Nancy Drew: Detective

I have never read a Nancy Drew book, I was more into the Hardy Boy books and the only exposure to Nancy Drew was a television series in the 70's. After seeing this very old version of Nancy Drew starring Bonita Granville, a familiar name involving a dog named Lassie, I vote this film as the best and most interesting story for someone that is unbiased. Granville plays Drew with excitement and girlish energy. A mind that is continuing thinking of "possibilities" when an old lady disappears. John Litel plays Carson Drew which I believe showcases the talent of Litel with poise, wits and fatherly love. Lastly, Ted Nickerson, a boy that Nancy likes and uses is played by Frankie Thomas. This is a solid mystery team for the whole film.

First in the short series of Nancy Drew movies made in 1938/39. The mystery here has Nancy (Bonita Granville) searching for a missing wealthy dowager and tangling with crooks. Granville is dynamite in probably her most famous role. John Litel is good as Nancy's encouraging but protective father. Frankie Thomas plays her sidekick, best friend, and would-be boyfriend. Great female role model for young girls, way ahead of its time. I never read the books so I can't say how close to the source material these movies are, but I enjoy them. Fun script, likable characters,and short runtime make for an entertaining B detective movie. Not the best in the series but good.

Bonita Granville plays smart, courageous, spunky Nancy Drew in this programmer based on the novels by Caroline Keene. It's been a long time since I read any Nancy Drews, or since my mother read the books, but one remembers every detail. The roadster, her friend named George, her boyfriend named Ned, and the Drew housekeeper named Hannah. For reasons known only to the studio, Ned is now Ted (guess they didn't like the alliteration), there's no George (guess they didn't want a girl with a boy's name) and the housekeeper is named Effie (you tell me why). Nancy still has her roadster.

The Nancy Drew mysteries are wonderful reads, and this film was fun to watch, even with the little changes. Bonita Granville, who, as Bonita Granville Wrather became the producer of the "Lassie" TV series, certainly looks like Nancy (who in the books was always having "luncheon"). I had always envisioned while reading the books a more sophisticated, less madcap Nancy, but Granville's energetic (almost hyper) characterization fits a film portrayal well. Ned is a little bit of a goof, but a smart one. John Litel was right casting as Carson Drew, Nancy's father, a widower who didn't date.

The plot can be figured out in the first ten seconds, but these movies were for the teen-aged audience who knew the books. Very enjoyable, and a slice of '30s life which is no more.

While not quite capturing the essence and old-fashioned charm of the original Nancy Drew novels, Warner Bros. turned out a series of pleasant programmers starring BONITA GRANVILLE as the teen-age sleuth who is a lot smarter at solving crimes than her elders.

The Nancy Drew of the original stories came across as a bit more sophisticated in her behavior than she is in any of the Nancy Drew films. And sometimes Granville's girlish behavior borders on brat territory and can be slightly annoying--but overall she's a bundle of teen-age energy in the role and FRANKIE THOMAS as Ted makes an appealing helpmate out of a rather colorless role.

JOHN LITEL, a reliable Warner contract player, is perfectly cast as Nancy's attorney father. The story involves the disappearance of a nice old lady who has contributed a good sum of money to Nancy's school and then promptly disappears from sight. Nancy takes a chance on tracking her down (in some highly improbable ways) and she and her boyfriend are able to solve the case in time for the predictable happy ending.

Based on "The Password to Larkspur Lane", it passes the time pleasantly enough in a modest running time, although it's not without its faults and is clearly aimed at younger viewers familiar with the Drew stories.

Summing up: A fairly good start to the series.

This was the first of the 4 Warner Brothers attempts at filming a Nancy Drew mystery in the '30's, all of them pretty much revolved around this standard and all taking liberties with the characters and original stories, where used. The series of books began to be published in 1930 following on from the success of the Hardy Boys and ghosted mostly by Mildred Wirt under the name of Carolyn Keene, until 1953 when other ghosts completely took over. Therefore it's always amused me that the first book chosen to (liberally) adapt for the big screen, The Password To Larkspur Lane from 1933 was one written by a man, Walter Karig. There weren't as many astounding plot co-incidences in his 3 books as with Wirt's and it shows in the screenplay here.

Nancy ably played by Bonita Granville is intuitively sure a nice rich old lady has been kidnapped for her money, her Dad's not too sure, but her beau Ted grumblingly followed her lead. This involves letting a message-bearing homing pigeon free and improbably following it by car to the nest of gangsters improbably led by otherwise sophisticated James Stephenson. It doesn't matter but it grates a little bit with Ned the confident proto-man changed to Ted the juvenile radio ham, Nancy is played slightly more immature than the stories at the time leading to the cops continually calling her a little girl, Effie was supposed to be 17 not middle aged, and Carson Drew although well played by John Litel never lost his temper like he did in here! But overall it's an engrossing pleasant mystery - good photography got the atmosphere of River Heights just right too.

Not recommended for the serious! Obviously they couldn't be as good as the books but they were all good efforts and solid family entertainment and imho miles better than the 1970's TV series. I wish Warners had made 14 of them not 4!