646f9e108c Expensive diamonds are stolen but before the thief can fence them he is strangled by ex-con Cueball, who then takes the gems and continues murdering people he believes are trying to swindle him. Dick Tracy allows his girlfriend Tess to acta buyer for the gems but his plan backfires when she is captured by the homicidal Cueball. MORGAN CONWAY again assumes the Dick Tracy role with ANNE JEFFREYShis impatient sweetheart who resents his time being taken up by unexpected homicide cases. This time the murder involves the shipment of diamonds when a murder aboard a boat gets Tracy in a search for the killer over the theft involving $300,000.<br/><br/>Cueball (DICK WESSEL) is the man who resorts to killing aboard the boat to get the diamonds, but is unhappy when he realizes that he was only going to get a small share of their value. The swift moving story involves a bar floozie who gives Cueball shelter, an antique shop run by shady dealer (DOUGLAS WALTON), and Tracy&#39;s helper, Vitamin Flintheart, played in amusing style by IAN KEITH.<br/><br/>You can begin the body count once Tracy goes about stalking the killer. Unfortunately, ANNE JEFFREYS has little to doTess Trueheart until the film&#39;s last fifteen minutes when the killer in the diamond case narrows down to Cueball. Sorry to say that dour looking MORGAN CONWAY cuts an unappealing figureTracy.<br/><br/>Trivia note: Jeffreys was reportedly unhappy with her assignments in the Tracy flicks and was delighted when RKO made the next Tracy film with Ralph Byrd and Kay Christopherthe leads and eventually gave Anne some better assignments before she found her niche in Broadway musicals. I have to agree with one of the previous reviewers. The title character seems rather depressed and confused. He doesn&#39;t have that monomania that these super criminals should have. He doesn&#39;t understand the diamond business and is constantly being swayed by the ebb and flow of the other bad guys. The fact that he strangles on once in a while isn&#39;t immaterial, but he seems rather pathetic. I suppose a man with a shaved head at one time would have seemed rather threatening. By modern standards, he would go about unnoticed. I wonder if they stopped making these films because they didn&#39;t have the budget to do justice to the villains and make them more that what they are. It is a reasonably well paced little movie and manages pretty well. I can&#39;t remember if Tracy had any personality in the comic strip. He certainly has almost none here. There is a little comic relief with his idiot sidekick getting struck on the head. He has more concussions than Troy Aikman. How a guy like this would keep a job on the police department is beyond me. It&#39;s still fun and worth an hour.
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