Boris meets Dick

Newly restored half sheet. A gang of criminals, which includes a piano player and an imposing former convict known as 'Gruesome' (Boris Karloff), has found out about a scientist's secret formula for a gas that temporarily paralyzes anyone who breathes it. When Gruesome accidentally inhales some of the gas and passes out, the police think he is dead and take him to the morgue, where he later revives and escapes. This puzzling incident attracts the interest of Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd), and when the criminals later use the gas to rob a bank, Tracy realizes that he must devote his entire attention to stopping them. At one point in the film, the Comedy relief states: "If I didn't know better, I'd say we were dealing with Boris Karloff!".