View source for Dick Tracy Returns

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Dick Tracy Returns
| image          = DickTracyReturns.jpg

| caption        =
| director       = {{unbulleted list|[[William Witney]]|[[John W English|John English]]}}
| producer       = [[Robert M Beche]]
| writer         = {{unbulleted list|[[Franklin Adreon]]|[[Ronald Davidson]]|[[Barry Shipman]]|[[Sol Shor]]|[[Rex taylor]]|[[Chester Gould]] ''(comic strip)''}}
| starring       = {{unbulleted list|[[Ralph Byrd]]|[[Lynne Roberts]]|[[Charles B. Middleton|Charles Middleton]]|[[Jerry Tucker (actor)|Jerry Tucker]]|[[David Sharpe (stuntman)|David Sharpe]]|Lee Ford}}
| cinematography = [[William Nobles (cinematographer)|William Nobles]]
| studio         = Republic Pictures
| distributor    = [[Republic Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1938|08|20|U.S.|ref1=<ref name="mathis">{{cite book | last = Mathis | first = Jack | title = Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement  | year = 1995 | publisher = Jack Mathis Advertising | isbn = 0-9632878-1-8 | pages = 3, 10, 32–33
}}</ref>|1948|07|17|U.S. re-release|ref2=<ref name="mathis" />}}
| runtime         = 15 chapters / 254 minutes<ref name="mathis" />
| language       = English
| country        = United States
| budget          = $156,991 ([[negative cost]]: $170,940)<ref name="mathis" />
| gross          = 
}}
'''''Dick Tracy Returns''''' (1938) is a [[Republic Pictures|Republic]] [[Movie serial]] based on the [[Dick Tracy]] [[comic strip]].  It was the eleventh of the sixty-six serials Republic produced and a sequel to the 1937 serial ''[[Dick Tracy (serial)|Dick Tracy]]'', with [[Ralph Byrd]] reprising his role as the title character. It was successful enough that two further sequels were released in 1939 and 1941, and Byrd become so connected with the character he went on to play him in a subsequent [[television series]].

This serial charts Tracy's efforts to capture the gang of Pa Stark ([[Charles B. Middleton|Charles Middleton]]) and his five criminal sons....Champ, Trigger, Dude, The Kid and Slasher.

==Plot==
Tracy and his group must battle saboteurs and spies in his effort to bring down the Stark gang, a major crime family syndicate led by the vicious and brutal Pa Stark. A young promising G-Man named Ron Merton (David Sharpe) is murdered by the Starks while trying to help Tracy bring the gang to justice. With the help of his friends Gwen, Junior and Mike McGurk, Tracy battles the vile criminal gang, and kills off Stark's sons one by one, until the only ones left are Pa Stark and his son Champ. Tracy faces off against Stark in a final battle aboard an out-of-control airplane three miles up in the sky in the final episode.

==Cast==
*[[Ralph Byrd]] as Dick Tracy
*[[Lynne Roberts]] as Gwen Andrews
*[[Charles B. Middleton|Charles Middleton]] as Pa Stark.  Pa Stark was based on the real criminal [[Ma Barker]].<ref name="Cline1">{{cite book
 | last = Cline
 | first = William C.
 | title = In the Nick of Time
 | url = https://archive.org/details/innickoftimemot00clin
 | url-access = registration
 | year = 1984
 | publisher = McFarland & Company, Inc.
 | isbn = 0-7864-0471-X
 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/innickoftimemot00clin/page/20 20–21]
 | chapter = 2. In Search of Ammunition
 }}</ref>
*[[Jerry Tucker (actor)|Jerry Tucker]] as Junior
*[[David Sharpe (stuntman)|David Sharpe]] as Agent Ron Merton, a newly trained agent.
*Lee Ford as Mike McGurk
* Michael Kent as Agent Steve Lockwood
*[[John Merton]] as Champ Stark
*Raphael Bennett as Trigger Stark
*Jack Roberts as Dude Stark
*[[Ned Glass]] as Kid Stark
*[[Jack Ingram (actor)|Jack Ingram]] as Slasher Stark
*[[Larry Steers]] as Duke (uncredited) 
*[[Harry Tenbrook]] as Thug (uncredited) 
 
==Production==
''Dick Tracy Returns'' was budgeted at $156,991 although the final [[negative cost]] was $170,940 (a $13,949, or 8.9%, overspend).  It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1938 and the most expensive Republic serial until ''[[The Lone Ranger Rides Again]]'' in 1939.<ref name="mathis" />  It was the second most expensive of the four ''Dick Tracy'' serials (the most expensive was the last, ''[[Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc.]]'' at $175,919<ref name="mathis" />).

