Dick Tracy vs Cueball **½ (1946, Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys, Dick Wessel, Lyle Latell, Rita Corday, Ian Keith) – Classic Movie Review 5592

Morgan Conway returns as Tracy in RKO’s enjoyable low-budget crime thriller film Dick Tracy vs Cueball, with Dick Wessel as the murderous diamond thief villain Cueball.

Following his debut in Dick Tracy (1945), Morgan Conway returns as Tracy in director Gordon M Douglas’s enjoyable, more than adequate low-budget crime thriller film Dick Tracy vs Cueball, the second in the RKO Radio Pictures series of four, with Dick Wessel adding zest as the title villain Cueball.

The detective Dick Tracy is on the trail of a gem-robbing gang who snatch $300,000 in diamonds and then foolishly try to double-cross the monstrous bald-headed strangler Cueball. So he takes murderous revenge on his ex-partners in crime, and he is also stalking Tracy’s gal Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys).

Also in the cast are Lyle Latell as Pat Patton, Rita Corday as Mona Clyde, Ian Keith as Vitamin Flintheart, Douglas Walton as Percival Priceless, Esther Howard as Filthy Flora, Joseph Crehan as Chief Brandon, Byron Foulger as Simon Little, Milton Parsons, Ralph Dunn, Trevor Bardette, Jimmy Crane, Skelton Knaggs and Harry Cheshire.

RKO studios screamed: ‘Dick the dauntless dares death to deliver diamonds’ and ‘HE’S TERRIFIC! Your Favorite Crime Crusader!’.

Dane Lussier and Robert E Kent’s screenplay is based on a story by Luci Ward and characters in the comic strip by Chester Gould.

Running time: 62 minutes.

It premiered on November 22, 1946 in New York City) and was released in the US on December 18, 1946.

It is followed by Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947) and Dick Tracy’s Dilemma (1947).

The video market revived interest in these old movies after Dick Tracy was spectacularly revived by Warren Beatty in 1990.

The cast are Morgan Conway as Dick Tracy, Anne Jeffreys as Tess Trueheart, Lyle Latell as Pat Patton, Rita Corday as Mona Clyde, Ian Keith as Vitamin Flintheart, Dick Wessel as Harry ‘Cueball’ Lake, Douglas Walton as Percival Priceless, Esther Howard as Filthy Flora, Joseph Crehan as Chief Brandon, Byron Foulger as Simon Little, Jimmy Crane as Tracy’s adopted son Junior,  Milton Parsons as Priceless’s assistant Higby, Skelton Knaggs as Rudolph, accomplice diamond cutter, and Ralph Dunn as Policeman.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5,592

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Rita Corday as Mona Clyde.

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