Dick Tracy - RKO Classic Collection (VCI DVD)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C Films: C+
Though I was a bigger fan of the earlier serials than RKO
B-movies, the four such films the studio made of Dick Tracy are still more ambitious than the Warren
Beatty film when the gritty side of the character is considered and they are
finally back in print with VCI Entertainment’s Dick Tracy - RKO Classic Collection. Those titles include Dick Tracy, Detective, Dick
Tracy vs. Cueball, Dick Tracy’s
Dilemma and Dick Tracy Meets
Gruesome with Boris Karloff as the villain.
We
previously covered the films in a now out-of-print set at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4315/Dick+Tracy+Collection+Box+Set
I am not
as big a fan as my fellow writer, nor am I further impressed with the films now
than when I first saw them, but they should always be in print and VCI has
filled that gap with the best edition now on the market. It is equal to the older Roan edition, though
I would rate both a little below the ratings the previous review sported. Nevertheless, unless Warner spends big money to
restore the films for Blu-ray and have camera materials in their archives, this
is the best you are going to see for a while of these films on disc.
The 1.33 X 1 image has some good video black, but the
prints can be dull and muddy at their worse, yet are consistent as some work
was done to fix them. Though I would not
go as far as Max Allan Collins to call any of these Film Noir (the most abused
term around), they do have some distinction in their look. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono tracks are not bad
for their age, but are a few generations away from the original recording.
Extras include intros by Collins, RKO Lobby Card Gallery,
trailers for other serials and the first chapters of two of the Tracy serials
VCI happens to have in print: Dick
Tracy’s G-Men and Dick Tracy Returns.
- Nicholas Sheffo
