Title: Dick Tracy – Chapter 3: The Fur Pirates Serial Title: Dick Tracy (1937, Republic Pictures, 15-part serial) Chapter: 3 of 15 Release Date: February 27, 1937 Directed by: Alan James & Ray Taylor Written by: Morgan Cox, George H. Plympton, Barry Shipman, Winston Miller Produced by: Henry MacRae Based on: Dick Tracy comic strip by Chester Gould Studio: Republic Pictures Runtime: Approx. 19 minutes (Chapter 3) Format: Black and White, Mono Sound Language: English Country: United States Genre: Crime, Detective, Action, Mystery, Serial --- Synopsis: In The Fur Pirates, Dick Tracy continues to pursue The Spider and his criminal organization. After surviving the deadly trap on the bridge, Tracy investigates a series of violent robberies targeting shipments of valuable fur pelts—a booming black-market enterprise secretly funding The Spider’s larger scheme. As Tracy and his team follow the trail of clues, they uncover that the stolen furs are being smuggled out via hidden rail routes under the city. Meanwhile, The Spider deploys a new agent: a silent saboteur known only as “The Slicer,” whose specialty lies in cutting communication lines and dispatching witnesses with razor-precision. Tracy must rely on the quick thinking of his sidekick Junior and the tech-savvy Gwen Andrews to track the smugglers before a critical train carrying federal assets is seized. The episode ends with Tracy in a boxcar rigged to derail at full speed. --- Main Cast: Ralph Byrd as Dick Tracy Kay Hughes as Gwen Andrews Smiley Burnette as Mike McGurk Lee Van Atta as Junior Carleton Young as Gordon Tracy John Picorri as The Spider Francis X. Bushman Jr. as Steve Lockwood Jack Mower as The Slicer (new henchman introduced in this chapter) --- Key Elements: Undercover work: Tracy dons a disguise as a freight loader to infiltrate the smuggling ring. Fur theft ring reflects the actual prevalence of luxury contraband crime during the 1930s. Junior shows increased initiative, tailing suspects independently. Introduces new gadgets including a portable wire-tapping device used by Gwen. High-stakes train sequence reminiscent of classic silent-era action films. Classic chapter ending: Tracy seemingly trapped in a runaway boxcar heading for a gorge. --- Trivia: The fur warehouse featured in this chapter was a repurposed sound stage from The Vigilantes Are Coming (1936), another Republic serial. The runaway train sequence used miniatures and full-size interiors shot on a set with rear projection—innovative for its time. “The Slicer” never speaks a word in this chapter and is believed to have influenced later silent henchman tropes in pulp and noir. Ralph Byrd’s contract with Republic required him to perform stunts whenever feasible, which included scenes on a moving train car for this chapter. The fur smuggling subplot is loosely adapted from a 1935 Dick Tracy comic strip storyline. Some prints of this chapter include a slightly extended version of the train crash, which was later trimmed for syndication due to pacing concerns.