Dick Tracy (serial)

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Dick Tracy
Directed by	Alan James Tay Taylor
Produced by	Nat Levine J. Laurence Wickland (Associate)
Written by	Morgan B. Cox George Morgan Barry Shipman Winston Miller Chester Gould (comic strip)
Starring	Ralph Byrd Kay Hughes Smiley Burnette Lee Van Atta John Picorri Carleton Young Fred Hamilton
Music by	Harry Grey
Cinematography	William Nobles Edgar Lyons
Editing by	Helene Turner Edward Todd William Witney
Distributed by	Republic Pictures
Release date(s)	20 February 1937 27 December 1937
Running time	15 chapters (290 min)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$112,334 (Negative cost: $127,640)
Followed by	Dick Tracy Returns (1938)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Dick Tracy (1937) is a 15-Chapter Republic Movie Serial starring Ralph Byrd based on the Dick Tracy comic strip by Chester Gould. It was directed by Alan James and Tay Taylor.

It was filmed between 30 November and 24 December 1936 under the working titles Adventures of Dick Tracy and The Spider Ring. The recorded release date for the serial is 20 February 1937 although this is actually the date the seventh chapter was made available to film exchanges. A 73-minute feature film version, made from serial chapters edited together, was released on 27 December 1937.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2.1 Supporting Cast 3 Chapter titles 4 Cliffhangers 5 Stunts & Effects 6 Trivia 7 See Also 8 References 9 External Links

[edit] Plot

Dick Tracy's foe for this serial is the crime boss, and Masked Mystery Villain, The Spider/The Lame One (both names are used) and his Spider Ring. In the process of various crimes, including using his Flying wing and sound weapon to destroy the Bay Bridge in San Francisco and stealing an experimental "Speed Plane", the Spider captures Dick Tracy's brother, Gordon. The Spider's minion, Dr Moloch, performs a brain operation on Gordon Tracy to turn him evil, making him secretly part of the Spider Ring and so turning brother against brother.

[edit] Cast

Ralph Byrd as Dick Tracy
Kay Hughes as Gwen Andrews
Smiley Burnette as Mike McGurk
Lee Van Atta as Junior
John Picorri as Dr Moloch
Carleton Young as Gordon Tracy (post-operation in Chapter 1)
Fred Hamilton as Steve Lockwood
Francis X. Bushman as Clive Anderson

[edit] Supporting Cast

John Dilson as Ellery Brewster
Richard Beach as Gordon Tracy (pre-operation in Chapter 1)
Wedgewood Nowell as H.T. Clayton
Theodore Lorch as Paterno
Edwin Stanley as Walter Odette
Harrison Greene as Cloggerstein
Herbert Weber as Tony Martino
Buddy Roosevelt as Burke
George DeNormand as Flynn
Byron K. Foulger as Kovitch

[edit] Chapter titles

1. The Spider Strikes (29 min 31s)
2. The Bridge of Terror (19 min 11s)
3. The Fur Pirates (20 min 25s)
4. Death Rides the Sky (20 min 49s)
5. Brother Against Brother (19 min 14s)
6. Dangerous Waters (16 min 52s)
7. The Ghost Town Mystery (20 min 11s)
8. Battle in the Clouds (18 min 40s)
9. The Stratosphere Adventure (18 min 00s)
10. The Gold Ship (18 min 28s)
11. Harbor Pursuit (16 min 35s)
12. The Trail of the Spider (17 min 39s) -- Re-Cap Chapter
13. The Fire Trap (16 min 45s)
14. The Devil in White (20 min 35s)
15. Brothers United (16 min 59s)

[edit] Cliffhangers

1. The Spider Strikes: The Bay Bridge, under attack from the Spider's sonic weapon, begins to collapse on top of Dick Tracy.
2. The Bridge of Terror: Dick Tracy's plane is damaged damaged by gunfire and crashes into a rail bridge.
3. The Fur Pirates: Chasing his brother and the Spider Ring by motorboat, Dick Tracy is crushed between two moored ships moving closer together.
4. Death Rides the Sky: Dick Tracy transfers to a unmanned, remote plane to save Junior but it is shot down by the Spider Ring.
5. Brother Against Brother: In a roof-top chase, Gordon shoots his brother Dick, sending him into a multi-storey fall.
6. Dangerous Waters: Dick Tracy's leg is caught in submarine's mooring line, pulling him under the waves.
7. The Ghost Town Mystery: Dick Tracy falls into a pit in a mine tunnel. Spider Ring thugs take aim.
8. Battle in the Clouds: Gordon shoots down his brother's plane.
9. The Stratosphere Adventure: Dick Tracy is knocked unconcious aboard a burning, crashing Zeppelin.
10. The Gold Ship: A steel plate from a ship's hull falls on top of Dick Tracy.
11. Harbour Pursuit: Dick Tracy's motorboat has its control s shot out by thugs, crashing into an oncoming ship.
12. The Trail of the Spider: The lights go out, the Spider mark shines on Dick Tracy's forehead, several shots are fired.
13. The Fire Trap: Dick Tracy falls while escaping a burning ship.
14. The Devil in White: Dick Tracy is strapped to an operating table to undergo the same brain operation as his brother Gordon.

[edit] Stunts & Effects

Stunts by:
George DeNormand as Dick Tracy (doubling Ralph Byrd)
Loren Riebe (doubling Jack Gardner)

Special Effects by John T. Coyle and the Lydecker brothers

[edit] Trivia

• In this serial, Dick Tracy is a G-Man (FBI) in Los Angeles rather than a Midwestern city police detective as in the comic strip. Most of the Dick Tracy supporting cast and rogues gallery were also dropped and new, original characters used instead. Dick Tracy creator Chester Gould approved the script despite these changes.
• The cliffhanger for chapter three, a speedboat chase, is copied in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
• The Spider's Flying wing was reused for the later, unconnected, Republic serial The Fighting Devil Dogs.

[edit] See Also

• Dick Tracy - Main Character Article
• Dick Tracy Returns - Sequel Serial (1938)
• Dick Tracy's G-Men - Sequel Serial (1939)
• Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc - Sequel Serial (1941)

[edit] References

• Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement; Mathis, Jack, 1995, ISBN 0-9632878-1-8
• Dick Tracy at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] External Links

• Dick Tracy at the Internet Movie Database
• Dr Hermes Review of Dick Tracy
  
• Dick Tracy at Todd Gault's Movie Serial Experience
• Dick Tracy Article at Images: A Journal of Film and Popular Culture
  
• Complete Public Domain Serial in MPEG format
  
• In The Balcony
• The Serial Squadron
• The complete public domian serial in Flash video format

Preceded by Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island (1936)	Republic Serial Dick Tracy (1937)	Succeeded by The Painted Stallion (1937)
Preceded by none	Dick Tracy Serial Dick Tracy (1937)	Succeeded by Dick Tracy Returns (1938)