Dick Tracy - Serial 1 - The Spider Strikes (1937)

Dick Tracy (1937) is a 15-chapter Republic movie serial starring Ralph Byrd based on the Dick Tracy comic strip by Chester Gould. It was directed by Alan James and Ray Taylor.
Dick Tracy's foe for this serial is the crime boss and masked mystery villain The Spider/The Lame One (both names are used) and his Spider Ring.Show more

Plot

Dick Tracy's foe for this serial is the crime boss and masked mystery villain the Spider/the Lame One (both names are used) and his Spider Ring.[3] In the process of various crimes, including using his flying wing and sound weapon to destroy the Bay Bridge in San Francisco and stealing an experimental "speed plane", The Spider captures Dick Tracy's brother, Gordon. The Spider's minion, Dr. Moloch, performs a brain operation on Gordon Tracy to turn him evil, making him secretly part of the Spider Ring and so turning brother against brother.

Directed by: Alan James, Ray Taylor
Produced by: Nat Levine, J. Laurence Wickland (Associate)
Written by: Morgan B. Cox, George Morgan, Barry Shipman, Winston Miller, Chester Gould (comic strip)
Music by: Harry Grey
Cinematography: William Nobles, Edgar Lyons
Edited by: Helene Turner, Edward Todd, William Witney
Distributed by: Republic Pictures
Release date: February 20, 1937 (U.S. serial)
Running time: 15 chapters / 290 minutes (serial)
Country: United States
Language: English

Starring cast
Ralph Byrd as Dick Tracy
Kay Hughes as Gwen Andrews
Smiley Burnette as Mike McGurk
Lee Van Atta as Junior
John Picorri as Dr Moloch
Richard Beach as Gordon Tracy (pre-operation in Chapter 1)
Carleton Young as Gordon Tracy (post-operation in Chapter 1)
Fred Hamilton as Steve Lockwood
Francis X. Bushman as Clive Anderson

Supporting cast
John Dilson as Ellery Brewster
Wedgwood Nowell as H. T. Clayton
Theodore Lorch as Paterno
Edwin Stanley as Walter Odette (The Spider/ The Lame One)
Harrison Greene as Cloggerstein
Herbert Weber as Tony Martino
Buddy Roosevelt as Burke
George DeNormand as Flynn
Byron K. Foulger as Kovitch

- In this serial, Dick Tracy is a G-Man (FBI) in San Francisco rather than a Midwestern city police detective as in the comic strip.
- Most of the Dick Tracy supporting cast and rogues gallery were also dropped and new, original characters used instead
- There were three sequels to this serial: Dick Tracy Returns (1938), Dick Tracy's G-Men (1939), and Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Tr...)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Tracy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Byrd
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republi...