It was filmed between 10 June and 18 July 1938 under the [[working title]] ''Return of Dick Tracy''.<ref name="mathis" />  The serial's production number was 791.<ref name="mathis" />

Like in the other three serials of the Republic series, Tracy is depicted as a [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] [[FBI]] agent instead of being, as he is in the original comic strip, a local police detective for a large [[Midwestern]] city.

This serial and all the sequels of the original 1937 [[Dick Tracy (Serial)|''Dick Tracy'' serial]] were permitted by an interpretation of the original contract, which allowed a "series or serial".  Therefore, [[Chester Gould]] was not paid again for the right to produce this serial.<ref>[http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue04/infocus/dicktracy.htm ''Dick Tracy'' article at Images Journal], last checked 19/03/07</ref>

===Special effects===
The special effects were created by Republic's in-house team, the [[Lydecker brothers]]

===Stunts===
*[[Earle D. Bunn]]
*[[Yakima Canutt]]
*[[George DeNormand]] as Dick Tracy (doubling Ralph Byrd)
*[[Duke Green]]
*[[George Magrill]]
*[[Eddie Parker (actor)|Eddie Parker]]
*[[Allen Pomeroy]]
*[[Loren Riebe]]
*[[Ted Wells (stuntman)|Ted Wells]]
*[[Bud Wolfe (actor)|Bud Wolfe]]

==Release==

''Dick Tracy Returns''' official release date is 20 August 1938, although this is actually the date the seventh chapter was made available to film exchanges.<ref name="mathis" />

The serial was re-released on 17 July 1948 between the first runs of ''[[Dangers of the Canadian Mounted]]'' and ''[[Adventures of Frank and Jesse James]]''.<ref name="mathis" />

VCI released the serial on 2 dvd discs in 2008. It was later released together with the other three Dick Tracy serials in a boxed dvd set by VCI in 2013.

==Critical reception==
Cline states that the ''Dick Tracy'' serials were "unexcelled in the action field," adding that "in any listing of serials released after 1930, the four ''Dick Tracy'' adventures from Republic must stand out as classics of the suspense detective thrillers, and the models for many others to follow."<ref name="Cline1" />

==Chapter titles==
# ''The Sky Wreckers'' (29min 51s)
# ''The Runway of Death'' (16min 34s)
# ''Handcuffed to Doom'' (16min 20s)
# ''Four Seconds to Live'' (15min 39s)
# ''Death in the Air'' (16min 35s)
# ''Stolen Secrets'' (15min 23s)
# ''Tower of Death'' (14min 34s)
# ''Cargo of Destruction'' (16min 12s)
# ''The Clock of Doom'' (16min 4s) - a [[clipshow|re-cap chapter]]
# ''High Voltage'' (16min 15s)
# ''The Kidnapped Witness/The Missing Witness'' (15min 45s)<ref>''The Kidnapped Witness'' is recorded as the title of the eleventh chapter in William C. Cline's ''In the Nick of Time'' while "The Missing Witness" is recorded as the title in Jack Mathis' ''Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement''.</ref>
# ''The Runaway Torpedo'' (15min 33s)
# ''Passengers to Doom'' (16min 19s) - a [[clipshow|re-cap chapter]]
# ''In the Hands of the Enemy'' (16min 30s)
# ''G-Men's Drag-Net'' (16min 24s)
<sub>Source:</sub><ref name="mathis" /><ref>{{cite book
 | last = Cline
 | first = William C.
 | title = In the Nick of Time
 | url = https://archive.org/details/innickoftimemot00clin
 | url-access = registration
 | year = 1984
 | publisher = McFarland & Company, Inc.
 | isbn = 0-7864-0471-X
 | chapter = Filmography
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/innickoftimemot00clin/page/222 222]
 }}</ref>

''Note: This was one of two 15-chapter Republic serials of 1938 (with ''[[The Lone Ranger (serial)|The Lone Ranger]]'').  The other two were only 12 chapters long.''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0030059}}
* {{AllMovie title|13668}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120502202030/http://www.serialexperience.com/showarticle.php?fldRecNum=255 ''Dick Tracy Returns'' at Todd Gault's Movie Serial Experience]

{{Dick Tracy}}
{{Republic serials}}
{{William Witney}}

[[Category:1938 films]]
[[Category:1930s crime films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1930s English-language films]]
[[Category:Dick Tracy films]]
[[Category:Republic Pictures film serials]]
[[Category:Films directed by William Witney]]
[[Category:Films directed by John English]]
[[Category:1930s police procedural films]]
[[Category:1930s American films]]
[[Category:English-language crime films]]