Dick Tracy’s Dilemma (1947)

Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) is back on the case in this hard-boiled caper featuring a comic-strip lineup of oddball characters. Summoned to the scene of a robbery and grisly double homicide, Tracy’s investigation leads him to the psychopathic maniac, The Claw (Jack Lambert), who with the aid of a deadly hook-hand is able to terrorize the entire city. Ralph Byrd, who made such a memorable impression as Dick Tracy in Republic Pictures’ serials, returns in the title role in RKO’s third feature about Chester Gould’s famous gumshoe. Dick Tracy’s Dilemma successfully realizes the noir-filtered-through-surrealism quality of Gould’s strip, not only with the infernal Claw but also with such outrageous, over-the-top denizens as the snitch Sightless, Longshot Lillie, and Vitamin.

1947, B&W, 60 minutes