The Original Nancy Drew Movie Mystery Collection (1939)

Likeable characters.

Four films from 1938 in black and white. "Reporter", "Trouble-shooter", and "Hidden Staircase" are lively, clever, with some humor. "Reporter" has a song. "Hidden Staircase" has some scary moments, not too scary.

Nancy's boyfriend, Ted Nickerson, is always working or planning something fun like fishing, when Nancy comes along and talks him into helping her solve a mystery, which always means putting Ted in danger. Ted always begins to say "no", how he already has plans, yet Nancy always manages to charm him into helping her. Nancy and Ted are just good friends, rather than officially boyfriend and girlfriend. So Nancy always makes sure Ted does not get too interested in other girls. Nancy always has good motives, but her plans often don't go as planned, getting Ted into trouble.

The first film "Detective" is fair at best. Scenes like Nancy calling the police captain a fool, and her lawyer-father calling his elderly maid an idiot set the tone for a poor script.

I wish they had made more episodes, because after the first film, they began hitting on some good themes that they could have run with. July 19, 2008

Detective Fun

If you loved the books then get this classic collection. Light comedy in amongst detective work. Very entertaining for all ages. Lots of laughs and mystery. Even though these 4 movies in the collection are in black and white they are picture perfect and well worth adding to the DVD Collection. July 1, 2008

True to Nancy's spirit

The plots of these four movies bear only a slight resemblance to the stories I remember from my long ago childhood, but the spirit of Nancy is present in Bonita Granville's performance. I was disappointed in characters dropped, and I'm still not sure why Ned became Ted, but all four tales were fun to watch. June 20, 2008

Nancy Drew....Stacked!

Caught one of these movies on TCM. Not bad, but I noticed an anomaly usually missing from movies of the era. Bonita Granville's rather ample bosom. Yes, I know one should watch these videos for other reasons. But based on my knowledge of the movie studio system at that time, she stands out. Also, her wardrobe is tailored to cover her "puppies" up. (Similar to what Disney did with Raven Symone during early episodes of her sitcom, "That's So Raven". These are part of movie history and I am going to purchase them. For that reason only. Yes, just that reason. June 4, 2008

Great old movies

Bonita Granville is great in these old flicks. The movie quality is good and the films are fun. Frankie Thomas is also excellent in his role as Nancy's boyfreind. June 1, 2008

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