Rainey Dawn This time Dick Tracy find a new nemesis called Gruesome! A very tough Gruesome has escaped from prison and surprises and old gang. A scientist/chemist called A. Tomic has created a gas formula that will sorta freeze people in there current position for awhile then they go back to being normal - as if nothing happened. Gruesome gets a hold of this chemical gas and uses it in a major bank robbery! Tracy's girlfriend was in that bank using the phone booth - door closed - so she pretended to be frozen as the others but managed to secretly call Tracy to the scene. 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!! 9/10

tlm1215 I'd stumbled upon the entire Dick Tracy cartoon series on DVD while browsing the public library catalog -- aren't libraries great? -- and was pleasantly surprised to see these old live action Tracy movies on our shelves. (Alas, no Mumbles, Prune Face, Flat Top or Hemlock Holmes!) There was some lame acting, but, despite that, it actually wasn't too bad. The real attraction was Boris Karloff playing a toothpick-chomping hood! I wasn't expecting that, but it was totally worth the price of admission! :-D Had no idea he was as agile as he was, especially when you see him plodding through monster pictures. The scene in the morgue, the character names (Drs A. Tomic, L. E Thal and I. M. Learned), the punnery, and the action made it a nice 60-odd minute romp.

arfdawg-1 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. 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.

tavm I have long been familiar with Dick Tracy through first his comic strip when I was a kid in the '70s, then an Archie series that showcased animated comic strips, then an early '60s cartoon series from UPA, then Warren Beaty's 1990 movie and now from the last of four RKO Tracy movies from the '40s. As he had in some late '30s Republic serials and the previous RKO entry, Ralph Byrd plays the title character whose nemesis here is the other title character played by the legendary Boris Karloff. 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. Nicely dramatic and comedic use of freeze-frame throughout with subsequent action sequences an added bonus. Very good performances from Karloff and his cohorts Skelton Knaggs as X-Ray and Tony Barrett as Melody. The good guys aren't so bad either! I liked Pat's line about doing business with Boris Karloff the best. Well worth seeing for fans of '40s series programmers. P.S. Jason Robards, Sr. plays the bank vice president here.