I should probably begin by informing you that I am not the biggest fan of motion pictures from the 1930s (it’s a weird quirk of mine - much like my equally odd inability to sit through most period piece dramas or my sheer and utter hatred for any type of food or condiment that is mayonnaise-based). Sure, most of the more “original” ideas were conceived and filmed during that golden decade when Hollywood was still ironing out all of the kinks, but it’s the look and (frequently low budget) style of the serials from the 40s and 50s that wins my attention each and every time (and don’t ask me to explain what I mean by that because I can’t).

Of course, there are always a few items that are exempt from any individual’s personal preference… the Dick Tracy serials of the 1930s are my exceptions. Why Dick Tracy? ‘Cuz he was the shit, that’s why!

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Whoops, sorry… pardon my language… I meant to say, “Dick Tracy IS the shit!” Where would the fedora and trench coat-clad detectives that inspired us with awe throughout many a film or television appearance be without Chester Gould’s immortal character to give them their sense of fashion? And let’s not forget the fact that Dick is not a man to mess with: no matter how truly clever the villain may be, Tracy always gets his man. And woman, too (although I never did understand that “I love you… now go away” relationship of his with that Tess girl).

Not only is Tracy one of the most formidable icons of comic and screen alike, these film adaptations are also great fun for everybody, even the kids… unless, of course, your children have been desensitized by mind-numbing Nickelodeon-esque programming or they erroneously believe something that is in black-and-white can’t be any good because it is old and was filmed before they had color (and I think I may have read something somewhere citing that you can actually legally beat your kids for that).

So anyway, we begin with Dick Tracy (1937), the first 15-chapter installment from those serial-making icons at Republic Pictures, and by far one of the most enjoyable serials that ever inspired modern cinema. A ruthless terrorist organization called the Spider Ring (helmed by a shadowy, unseen, and clubfooted figure known as the Lame One) is intent on wreaking havoc all over this glorious nation of ours (but mostly San Francisco). Too bad for him that Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd, in his first of many appearances as the Chester Gould character) and his pals Junior (Lee Van Atta) and Mike McGurk (Smiley Brunette, whose casting is a real weak point) are on the job to foil his plans every step of the way.

Aside from his mindless minions (including Three Stooges regular Theodore Lorch and familiar B-Movie face Byron Foulger, the latter of whom gets billing throughout the whole serial even though he gets killed in Chapter One!), the Lame One also has this incredible contraption called “The Wing” that preceded the Stealth Bomber by about 60 years (the serial also eerily foreshadowed the fate of The Hindenburg by about a year), a sonic weapon, and an evil, hunchback doctor assistant named Moloch.

At first, it doesn’t seem like the good Mr. Tracy will have much of a problem on his hand, but when the Lame One and Moloch get their hands on Dick’s brother Gordon (played for at first Richard Beach), they turn him into their evil slave and pit brother against brother!

A long-time victim of dubious grey-market releases on both VHS and DVD, Dick Tracy finally received the makeover it deserved in 2001 by the folks at VCI Home Entertainment (who is the only company out there that actually “gets” serials and their audience, so I applaud their efforts with every release no matter what it may be). The 2-Disc set presents the 15-chapter cliffhanger in the best-looking condition that is possible and also comes with some nifty Extras: there’s an Audio Commentary on the first couple of chapters by Max Allan Collins, who worked on the comic strip after Chester Gould retired in 1977 and continued to work on the strip until 1992. Also included in the set are some Bios and a Photo Gallery, but the most interesting tidbit is “Dick Tracy In B$”, a vintage radio program featuring Bing Crosby as the super sleuth, Bob Hope as Flattop, Dinah Shore as Tess Trueheart, Judy Garland as Snowflake, Jimmy Durante as The Mole, and Frank Sinatra as Shaky.

