DICK TRACY is a fast-paced and lengthy serial of the late 1930s, popular enough to inspire a bunch of sequels in which the slightly wooden Ralph Byrd would return to the role of the crime-fighting detective, fighting further villains. In this one he's up against a criminal mastermind called The Spider, who hypnotises Tracy's own brother and turns him against our hero. Each chapter is full of action, most of it vehicular, and involves car chases, train and plane interludes, ships and much more. Each episode ends with Tracy being apparently killed, in the best clichéd tradition.
There's a wealth of action to bolster a flagging storyline that ends up getting repetitive, one of the constraints of this genre. Still, the central characters are fun and the film is a little better quality and higher budget than some from this era. The main problem with it is that the opening titles go on for too long and there's too much time spent recapping the previous episode, pointless really when your running time for each chapter is so short.
There's a wealth of action to bolster a flagging storyline that ends up getting repetitive, one of the constraints of this genre. Still, the central characters are fun and the film is a little better quality and higher budget than some from this era. The main problem with it is that the opening titles go on for too long and there's too much time spent recapping the previous episode, pointless really when your running time for each chapter is so short.