: cult, murder, violence

Review:
While none of the four Dick Tracy films made by RKO in the 1940's are particularly extraordinary they're fun, the actors are charming, and the atmosphere of the films is nice and seedy.
M. Learned) in with the bargain basement film noir that manages to set the films somewhat apart from other crime-themed B-films of the time.The final film in the series, Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome, is probably the best of the four, mostly due to the absolutely wonderful cast.
Everyone is great.The story, concerning Karloff using a gas that puts people into temporary suspended animation to rob a bank, moves at a gallop and is delivered with humor and style.
But it is Boris Karloff, in the role of "Gruesome", who lifts the movie above the norm for its genre.
He makes his character come vividly to life, and makes him into a believable and formidable foe for Tracy.The story is enjoyable, if a bit on the wacky side, with a gang of criminals taking advantage of a gas that is supposed to cause temporary paralysis in anyone who breathes it.
Tess and Pat also get their moments as they help Tracy track down the gang.Karloff was an impressive and unusual talent, using his appearance, voice, and mannerisms in all kinds of ways, generally relying on the little things and on understated actions to create his character.
Gruesome, played by Boris Karloff, looks as if he just stepped out of the Chester Gould strip (without the lavish makeup of the 1990s version) and several supporting characters also have the grotesque look that made the comic popular.
While they're in suspended animation, the baddies can rob the bank (the perfect plan huh?) Anyway, it's up to Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) to solve the mystery and put an end to Gruesome's crime spree.
It's all good fun with more plot than you'd expect and a solid amount of screen time to Karloff.
Boris Karloff Elevates This Dick Tracy Film.
This is a good little film and the first one that I saw Skelton Knaggs listed in the credits--he is a hoot to watch as X-Ray!!
Something about this late actor is funny to watch, I don't know if it is his voice or his looks or what, but he is something else in this film.But I found this film  to be very enjoyable and fun to watch--in fact, all of the Dick Tracy films from the 1940's are good ones.
Good character names all around--Lee Thal, A.Tomic-- wonder if they came from the comic strip or the screenwriters?
Meanwhile Gruesome gets away.The chatty bank guard is good.Boris Karloff wanted to be gruesomer than usual so he decided to copy Moe's hairstyle from the Three Stooges.
"Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome" was the last of the Dick Tracy films, but the series ends on a high note, with Boris Karloff as Gruesome, and he's true to his name.
Gruesome is the head honcho, but he's not going to be easy to catch.The characters in the film all have the grotesque look of the comic strip characters and the same crazy names, I.M. Learned, A.
I think that characterization of Tess as good-looking and sharp works better for the character than a sweet girl next door type.This Dick Tracy was more expensive the others and stars the preferred Tracy, Ralph Byrd, who also did the Dick Tracy TV series.Enjoyable..
Dick Tracy vs Boris Karloff.
Horror great Boris Karloff plays the villain Gruesome.
Skelton Knaggs is also in this as Gruesome's cohort in crime, X-Ray. More characters with fun names like a piano player named Melody and several doctors (Dr. L.E. Thal, Dr. A.
It has held up very well, except for the bank robbery scene, which really does get annoying on repeated viewings.The very effective opening sequence introduces us to the menacing Gruesome (Karloff), his partner in crime Melody, and creepy new associate X-Ray (Skelton Knaggs).
There's a deft mixture of suspense and comedy in this scene, capped by Patton's line to Tracy, "If I didn't know better I'd swear we were doing business with Boris Karloff!" By contrast, the bank robbery looks like a 50s sitcom, as the release of paralyzing gas causes everybody on the premises to freeze-frame in a cartoony manner.
"Like the fingers on my hand", Gruesome replies, making a trigger-finger gesture.Strong cast, brisk pace, and nice visual style lift this movie a cut above the average programmer..
Boris Karloff as Gruesome adds a genuine feeling of menace to this addition of Dick Tracy potboilers.
A superb example of twisted criminal logic!Once again, the character of Dick Tracy is dull and goes through the motions but gets his man in the end anyway.
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.
Never saw a Dick Tracy movie before and wow.This one with Boris Karloff is just amazing.Very tight and well directed.But it's Karloff who makes the film.
Playing Gruesome, he's like no other Karloff you've seen in movies..
Paralysis Gas. Dick Tracy and his exploits step into the world of science fiction Ralph Byrd as animation's favorite square jawed police detective gets involved with none other than Boris Karloff as Gruesome in Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome.Usually Boris Karloff is the mad scientist concocting such things as a paralysis nerve gas which leaves folks paralyzed so that others think they could be dead.
When he gets up and walks out of the morgue making Latell the victim of a horse laugh that's only the beginning.Karloff realizes the possibilities as does the inventor of the paralysis gas for criminal enterprise and he uses it in several bank jobs.
Tess played by B movie queen Anne Gwynne.Byrd is put in some real harm's way in the final confrontation with Karloff.
Gruesome is pretty ruthless in eliminating witnesses and Byrd is almost caught in the trap he set for him.Boris Karloff as Gruesome lifts Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome a notch over a lot of B films..
