By JM Cozzoli
At 41 days, this was the longest of the Tracy serials to film. Ralph Byrd reprises his role of the famous comic-strip detective, albeit now leading FBI agents combating international spies. Irving Pichel plays Zarnoff, the villain Tracy has to thwart time and time again. With a more political theme — Zarnoff was the front for the Three Powers (World War II was beckoning) — this Tracy film provided more spy gadgetry like a gas spewing fountain pen and pulp-like intrigue. Due to ambiguous wording in the contractual agreement to finalizing a two-year option renewal, lots of phone calls and lawyers’ billing ensued as Republic and Chicago’s Famous Artists Syndicate worked out how to greenlight this third Tracy film while freeing up the second one, Dick Tracy Returns. Meanwhile, Chester Gould, the creator, artist, and writer for the comic-strip, received payment only for the first movie. Now that’s a crime. Jack Mathis, in his Valley of the Cliffhangers, provides the legal gyrations in detail.
The serial has strong physical action and fight choreography. George DeNormand served as Ralph Byrd’s main stunt double, with additional stunt work from Tom Steele, Ken Terrell, Ted Mapes, Carey Loftin, Allen Pomeroy, Bud Wolfe, and Eddie Parker, staples of Republic’s stunt corps. Visual and special effects were handled by the Lydecker brothers, who specialized in miniature work, while acing optical and physical effects. In their later years they moved into Irwin Allen’s science-fiction productions, including Lost in Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, applying the same miniature-based philosophy to a new generation of spacecraft and submarine effects ( The Files of Jerry Blake and Wikipedia).