I’m sure nobody at Republic was surprised when Dick Tracy proved to be a hit with moviegoers and I’m also sure that moviegoers weren’t in the least bit surprised with the following year’s release of Dick Tracy Returns (1938), another rock’em sock’em serial that in many ways surpasses the first cliffhanger just by having Dick pitted against Ming the Merciless alone. Yes, Charles Middleton, the redoubtable villain from the original Flash Gordon serials (not to mention numerous Laurel & Hardy vehicles) once again proves that he was one of Hollywood’s most underrated onscreen foes by taking on the role of Pa Stark, the notorious backwoods brain that has managed to engulf the entire country in a state of fear along with his five criminal sons (including Ned Glass)!

As if six yokels adorned in fedoras weren’t enough to have you running out into the street begging for a dose of Dick, these bad guys just happen to be mixed-up with filthy foreign spies and saboteurs (the devils!). Another way this serial leaves the previous serial behind in the dust is that it dispenses with Republic’s formulaic “guess who the bad guy is” routine and instead introduces our villain directly in the first chapter.

VCI released Dick Tracy Returns to DVD in late June 2008. Despite the fact that the prints used for the transfer were not in the greatest of conditions (the credit sequences had to be recreated with still images), the serial still came out looking better than any of the old videocassettes. The only Extras included were a handful of trailers and an Introduction with Max Allan Collins (in which the writer/artist looks like he could be Elton John’s little brother).

You can’t keep a good Dick down… and the third Republic serial, Dick Tracy’s G-Men (1939) proved just that. Irving Pichel, the oily-haired manservant of Dracula’s Daughter (1936) who co-directed 1932’s The Most Dangerous Game and single-handedly helmed the sci/fi opus Destination Moon in 1950, chews up the scenery as Zarnoff, the mad scientists criminal mastermind who fakes his own death in the gas chamber, vowing to rid the world of Dick Tracy once and for all. From there on, it’s mostly Zarnoff (who seems to be a cross between Dr. Zarkov from Flash Gordon and Boris Karloff) and Tracy playing Cat and Mouse… but it’s a good kind of Cat and Mouse.

Much like Dick Tracy Returns, Dick Tracy’s G-Men made its DVD debut through VCI in 2008, and, while the transfer of G-Men compared to Returns is superior, the Special Features are pretty similar: there’s a Video Introduction by Max Allan Collins again and a few Trailers. Still, I’m not complaining.

The fourth and final Dick Tracy Serial, Dick Tracy Vs. Crime Inc. (1941) finds Ralph Byrd once again in the part that would prove to be the death of him (and literally at that: the typecast actor suffered a fatal heart attack after shooting the last of several television episodes for a cheaply-made “Dick Tracy” series in 1952). This time, the tried-but-true formula of having several prominent city council members being picked off one-by-one by an unknown villain (a Republic Serial staple) brings us a character referred to as “The Ghost”. In addition to secretly being one of the city councilmen (again, a serial trademark), The Ghost is also able to make himself invisible - and his mad impulse to avenge the execution of Rackets Regan pulls Tracy into yet another 15 chapters of whack’em sack’em fun (the title is also available on DVD from VCI).

Four years after the last serial hit the big screen, Dick Tracy made a comeback in the first of four low-budget feature-length motion pictures from RKO Studios. Not only did these movies give audiences the chance to finally see some of their favorite comic characters portrayed in the flesh, but they also provided a wonderful noir atmosphere. The first film, Dick Tracy (1945), slapped a new face on the famous detective, this time in the guise of actor Morgan Conway, who, despite being able to walk the walk and talk the talk better than Byrd, just didn’t cut it in the end (he filled out that nice big yellow coat nicely, too). In the movie, Tracy pursues Splitface (played by the wonderful Mike Mazurki, whose last appearance on the screen was Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy (1990) and released just a few months before his death), a devious blackmailer who prefers to slash his victims to death after they’ve paid rather than letting them live. Joining Tracy along for the ride are Tess Truehart (Anne Jeffreys), Pat Patton (Lyle Latell), and, of course, Junior (Mickey Kuhn) - who is nowhere near as irritating in this adventure.