Yes, this was a B picture in the late 40's and actors still had to make a living and (Boris Karloff) as Gruesome was the best selection by director John Rawlins.
Realizing the great criminal opportunities of the strange gas, Gruesome, an ex-convict, enlists Thal's aid in a bank robbery.
"Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome" is a thriller-diller only because Boris Karloff is the star performer.
The other entries in the Dick Tracy series are cartoonish and juvenile, but this one has a plot, good production values and better than competent acting.
Hiring Boris Karloff was inspired casting as he adds immeasurable status to the film with his vivid portrayal of Gruesome.The most striking aspect of the production was the unusually absorbing screenplay of the type not often seen in a programmer - just swallow a bit and go with it, and it works.
I'm fantasizing what I could do with the stop-action chemical compound that the bank robbers use in this film, the best of the Tracy's.
Ralph Byrd does his good old dependable Dick Tracy, which is a darn sight better than the Warren Beatty version, and Anne Gywnne is a sexy and spunky Tess Trueheart, but the villains are the real show.
The guy playing X-ray is really creepy and looks like a true degenerate, and Boris Karloff does an expert turn playing a sociopath.
This villain is a little more subtle than your typical Karloff character, and if you watch him, you really can see what a pro the guy was, how deftly he could go from mood to mood, making it look easy.The strange names of the characters and the freezing gas are the tribute this film pays to its comic strip origins, but there is also a strong noir influence, which makes perfect sense, being as this flick was made at the height of the film noir period.
The Karloff character, Gruesome, is a classic film noir sociopath.
Too bad Karloff didn't more gangster roles; it might have been a second career for him.An interesting note: the villains' plot involves paralyzing bank employees and customers while they loot the joint.
"Gruesome" doesn't work as well as some of the other Tracy's, I think the very presence of Karloff means that at times it gets reduced to semi-comic camp melodrama.
OK in Walter Mitty et al but not really desirable in a 65 minute formulaic B film of this kind.However, getting into the ambiance I warmed to the premise of body-clock-stopping bank robbers, the freeze frames generally working on both dramatic and comic levels.
Good Dick Tracy Movie.
This time Dick Tracy find a new nemesis called Gruesome!
Gruesome gets a hold of this chemical gas and uses it in a major bank robbery!
Gruesome gets away just in time and Tracy along with his sidekick Pat are out to solve the strange case.Another good Dick Tracy movie - fun to watch!
And Boris Karloff as Gruesome added even more fun to the film!!
But the Characters personified are more of that specialized Tracy Comic-Strip charm.Boris Karloff is decidedly "Gruesome", carries the show and steals every Scene He appears.
This is the best of the Dick Tracey movies I have seen, where he meets the great Boris Karloff.In this one, Tracey is assigned to investigate a series of robberies where the robbers use a nerve gas to "freeze" everybody while they pinch the stuff.
Tracy's investigation leads him to the gang leader, Gruesome (Karloff) and the lab where the gas is made.Joing Boris in the cast are Ralph Bryd as Dick Tracy and Anne Gwynne as his wife.Watch this one if you get the chance, worth seeing just for Boris alone.Rating: 3 stars out of 5..
Gruesome gives him a run for his money, outwitting Tracy's detectives, using the amazing freeze gas, and just killing whoever gets in his way.
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome is worthy final series entry.
It involves a gas that paralyzes people for several minutes that makes it easy for Karloff and his cohorts to come in an rob a bank.
Also in the bank is Tess Truehart (Anne Gwynne) who happens to be in a phone booth when the gas goes off so she isn't affected and calls boyfriend Tracy as the robbery takes place.
Boris Karloff as the character Gruesome has the perfect face "sourpuss" for the role.
This film had too many elements of a comic strip such as the plot and the names like "X-ray, A.
Sporting one of the greatest faces in the history of cinema (not to mention one of the most distinctive and recognizable voices), William Pratt ("Boris Karloff") might very well have stepped full-blown from one of the Chester Gould DICK TRACY strips.
Unlike the lousy (not to mention oh-so-expensive) Big Screen fiasco with Warren Beatty in the title role, DICK TRACY MEET GRUESOME is at least watchable- and Boris himself is the reason; had they thrown in the likes of, say, Rondo Hatten and/or Peter Lorre to further the Gould visual style, and had they gotten an actor of at least marginal charisma to play the lead, this one could've been one for the ages: it's not badly directed and the cinematography is appropriately low key.
Originated by Chester Gould's syndicated comic strip, Dick Tracy has been a durable cinematic character with appearances ranging from 1930s serials to an over-hyped 1990 blockbuster-style motion picture starring Warren Beatty and Madonna--but the character's film appearances are perhaps most fondly recalled from the 1940s RKO Pictures series.
Written with stacco dialogue and seldom running more than an hour, they were welcome "B" movies at almost every matinée.The 1947 DICK TRACY MEETS GRUESOME is very typical of the series in terms of style, plot, and Ralph Byrd, who frequently played the character; it is atypical in the sense that it also features a major star, none other than Boris Karloff, who appears as Gruesome.
