CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Leofwine_draca DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA is my first exposure to the comic book detective and it's a good one. This is a low budget slice of pulp fiction with an emphasis on incident and action which helps the hour-long running time to simply fly past. The story sees the square-jawed detective going up against a sinister killer known only as The Claw who utilises a hook hand to murder his unsuspecting victims.It's a dark and atmospheric little piece with a simple story that really works. Ralph Byrd was an old hand at playing the part of Tracy and although he could be any generic crime-fighter he does well with the part. The best part of the film though is Jack Lambert's limping villain. Lambert comes across as a mixture of Rondo Hatton and Jack Palance and is one of the most imposing characters of the decade. James Cameron must have been a fan as scenes of Lambert slowly limping after his victims surely inspired the ending of THE TERMINATOR.The horror aspects of this low budget film work in its favour and make it a dark and brooding production. Ian Keith is on hand to supply some much-needed comic relief as the amateur Shakespeare actor Vitamin who gets involved with the case. DICK TRACY'S DILEMMA is no classic but for a B-movie it's great fun.

jokerswild1 Out of RKO's four Dick Tracy films, I would say this is the best. Ralph Byrd makes his return as Dick Tracy for the first time since the serials, and does a bit better than Morgan Conway in the role. Lyle Latell appeared as Tracy's partner Pat Patton in all four films, and is a strong aspect of each film. Sightless is a fun addition, and Ian Keith is quite entertaining as Vitamin Flintheart. The Claw is a great villain with a lot of presence, but I slightly prefer Splitface from "Dick Tracy, Detective".What elevates this above the other three is the cinematography, the others were visually pleasing as well, but this one makes the greatest use of the city and especially the shadows.

kidboots Ralph Byrd was the ultimate Dick Tracy - he even looked like the comic strip crime fighter. He had portrayed him initially in several serials in the late 30s and early 40s, then put the role behind him as he pursued character parts - Morgan Conway took over the role but it wasn't the same, he didn't look anything like Dick Tracy!!! "Dick Tracy's Dilemma" was the first Dick Tracy film that Byrd did after his break.A nightwatchman turns up dead, the killer should be easy to catch - he has a club foot and a claw for a hand!!! He is "The Claw" and Dick Tracy is put on the case. All he has to go on is a scrawled message - "Daisy, three of them - truck" written as the nightwatchman lay dying. The warehouse, full of furs has been robbed and Tracy radios all cars to be on the look-out for a truck with the word "Daisy" on the side. Tracy's informant "Sightless" (Jimmy Conlin, a familiar film face) finds the crook's hideout and is hunted down but not before he gives Tracy valuable information about a meeting in Hemp Street. They find Longshot Lily, the fence, waiting there for a consignment of furs - but she claims she knows nothing about anything!!! Vitamin Flintheart wants to help - he had sent "Sightless" away and feels responsible for the peddler's death.I thought the film was okay - even Lyle Latell looked like the "real" Pat Patton and Jack Lambert as "The Claw" was a ghastly looking villain. Ian Keith was the most prestigious actor in the film. He was a popular Broadway actor in the 20s and always preferred the stage. Just after this film he had a good role as Joan Blondell's alcoholic husband in "Nightmare Alley" with Tyrone Power. Kay Christopher was lovely as Tess Trueheart - it seems to be a case of why didn't she become a bigger star as this seems to be one of her few credited roles.

Neil Doyle RALPH BYRD takes over the Dick Tracy role with good results, looking more like the square-jawed comic book hero than Morgan Conway. He's on the trail of "The Claw" (played very effectively by JACK LAMBERT) and the film is chock full of many noir-like scenes involving "The Claw" and his pursuit of victims, who seems to enjoy using his hook to kill a few unlucky men.IAN KEITH is back as Vitamin Flintheart, once again upstaging everyone with his theatrical flair for speeches and having a little more to do with the plot and KAY CHRISTOPHER fills in for Anne Jeffreys as Tess Trueheart.But, in truth, Byrd is given little opportunity to show how well he was cast in the part since most of the crime drama involves the intriguing villain with the hook for a hand who drags his foot and walks the shadowy streets on his hunt for the kill.Summing up: Good little crime drama about fur thieves proves that low-budget thrillers like this from RKO could be rewarding enough for noir fans.