Having already seen two, I enjoyed the other two of
RKO 's four-film Dick Tracy film series today. I never was much of a Dick Tracy fan-- the comic strip, or the
Warren Beatty film (I do seem to recall enjoying the
'60s cartoon show 50 years or so ago, if anyone out there remembers that). Anyway, all four of these films are actually fine, quirky little noir-tinged B-pictures. The first in the series,
Dick Tracy, Detective (1945), had
Mike Mazurki as the villain, Split-Face. He's a fine actor, and perfect for the role, but not given much to do, unfortunately.
Morgan Conway as Tracy looks less like the comic strip character than does
Ralph Byrd in
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome and
Dick Tracy's Dilemma (both 1947) but he has more "presence", and a more of a film-noir anti-hero gruffness about him.
Conway returns in
Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946), which is listed as one of the "50 Worst Films of All Time" by that disgusting right-wing blowhard Michael Medved-- so that's a badge of honor. That brain-washed zealot no doubt judged it based on some crack-pot reactionary political agenda-- I don't know, was
Chester Gould one of those New Deal "commies" who caused so much trouble for Uncle Adolf? Anyway, like the other films in the series, it's another solid little b-movie crime-fantasy. In this one,
Dick Wessel plays the lead criminal. With an obvious skin-head wig, he makes a suitably cold, oafish, but menacing presence. The real scene-stealer in this one is
Esther Howard as Filthy Flora, owner of the Dripping Dagger, a fine drinking establishment. She's a tough-as-nails old broad who winds up one of Cueball's victims, as seen in the lobby card above right.
These old b-films-- the noirs, the comedies, the horror films-- point out the advantage of the one-hour film duration. They've got nice little gimmicks which are worth seeing for an hour, and they're short enough not to need to be padded with extraneous material and become dull. Like the old U.S. grindhouse and drive-in exploitation films, the Japanese Pink film genre keeps to this compact duration. It's too bad the U.S. film industry has become so bloated and self-important in the superficial aspects-- budget, special effects (CGI), etc. while becoming thematically increasingly geared only towards adolescents and younger... If Hollywood today could give us double-features of films as compact, mature, alluring and solidly-constructed as the old B-movies, or as
Max Body's own Miss
Asato (seen above left), then I'd be happy. (Ha! And you were beginning to think I wouldn't be able to work an image of an Asian BBW into this post!)
Having already seen two, I enjoyed the other two of RKO 's four-film Dick Tracy film series today. I never was much of a Dick Tracy fan-- the comic strip, or the Warren Beatty film (I do seem to recall enjoying the '60s cartoon show 50 years or so ago, if anyone out there remembers that). Anyway, all four of these films are actually fine, quirky little noir-tinged B-pictures. The first in the series, Dick Tracy, Detective (1945), had Mike Mazurki as the villain, Split-Face. He's a fine actor, and perfect for the role, but not given much to do, unfortunately. Morgan Conway as Tracy looks less like the comic strip character than does Ralph Byrd in Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome and Dick Tracy's Dilemma (both 1947) but he has more "presence", and a more of a film-noir anti-hero gruffness about him.
Conway returns in Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946), which is listed as one of the "50 Worst Films of All Time" by that disgusting right-wing blowhard Michael Medved-- so that's a badge of honor. That brain-washed zealot no doubt judged it based on some crack-pot reactionary political agenda-- I don't know, was Chester Gould one of those New Deal "commies" who caused so much trouble for Uncle Adolf? Anyway, like the other films in the series, it's another solid little b-movie crime-fantasy. In this one, Dick Wessel plays the lead criminal. With an obvious skin-head wig, he makes a suitably cold, oafish, but menacing presence. The real scene-stealer in this one is Esther Howard as Filthy Flora, owner of the Dripping Dagger, a fine drinking establishment. She's a tough-as-nails old broad who winds up one of Cueball's victims, as seen in the lobby card above right.
These old b-films-- the noirs, the comedies, the horror films-- point out the advantage of the one-hour film duration. They've got nice little gimmicks which are worth seeing for an hour, and they're short enough not to need to be padded with extraneous material and become dull. Like the old U.S. grindhouse and drive-in exploitation films, the Japanese Pink film genre keeps to this compact duration. It's too bad the U.S. film industry has become so bloated and self-important in the superficial aspects-- budget, special effects (CGI), etc. while becoming thematically increasingly geared only towards adolescents and younger... If Hollywood today could give us double-features of films as compact, mature, alluring and solidly-constructed as the old B-movies, or as Max Body's own Miss Asato (seen above left), then I'd be happy. (Ha! And you were beginning to think I wouldn't be able to work an image of an Asian BBW into this post!)
No comments:
Post a Comment