#384 – Dick Tracy Returns (1938)
Dick Tracy Returns (1938)
Film review #384
Directors: William Witney, John English
SYNOPSIS: F.B.I. G-man Dick Tracy is on the trail of the Stark family: A criminal gang consisting of “Pa Stark” and his five sons. When new G-man recruit Ron Merton is murdered by the Starks when they hijack a convoy, Tracy swears revenge and attempts to track them down while thwarting their many villainous schemes.
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Dick Tracy Returns is a 1938 film serial and the sequel to the Dick Tracy serial released a year earlier. The story this time revolves around Dick Tracy trying to thwart the criminal enterprises of the Stark family criminal gang, led by Papa Stark and his five sons Champ, Trigger, Dude, Kid and Slasher (great names). The Starks have a range of schemes and crimes they try to carry out, and this gives the serial enough variety to see it through, as Tracy and his team have to stop them across land, sea and air, resulting in an array of chases, as well as some good old-fashioned detective work. The original Dick Tracy serial was a strong mix of serial elements that kept its momentum across its fifteen chapters. Dick Tracy Returns emulates that success and continues it. There’s not much new here, but since the original was a success, there isn’t any need to fix what is not broken. And of course, in an era without repeats on television or home media, it was easier to repeat things on screen as the only way to watch these serials was to go to the theatre every week for the next instalment.
Most of the protagonists from the first serial return with the same actors, which provides a good sense of continuity. The only real change is that a different actor plays Junior, but that’s not much of a distraction. There’s not much character development, but every character has a role to play, from the heroic Dick Tracy and Steve Lockwood, the humour from Mike McGurk, and Tracy’s assistant Gwen, there’s a decent amount of variety in the characters. The villains are also fairly interesting, and showing Tracy stop the individual sons of papa Stark makes the story flow a little easier. Like the first serial, Dick Tracy Returns is a good example of the movie serial format, and has plenty of action, distinguishable characters and thrilling cliffhangers to keep viewers coming back. It’s mostly par for the course for the serial format, but a good example of it.
