Nancy Drew… Detective
Nancy Drew… Detective
| 19 November 1938 (USA)
Nancy Drew… Detective Trailers

After a wealthy dowager who has made a substantial donation to her alma mater suddenly disappears, Nancy Drew sets out to solve the mystery.

Reviews
GamerTab That was an excellent one.
ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!
Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
bensonmum2 Mary Eldredge, a wealthy older woman, is prepared to make a substantial donation to the school Nancy Drew (Bonita Granville) attends. But when she disappears before the gift can be finalized, Nancy immediately suspects foul play. And when Nancy witnesses the local doctor being kidnapped, she's sure she's on the right track. Can Nancy, with the help of her friend Ted Nickerson (Frankie Thomas), find and rescue the old woman? Honestly, I wasn't expecting to enjoy Nancy Drew – Detective quite as much as I did. Sure, I'm a fan of 1930s-style mysteries like the Charlie Chan or Falcon series, but from afar, I've always thought of the Nancy Drew movies too lightweight and fluffy in comparison (though when I think about it, there's nothing deep and meaningful about Chan or any of the other movies I've enjoyed for years). And though Nancy Drew – Detective is a breezy affair, it's still very enjoyable. I cannot come up with enough positives to write about Bonita Granville. She has an infectious charm that dominates the entire movie. It's hard to watch her and not have a smile on your face. You just naturally root for her. The supporting players, particularly John Litel as Carson Drew and Frankie Thomas as Ted Nickerson, also add a lot of enjoyment to the movie.The mystery elements of Nancy Drew – Detective hardly matter. It's quite obvious from the start what has happened to the old woman Nancy is looking for. But none of that really matters. The important thing is watching Nancy and the gang get to the final solution. It's just a lot of fun!
bkoganbing The first of the four Nancy Drew mysteries that Bonita Granville did for Warner Brothers finds her trying to find an old woman who donated some big bucks to her high school for a swimming pool and promptly disappears.Our intrepid heroine to four generations of young girls goes into action to find what's happened to the old dame. The high school benefactor has fallen into the hands of a gang of crooks led by James Stephenson. They've got an interesting way of communicating by carrier pigeons.When Nancy discovers that she and her ever helpful boyfriend Ted Nickerson go in hot pursuit of the bird. Of course as things developed in the series the biggest pigeon for Nancy was Ted as played by Frankie Thomas.No heavy drama here, but Granville and Thomas are enormously appealing, though gloriously out of fashion with a new Nancy Drew coming to the silver screen.
lehartter Nancy Drew, Detective, turns very serious drama campy, which is actually one of the best ways to handle serious drama. The real novels in the series depict Nancy as sophisticated, intelligent, multi-talented, (read: Mary Richards of MTM) and, up until about 1965, dressed like a model in heels, suits, tailored dresses and hats while she completes the majority of the legwork for her sleuthing.The film depicts a less-than-perfect, giddy, and at times, juvenile Nancy. Based on "The Password to Larkspur Lane," Nancy's sidekicks Bess, George (a girl), and Helen, are written out of the movies, in favor of boyfriend Ned (re-named Ted in the films). This obviously promotes a Garland/Rooney type relationship.The plot unevenly blends in comic relief from the original story, now at an outlandish angle, and makes intelligent sophisticate Nancy into a typical teen. The change in characterization killed all hopes for this series to run for more than the brief four films involved. Fans of Nancy, and, the publishing icon Harriet S. Adams, were both disappointed with Warner Brothers' treatment of the famous teen. So much so, that when Harriet regained the film rights, the famous sleuth wasn't filmed again until 1977.
blanche-2 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.
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