The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure

Tommy Kirk and Tim Considine were wonderful as "The Hardy Boys," but Disney has holding on to this like a mean dog with a good bone. "Spin and Marty" re-runs are fun, but woefully repetitive. Give us some original "Hardy Boys!" . .

This serial was still airing in reruns about a decade later. "Gold doubloons and pieces of eight / Handed down from Applegate / From buccaneers who fought for years / For gold doubloons and pieces of eight." At least part of that is right, I'm sure. Then there was, "Yo-ho-ho, the wind blows free / Oh, for a life on the roaring sea." The late Thurl Ravenscroft may have been one of the singing voices.

My personal memories of Disney in connection with adventure are primarily confined to comic books rather than television. At the time I saw this serial (when it and I both already were almost 10 years old), I was into Carl Barks's Uncle Scrooge comics, and sometimes the Mickey Mouse comics of the adventure-serial variety, where Mickey wore a red suit. I wouldn't mind seeing this story again to see how it compares against other Disney adventures I loved that were presented to me in another form.

We bought this "disney treasure" and took it to our lake house to watch with our children over summer vacation.

We will always remember the summer we watched the Mystery of the Applegate Treasure. We looked forward, each evening, to the next episode. So much fun. It is the end of the summer and they are still singing the theme song. I know it will be a sweet memory for years come. I wish there were more shows like this to experience together as a family. We ALL enjoyed it!

With so much "junk" out there, it was so refreshing to watch something that both our children and ourselves could really enjoy.

They simply just don't make family adventure/mystery films like this anymore. I, like many other fans of Walt Disney's superior magic could only wish that a new generation of film makers could bring back Disney's magic but the only one who has come even close on a constant basis is film director/producer/writer Steven Spielberg with films such as Jaws (1975), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), E.T. (1982), Hook (1991), Jurassic Park (1993), and The BFG (2016).

The Hardy Boys adventures were good clean fun in the mid 1950's and they are still good clean fun some sixty (60) plus years later. The two stars of this mini TV mystery series are Tim Considine, and Tommy Kirk who play brothers Frank and Joe Hardy. The Hardy boys father is a real detective who the boys try and emulate with their wild imagination about some bury gold doubloons in their neighbors Mr Applegate's backyard somewhere.

The boys two friends are neighbor Iola Morton (Carole Ann Campbell) who is sweet on Joe Hardy and a troubled youth named Perry Robinson (Donald MacDonald) who seems to get blamed for a bunch of stolen property until the Hardy boys get involved and start their own little investigation and surreptitiously look for the gold doubloons, and the real thief.

Ahhh, to be a pre-teen once again and watch the Hardy Boys adventure for the very first time brings back so many good memories. Now that I own a copy of this hard to find DVD TV mini series my grandchildren will also get to enjoy the pure joy of the Hardy Boys adventures.

I give this IMDB title a solid 8 out of 10 IMDB rating.

Even though these good-natured Hardy Boys' episodes (which were regularly featured on TV's "Mickey Mouse Club") are somewhat silly and strictly juvenile in their story-lines, they are still sure to be of some interest to anyone who might be a nostalgia-buff for 1950's television programs, especially light-hearted ones of mystery and comedy.

Set in the small, middle-class town of Bayport, N.Y. - Join 13 year-old Frank Hardy and his gung-ho, 12 year-old bro', Joe, as the suspense and drama unfolds and our 2 amateur detectives (along with their friends and family) search for vital clues that will reveal the truth behind "The Mystery Of The Applegate Treasure". (Wow! It sure sounds exciting, eh!)

So, sit back, relax, and see just why this highly-popular kiddies' show thrilled television's first generation of children and still continues to thrill audiences to this very day.

Filmed in b&w, each of these 19 episodes (dating from 1956-1957) has a running time of approx. 12 minutes. This 2-DVD set also contains some interesting bonus material.