''Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome'' (also known as ''Dick Tracy Meets Karloff'' and ''Dick Tracy's Amazing Adventure'' (UK) ) is a 1947 thriller film starring

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film '' Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established ...

Ralph Byrd Ralph Byrd (April 22, 1909 – August 18, 1952) was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, films and television. Early life and career The son of George and Edna ...

, and

Anne Gwynne Anne Gwynne (born Marguerite Gwynne Trice; December 10, 1918 – March 31, 2003) was an American actress who was known as one of the first scream queens because of her numerous appearances in horror films. Gwynne was also one of the most popula ...

. The film is the fourth and final installment of the ''Dick Tracy'' film series released by

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

.Stephen Jacobs, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster'', Tomahawk Press 2011 p 322-323

Plot

Just out of jail, Gruesome (Boris Karloff) goes to the Hangman's Knot saloon, where his old crime crony, Melody (

Tony Barrett Tony Barrett (born Martin Lefkowitz; May 24, 1916 – November 16, 1974) was an American actor, writer, and producer. He was born on May 24, 1916 New York City. He worked as a radio and screen actor, screenwriter, and television writer and pro ...

), is now playing piano. Gruesome takes him to a plastics manufacturer, where X-Ray (

Skelton Knaggs Skelton Barnaby Knaggs (27 June 1911 – 30 April 1955) was an English stage actor who also appeared in films, especially in horror films. Biography Knaggs was born in the Hillsborough district of Sheffield, England. Knaggs moved to Lond ...

) 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 the gas from a mysterious

test tube A test tube, also known as a culture tube or sample tube, is a common piece of laboratory glassware consisting of a finger-like length of glass or clear plastic tubing, open at the top and closed at the bottom. Test tubes are usually placed in ...

; he escapes the toxic fumes but collapses upon returning to the Hangman's Knot and is taken to the city

morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...

, where his body stiffens dramatically. Dick Tracy (

) is at headquarters speaking with college professor Dr. A. Tomic (

Milton Parsons Ernest Milton Parsons (May 19, 1904 – May 15, 1980) was an American character actor. He appeared in more than 160 films and television shows between 1939 and 1978. In 1927, Parsons performed with The Strolling Players of Boston acting c ...

), a scientist who suspects someone has been following him. At the morgue, Tracy's sidekick Pat (

Lyle Latell Lyle Latell (born Lyle Zeiem; April 9, 1904 – October 24, 1967) was an American character actor. He was perhaps best known for playing Pat Patton in the ''Dick Tracy'' film series. Biography Latell was born Lyle Zeiem on April 1904 in ...

) 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 ''Tess Trueheart'' is the love interest character in the American comic strip '' Dick Tracy'', which was created by Chester Gould in 1931. The character eventually became the wife of Dick Tracy in the original comic strip. In the 1934-1948 radi ...

(Anne Gwynne) happens to be, Gruesome and Melody drop a grenade with the gas into a wastebasket; when it goes off, everyone but Tess freezes in place. 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. Over the course of the film, Learned is shot dead, and Melody dies in a car accident. As an offhand comment, Tess quips "dead men tell no tales", which gives Tracy an idea: since Gruesome will resort even to murder to keep his secret weapon a secret, if he thinks Melody is alive, he will hunt Melody down to prevent any leaks. Tracy decides to run a

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misr ...

operation: put out word that Melody has been captured alive, and pose as Melody hoping Gruesome will show up. Gruesome takes the bait and abducts what he thinks is Melody from the hospital. In a climactic shootout at the plastic factory, Tracy shoots Gruesome in the back. Tracy retrieves one last gas grenade with the intent of analyzing the contents. Back at the office, in the closing scene, the grenade inadvertently goes off, freezing everyone in place just as Dick and Tess are about to kiss.

Cast

as Gruesome – A corpse-like gangster. *

as Dick Tracy – The tough, square-jawed detective *

as Tess Truehart – Tracy's girlfriend, who witnesses the bank robbery *

as Rudolph X-Ray – Gruesome's spectacled henchman * Edward Ashley as Dr. Lee Thal – an interested party. * June Clayworth as Dr. I.M. Learned – Prof. Tomic's assistant *

as Pat Patton – Tracy's bumbling sidekick *

as 'Melody' Fiske – A greedy, piano-playing thug * James Nolan as Dan Sterne – A nosy newspaper reporter *

Joseph Crehan Joseph A. Creaghan (July 15, 1883 – April 15, 1966) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1916 and 1965, and notably played Ulysses S. Grant nine times between 1939 and 1958, most memorably in ''Union Paci ...

as Chief Brandon – Tracy's reliable boss *

as Dr. A. Tomic – a State U. physicist

Legacy

* In 2007, ''Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome'' was shown on the

horror host A horror host is a person who acts as the host or presenter of a program where horror films and low-budget B movies are shown on television or the Internet. Usually the host assumes a horror-themed persona, often a campy or humorous one. Generall ...

ed television series ''

Cinema Insomnia ''Cinema Insomnia'' is a nationally syndicated American television series presented by horror host Mr. Lobo. Format Typically, Mr. Lobo opens each episode by promising to screen a well-known horror or science fiction classic (such as ''Creatu ...

''. Apprehensive Films later released the ''Cinema Insomnia'' episode onto DVD. * On October 16, 2014, writer Mike Curtis and artist

Joe Staton Joe Staton ( born January 19, 1948) is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist of t ...

introduced a version of the Gruesome character into the ''Dick Tracy'' comic strip. They introduced a character inspired by Melody (Mel O. Dee) on October 27 of that year. The cartoonists carry the joke further. Gruesome had had plastic surgery done to change his appearance, by a Dr. Einstein and Gruesome gets drafted to portray Jonathon Brewster in a production of ''Arsenic and Old Lace''. * US band Poet Named Revolver, from

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, released an album called ''Meets Gruesome''. Recorded in 2007, first released in 2008, and reissued in 2014 by No Kings Record Cadre, with visual references to the film.

References

External links

* * * * * {{John Rawlins 1947 films American black-and-white films Films directed by John Rawlins Dick Tracy films Films about organized crime in the United States RKO Pictures films 1940s police procedural films American thriller films 1940s thriller films Films scored by Paul Sawtell 1940s American films