Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946)

Powerful

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

One of the fifty worst films of all time? No. The worst of the four "Dick Tracy" feature films? Yes, but that doesn't make this a bad film, unlike what a 1978 film history book insinuated. It's still fast moving, action packed, often funny and more than just a passable time filler. This time, Dick Tracy (Morgan Conway) is on the lookout for Cueball (Dick Wessel), a bald ex-con still pulling jobs, now committing murders in a diamond theft racket. Tess Trueheart (Anne Jeffreys) disguises herself as a socialite to find some stolen gems and crack the racket, while Dick Tracy searches for Cueball who is cracking necks. The supporting characters continue to be fascinating, with Ian Keith as a ham actor adept at imitating the common man you see on the street every day, Esther Howard as a saloon "madam" (who still looks like a waterfront bag lady) hiding Cueball, and Byron Foulger and Rita Corday as the brains behind the smuggling racket.While I rank this lower than others in the four part series, it isn't by much, with only a few minor flaws to keep it from being just as good. Esther Howard, who would score big in the film noir classic "Born to Kill", is unforgettable here, playing the same type of roles Thelma Ritter would later excel at (most similarly Ritter's part in "Pick-Up on South Street"), gets the showiest role and steels the film, and Corday is quite good in a scene where she bravely stands up to the much larger Wessel. Jeffreys once again proves herself the best of the Tess Trueheart's, putting on an uppity demeanor when decked out in furs and jewels. The conclusion is one that might have been pretty horrifying to watch in its day, absolutely gruesome in its insinuations. This was the end of the line for Conway as Tracy, making only one more film and replaced by serial Dick, Ralph Byrd.

For a run-of-the-mill 'B' picture with barely an hour to do its work this entry has lots of talent going for it beginning with director Gordon Douglas who went on to shoot several prestigious films not least a handful - Young At Heart, Tony Rome, Robin And The Seven Hoods, The Detective - starring Sinatra whilst many members of the cast, including the eponymous cueball, Esther Howard, Byron Foulger etc racked up over one hundred credits apiece. The plot is mostly ho hum and Tracy's celebrated wrist-watch radio was never mentioned but Douglas keeps the pace moving along and mostly glides past any risible moments so that the 60 minutes pass fairly painlessly and there is a brilliant send-up of Jack Barrymore by Ian Keith who has not only the voice but also the mannerisms of Barrymore down pat.

For years, one of my favorite books about films has been Harry Medved's "The Fifty Worst Films Ever Made". It is super-intelligently written (he was only 17 at the time it was published) and clever. And as a result, I have tried to see as many of the 50 I could find, though many are so obscure I doubt if I'll ever find them. However, while I love the book, I must admit that a few of the films weren't THAT bad and a couple were even mildly entertaining (such as THAT HAGAN GIRL and DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL).Now I DID see DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL a long time ago and found it was pretty bad. However, decades later, I watched it again with my daughter and we both felt it was a decent film with a few excellent moments. Now this ISN'T a glowing endorsement, but I found I did need to go back to my reviews of other Tracy films I reviewed a few months back and remove any negative references to this film. So, for lovers of B-movies and especially series detective movies, this IS worth a look.So why did I like it on second viewing? Well, it wasn't because of the villain, played by Dick Wessel. His bald wig was at times obvious but the biggest problem was he had the charisma of a wet sock and said very little other than "I oughta kill you" or other such bland threats. A tuna might have made a better villain. However, Morgan Conway's Dick Tracy was a lot better Ralph Byrd (who starred in the next two films). Sure, Conway's face looked pot-marked and he was, to put it charitably, "not handsome"....but he COULD deliver his lines and he had a nice voice. Though he looked nothing like the cartoon character--which is probably why they replaced him with the super-wooden Byrd. I also liked the small role by Vitamin. He was completely annoying and mindless in DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA, but here the same actor was actually given some good lines and wasn't asked to play the character as a complete moron.At only about an hour, it's a tidy and interesting little film. Not great, but not bad at all. And if you like this one, be sure to see the first film (DICK TRACY, DECECTIVE)--it's even better.By the way, look for the slimy little guy with greasy hair and super-thick glasses. Other than Rondo Hatton, he is perhaps the ugliest character actor from 1940s film.

Notorious (and dumb) criminal Cueball is on the loose and pulls a murderous diamond heist. Tracy, here played by dull but square-jawed Morgan Conway, tracks him down excruciatingly slowly even tho he makes every mistake possible, mostly in the form of killing those he overhears double-crossing him because he's so dumb. They should have called his guy "Eavesdropper." The support is largely the same faces as in other Dick Tracy flicks, altho some play different characters; mostly dull but some flamboyantly overacting.As usual, Tracy is not even a very good detective, and only solves the crime by chance and using innocent people as bait. Tracy again displays his almost pathological avoidance of a personal life, but at least in this one he pays Tess *some* attention—mostly because she volunteers to be the bait.