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Late at night, a man with a claw as a hand is attempting to break into a fur warehouse. This man is known as ‘The Claw’ and is a part of a criminal gang that aims to sell furs. So, The Claw puts out the night watch and kills the lights around the warehouse. He also unlocks the market opening and gives the command for a truck to enter the warehouse.
At this moment, the other two members of his associate gang come out of the truck and begin to try and break the lock to the furs, only to be interjected by the night watchman who is equipped with a pistol. Unfortunately, the night watchman’s efforts are useless and the gang makes their escape without breaking a sweat. Now, it is up to Dick Tracy to solve the murder mystery that has been presented to him.
RKO decided to use Ralph Byrd for the third Dick Tracy movie as both sides agreed business was as usual. For this third film, the detective battles against a mere thug, instead of a criminal mastermind and dials back the production quality. The Claw, dubbed so after his appendage that replaced his hand, is distinguished by his limping gait. It was this appendage that took the life of the nightwatchman(as intended). Tracy does not seem to be matching wits with any of his opponents. He instead appears to be just going through the motions with the presiding clues. Most of the thugs were stock puppets, so it is not as surprising.
No, as soon as the night watchman’s corpse is discovered, begins the big segment of investigation, which from the beginning starts up and his handkerchief has a note written on it. Handing it over to the laboratory, it takes some deciphering, but enough to give Tracy a break, and the police are soon aware that the criminals can be linked to a ghastly bar known as The Blinking Skull (there is also a neon sign outside depicting, um, a malfunctioning skull). The reason for their knowledge is thanks to the sacrifice of the Sightless (Jimmy Conlin), a vendor who Tracy kept on his books as an informer. He attempts to spy on The Claw and his colleagues and understands that this is the group that the detective is hunting, but he is seen and pursued, managing to deliver the news to the right person before The Claw takes him out.
Physician Vitamin Flintheart, played by Ian Keith, fits in perfectly. The verbose thespian who considers Sightless insignificant is left feeling guilt-stricken after the little man accounts for a sick Schwartz. It is simple. Tracy knows how to go about things. He employs Vitamin Blake a chief in the project Sinclair built in the sun Ritz to work undercover for him. The mystery crime plot, like in many episodes of this series, is solved without any surprises. You can be sure something crooked is going on when the insurance company decides to get involved and, as usual, we see characters from the opening credits, so the spirit of Chester Gould’s original comic strips is, how can I put this, not really here except in the odd personality. It’s less of an A, or B. It’s more of a routine B-movie than anything else, but entertaining enough while it’s on with some nice noir-ish photography to accentuate the shadows of those mean streets.
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