I saw this movie in 1954 as a child, and frankly, at that time it seemed to me to be both
amateurish and boring. I knew that Jack Webb had written, produced and directer it, and that's usually a pretty good prescription for a failure. Fifty-five years later, I still feel the same. This motion picture was made only because "Dragnet" (the TV series) was popular enough to draw in an audience, or at least, I'm guessing that the folks putting up the money thought so . If in fact "Dragnet" made a profit (I have my doubts) it was only because it was made on a very slim budget. What the movie audiences got for their money was just a thirty minute TV show that had been blown up -- filmed in color -- and little more. "Dragnet" was like a lot of films or TV shows that caught on at a particular time. They were different, rather than they were particularly good. "Dargnet" isn't something that holds up over time; rather, it becomes a curiosity, something that has to be defended. Several comments have have been made that this film reflected both the 1950's and Joseph R. McCarthy. Well, actually this film reflected Jack Webb, and his conception of movie making. If you see Joe McCarty here, it's because you want to see Joe McCarthy. This movie is not political unless you just think that policing is just a reflection of closet fascism.
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