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.
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. Dick Tracy creator Chester Gould approved the script despite these changes.
There were three sequels to this serial. They were all permitted by an interpretation of the original contract, which allowed a “series or serial”. That meant that Dick Tracy’s creator, Chester Gould, was only paid for the rights to produce this serial but not for any of the sequels.
By Alan James / Ray Taylor [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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