Morgan Conway is again Dick Tracy in "Dick Tracy vs. Cueball," a 1946 B that also stars two of my favorites, Anne Jeffreys (Tess) and Ian Keith (Vitamin).In this one, $300,000 worth of diamonds are stolen on board ship, and Tracy goes on a search for the killer. The diamonds were stolen by Cueball (Dick Wessel), but when he finds out what they're worth, he wants a lot more than the $10,000 he was promised. He hides out in a bar, but while he's at it, starts killing people.Morgan Conway isn't the Dick Tracy of the comics. He reminds me of George Raft, but he's pleasant enough. As I mentioned in another review, I always picture John Larkin from "The Edge of Night" as an ideal Dick Tracy. I seem to remember him as being sharp-featured and square-jawed. But I haven't seen him in years, and I couldn't find a photo of him.Jeffreys doesn't have enough to do. Ian Keith is terrific.Decent pace.

The brief but strong Dick Tracy series from Republic studios remains one of the most important moments in the history of the Hollywood B movie. Probably under the insistence of Chester Gould (I can't imagine he was pleased with the earlier serials, that just borrowed the Tracy name for typical serial fare), the later '40s Tracy series is a pristine elaboration of what would become known as the 'police procedural' genre, the most famous of which is the Jack Webb "Dragnet" series. The most striking feature of this series is its villains; despite their comic strip names, they are brutal, cold, and completely believable. They are way ahead of their time in the history of cinema; Cueball is an excellent example. He is simply a common criminal finding himself in unusual circumstances - perfect counterpoint to Tracy's uncommonly common cop presented with a seemingly insoluble puzzle. Like the other films in this series (all on a par), this is a tough, brief, invigorating police procedural, Well recommended.

MORGAN CONWAY again assumes the Dick Tracy role with ANNE JEFFREYS as his 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.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's helper, Vitamin Flintheart, played in amusing style by IAN KEITH.You can begin the body count once Tracy goes about stalking the killer. Unfortunately, ANNE JEFFREYS has little to do as Tess Trueheart until the film'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 figure as Tracy.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 Christopher as the 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't have that monomania that these super criminals should have. He doesn'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'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'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'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's still fun and worth an hour.