Eleven months later, Morgan Conway returned in Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball (1946). This time ‘round, Tracy is up against a psychopathic killer named Cueball (regular thug actor Dick Wessel, whom a few Shemp fans will no doubt recognize) that has murdered the courier of $300,000 in rare gems and is at large. Jeffreys and Latell join Conway in returning from the first film, while a young lad by the name of Jimmy Crane takes over the part of Junior. A lot of other familiar faces in Cueball include Ian Keith (as Vitamin Flintheart), Joseph Crehan (in one of several Tracy appearances as Chief Brandon), Byron Foulger, Skelton Knaggs, and Milton Parsons (who doesn’t play a coroner or mortician for once). While the reasons as to “why” vary even to this day, the underrated Morgan Conway did not return in the next movie.

Having previously only appeared in the lighter Republic Serials that were very loosely based on the source material, Ralph Byrd was given the chance to play our hero in the true, gritty noir style that Gould’s comic strip was famous for in 1947’s Dick Tracy’s Dilemma. The story involves a hook-handed thug nicknamed “The Claw” (character actor Jack Lambert), a Philip Seymour Hoffman look-a-like that becomes the centerpiece to several surrounding crimes, including the theft of numerous fur coats and several murders. Lyle Latell and Ian Keith show up for a third and second time (respectively) reprising their roles from the previous film(s), while Kay Christopher takes over the part of Tess (Junior doesn’t appear again for the remainder of the series). Supporting actors include Jimmy Conlin, William B. Davidson, Plan 9’s Tom Keene, Al Bridge, Wade Crosby (playing yet another bartender), and TV writer Tony Barrett.

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (also released in 1947), the final of the four B-Movie features from RKO Pictures, altogether ditches the heavy noir elements in favor of some ultra-campy humor that makes for an entirely different type of Dick. Whereas Byrd’s screen time was considerably less in the last film, Gruesome finds Ralph receiving second-billing to falling Horror star Boris Karloff, who stars as Gruesome (naturally), an escaped convict that wanders into town and is promptly given a robbery job by a slightly bent scientist that has invented a suspended animation potion (the Science Fiction Era was just a stone’s throw away). Anne Gwynne picks up the part of Tess this time, and many of the faces from the last film can be seen here playing different roles, including Tony Barrett, Skelton Knaggs, Milton Parsons (as a scientist this time!), Tom Keene, and Jason Robards, Sr. (who played in all four films). Future Tarzan Lex Barker and future Hideous Sun Demon Robert Clarke also show up in the film.

Although they’re all available separately from budget labels like Alpha and were previously released together on DVD by Roan, VCI has assembled the preferred Dick Tracy: RKO Classic Collection, a 2-Disc set featuring all four feature-length movies (2 per disc) with a few Special Bonuses thrown in for good measure, including Intros by Max Allan Collins for each flick, the first chapters of the second and third Republic Serials, a Gallery of poster artwork and stills, plus a few Trailers for G-Men, FBI Girl, and serials The Vigilante and the great-looking The Master Key (which I hope is a sign that VCI will release it on DVD). The transfers of the four films range from good to better and the DVD also boasts a cute main menu as well as an amusing Easter Egg.

Well, there you have it: a run-down of the Dick Tracy Films from 1937 to 1947 (and I’d like to thank the folks at VCI for aiding me in the production of this article). It’s rather interesting to note that, following the release of Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome, America’s most famous square-jawed detective retired to the boob tube for the 1950 television series “Dick Tracy”, which actually succeeded in bringing many of Gould’s famous villains to life (for the first time), but ultimately resulted in the untimely demise of star Ralph Byrd. The character showed up only two more times (on TV) in an animated series (voiced by Everett Sloane) and a failed live-action pilot starring Ray MacConnell before being portrayed by Warren Beatty in that 1990 big screen commercial flop from Disney.

I hope those of you who haven’t seen these gems will take the time to see them. As for those of you that have seen them, I trust you will go out and buy these DVDs immediately.

Now then, VCI… how ‘bout that “Dick Tracy” TV show?

Oh, if only…