Dick Tracy might have been very popular phenomenon in its time, but this comic strip is mostly forgotten nowadays - if not for Warren Beatty much later, it might have been completely obscure as artifact from another time. Than again, it was the time of radio and all sorts of movie serials about police detectives, generally filmed on a shoe string in a studios, so this was fairly obvious idea.
The beginning of five-movies serial, "Dick Tracy" is surprisingly unoriginal little story, full of every police detective cliché in the world - I understand that this is just a screen version of a popular comic strip, but still one would expect just a little more excitement instead of this undercooked little number that feels very much like some TV episode. Tracy searches for a maniac mass murderer who apparently kills people with no connections between them and there is a blackmail involved - other characters are just a comic sidekicks: pretty blonde girlfriend Anne Jeffreys, clever little boy Mickey Kuhn, clumsy policemen and such. By far the most interesting are antagonists Mike Mazurki (as mysterious "Splitface") and fascinating Trevor Bardette playing spiritual medium hovering over his crystal ball, one almost wishes they got their own serial instead of Dick Tracy who for all RKO Radio Pictures efforts just don't appears very original or interesting - although I generally love old 1940s black & white detective movies and their specific language, this one comes off as a very uninspired period piece that don't invite for watching of further sequels.
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