Production
Dick Tracy was budgeted at $112,334 although the final negative cost was $127,640 (a $15,306, or 13.6%, overspend). It was the most expensive Republic serial until S O S Coast Guard was released later in the year.
It was filmed between 30 November and 24 December 1936 under the working titles Adventures of Dick Tracy and The Spider Ring. The serial's production number was 420.
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 creator, Chester Gould was only paid for the rights to produce this serial but not for any of the sequels.
Read more about this topic: Dick Tracy (serial)
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—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
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