Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

MartinHafer Back in the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made a ton of mystery films. Big studios, small studios and mircoscopic studios...they all churned out these pictures by the dozens. And, the Holy Grail of all these studios was finding a series that took off and resulted in an extended series...such as The Lone Wolf, The Falcon or Charlie Chan. Well, in the case of Warner Brothers, they tried something a bit different--to create two series in which the protagonists were women! Torchy Blaine and Nancy Drew were given the Warner Brothers gloss and when seen today they seem better than the average mystery films. "Nancy Drew: Detective" was the first of four films starring Bonita Granville. And, they all are worth your time.The story begins with a nice rich lady promising to give Nancy's school a large endowment. However, before she can arrange this, she disappears...and her financial manager keeps making excuses as to where she went. Nancy smells a rat and decides to investigate. And, with the help of Ted (in drag), they take a huge risk by sneaking into an old mansion out in the country.This film features good writing, an unusual story and nice acting....and like all four films is worth your time. Fortunately, they're often shown on Turner Classic Movies and they are currently on YouTube as well.

Hitchcoc When I was a child, we males had "The Hardy Boys" and the girls had "Nancy Drew." At least it seemed that way. I had a fourth grade teacher who would read to us if we came in during lunch. Amazing how many kids showed up. One day she began a Nancy Drew novel. I couldn't tell my male friends, but I read several of them after that, in addition to the more typical male stuff (loved baseball novels). So I was just a bit disappointed when I watched this movie because my picture of Nancy was different. Nevertheless, the irrepressible Bonita Granville does a pretty decent job of making Nancy a role model for the girls of the time. This was escapist, but it has a good plot, a formidable villain, and some interesting twists and turns.

AaronCapenBanner William Clemens directed this first of four film adaptations of the Carolyn Keane novels starring Bonita Granville as energetic and smart Nancy Drew, who assists her attorney father Carson Drew(played by John Litel) with the help of her boyfriend Ted Nickerson(played by Frankie Thomas) to solve mysteries in their town. This case involves the disappearance of an older woman who was planning on making a sizable donation to Nancy's school, but is abducted by crooks instead, who want the money themselves. The cast is good, especially Granville who is charming and appealing. Too bad the mystery itself is so flimsy, with cardboard villains and plot silliness. Still, kids may not mind so much.

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.