The last of the RKO series starring RALPH BYRD, it has him hunting down Gruesome (BORIS KARLOFF) after a bank robbery in which a gas freezes the bank's customers and clerks in mid-position while the robbery takes place.
It's a novel idea and nicely staged, as ANNE GWYNNE (who plays Tess Trueheart) enters an enclosed telephone booth and sees the action take place while she eludes the gas herself.Too bad the rest of the story doesn't match this early scene for a hint of originality.
I got a great kick out of the line Dick Tracy's detective assistant Pat Patton (Lyle Latell) used referencing the star of the film.
It's the second time I know of when Boris Karloff or one of his characters is called by name in a movie.
In "Charlie Chan At The Opera", a stage manager responds to a ruckus in the theater by proclaiming - "This opera is going on tonight even if Frankenstein walks in!""Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome" is a wonderful take on the comic strip of the 1940's and '50's as I remember them.
Tomic and his aide I.M. Learned, while Boris Karloff as Gruesome takes up with a gangster named Lee Thal.
It's too bad audiences of today are too sophisticated to find the fun in this kind of punditry.At the center of the story is a newly discovered gas formula that renders it's victims motionless, and comes in handy for Gruesome in pulling off a bank job.
For his part, Ralph Byrd as Dick Tracy reminded me a little bit of actor Pat O'Brien.
Tracy's girlfriend Tess Trueheart was played fetchingly by Anne Gwynne, and rounding out the bad guy cast were Skelton Knaggs as X-Ray and Tony Barrett as piano player Melody.This is the first Dick Tracy film I've seen, and it had enough of the Chester Gould comic strip fun to suggest looking up some of the other titles.
**SPOILERS** Having escaped from the joint Gruesome, Boris Karloff, meets his contact outside of prison Melody Fiske, Tony Barrett, at the seedy Hangman's Knot Bar to reactivate his criminal career that a stint in jail put on hold.It's almost by accident that Gruesome found out about Melody's partner in crime Dr. Lee Thal's, Edward Ashley, secret formula in freezing in place people for as much as 15 minutes.
This has Tracy put his life on the line in working against the clock to apprehend Gruesome before he pulls off his next bank robbery using his mind as well as body numbing freeze bomb.
Not to mention the dangerous Gruesome himself who would like nothing better then to put Tracy out of action and out of his hair forever.
We have in the movie's cast of characters Tracy's bumbling assistant plainclothesman Pat Patton, Lyle Latell, who's anything like his "Blood & Guts" namesake-Gen George Patton-in getting the job done.
There's also in the cast nuclear physicist Dr. A.Tomic, Milton Parsons, whom we can assume the A-Bomb was named after together with Dr. Lee Thal skeletal-like skin and bones assistant X-Ray played by the apply named actor Skelton Knaggs!
The last of the Dick Tracy movie series staring Ralph Byrd who three years later returned to play the famous comic-strip detective on TV only to die from a sudden heart-attack at age 43 on August 18, 1952 before the start of the series third season..
Boris Karloff robs a bank and steal the show.
When released the gas freezes everybody where they stand; the only witness is Dick Tracy's girlfriend who was in a phone box at the time.
As the gang flee Melody shoots a policeman and soon Dick Tracy and the homicide squad are on their trail.This story is was rather fun if more than a little preposterous; not only does the gas instantly freeze people it also seems to negate the laws of physics concerning the conservation of momentum moving people do not fall over and when they wake they move as if nothing has happened.
Ralph Byrd does a solid job as Dick Tracy but it is Boris Karloff who steals the show with his performance as Gruesome; playing the role straight rather than overplaying the part.
unless Tracy comes through in a few hours.But the idea is sweet.The bad guy here is played by Boris Karloff.
The formula causes people to freeze (while banks are robbed) , allowing for an inexpensive cinematic effect.The bad guy's sidekick is x-ray.
Ralph Byrd takes a back seat in this entry to the top billed Boris Karloff who gets top billing.
A badly scarred man reacts to Karloff's name of Gruesome as rather appropriate, and other characters have the typical odd quirks that you could only expect in a Dick Tracy comic strip/feature film.
Ralph Byrd returns to the role of the titular detective hero, this time battling against a creepy-looking villain who uses nerve gas to commit bank robberies.
Tomic's assistant, a wonderful scene at the taxidermist, and a refreshing sidelining of the reporter.Tracy was a physical role, as generic as it gets, the generic copper, and the leading actor was serviceable.This series deserves being legendary..
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome.
Here in "Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome", Karloff returns to the kind of heavies notable during his Warner Bros.
Enter Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd), on the case to help the police catch Gruesome and his gang, during his investigation the detective is led to a scientist named Dr. A.
The main problem with both these films were the moronic writing--they just didn't make any attempt to fix plot holes or make the movies make any sense--even within the oddly surreal Dick Tracy world.
CUEBALL) were much better films as the writing was very good.The biggest plus of this film is having Boris Karloff as the title character and villain.
The overall plot of the sleeping gas is exactly like the sort of plot you might find in an old Dick Tracy cartoon.