Customer Reviews

Nancy Drew...Reporter

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a Nancy Drew fan, I wanted to see the series of movies made in the 1930s featuring the teenage sleuth. Nancy Drew, Reporter, is the best of the lot. Part screwball comedy, part mystery, it reminds me of the popular Thin Man series. While the series of movies with Bonita Granville takes MANY liberties with the Nancy Drew characters, Nancy herself comes across well.

This is Nancy Drew?
I give this item 4 stars because 1: I love Nancy Drew, 2: The story is good, and 3: Bonita Granville does a good job.
But, Where is Hannah? Where is Togo? Where is Bess? Where is George? Where is Ned? Where all the these characters that are just as important as Nancy??
Actually, there is a Ned. Well, Ted, really. But he is a whimpy scairdy-cat.
Don't you think these films would have made a great hit if they actually copied the books to some degree?
Can you imagine the Secret of Red Gate Farm, or The Ringmasters Secret as a film! Wonderful! The fans would flock!
But no. And why not? I don't know. Bonita is great. She is really clever, and funny, but without the REAL characters, it's hard to even refer to this film as Nancy Drew.

Nancy Drew continues to be one of the most popular and enduring adventure series for girls ever penned. It also served as the basis for a series of very fine films starring Bonita Granville as the plucky young girl whose curiosity and enthusiasm were always getting her into trouble. Nancy Drew: Reporter finds her sneaking out an exciting crime report to investigate for a local paper and promptly embroiling her friend Ted and wisecracking older brother Carson smack into the middle of a tangled and dangerous mystery. A wonderful movie that has stood the test of time and continues to be as enjoyable and family friendly as when it first debuted, Nancy Drew: Reporter is a very highly recommended addition to all community library video movie collections and we can only hope that Bridgestone Multimedia will eventually be able to bring out all the other wonderful Nancy Drew movies from a cinematic yesteryear.

Bonita Granville was a delightful ball of fun during the 1930's in this "B" series from WB. This entry was one of the best in the series. She looks cute as a button dressed by Milo Anderson and brings energy to the "B" script by Kenneth Gamet. Director William Clemens keeps everything moving quickly for an enjoyable bit of fun for young mystery fans, and film buffs fond of the always terrific Bonita Granville.

Nancy gets her chance as a reporter along with some other girls as a promotion run by the local paper. There's a fifty dollar prize and a medal for the student who turns in the best story after three days. The weary editor hands out some generic fluff to each girl but, of course, Nancy is more interested in the big story involving the death of rich elderly woman, and off she goes to the inquest instead.

When the verdict turns out to be murder by a rare poison used in photograhy, Nancy is hot on the case! Betty Amann is the innocent girl, Paula Denning, Nancy tries to clear by beating everyone to the container with the real killer's fingerprints on it. But a boxer named Soxie (Jack Perry) with a disfigured ear wants it too and uses his girlfriend (Sheila Bromley) to grab it from her in a crowd.

Nancy can't do it alone so enlists the help of her pal Ted (Frank Thomas Jr.) with a new hat. Granville and Thomas were good together and it was endearing that he didn't quite realize he was Nancy's boyfriend. Dickie Jones and Mary Lee were also fun as Ted's young siblings wrangling their way into everything. There's a fun scene where they end up having to sing for their meal at the Mandarin Cafe while in hot pursuit of the story.

John Litel portrayed Nancy's dad, Carson Drew, in the series and there is one especially nice scene between the two that is filled with warmth and the fun of a father/daughter relationship. Nancy tricks him into helping the Denning girl but with Nancy and her pals on the case, the outcome is never really in doubt.

There is a delightful entry with a marvelous ending typical of the series. This one is a fine mix of energy and humor and won't disappoint fans of the sweet Bonita Granville, a young and shining star from the era who deserves to be remembered.

Nancy Drew, Reporter (1939) is a very good entry in this series. I watched it for the first time the other night and was amused by two scenes with Psycho references. Since the movie was made over 20 years before Hitchcock's masterpiece, the scenes are pure coincidence, but worth sharing...during the movie, one of the characters appears in drag looking eerily like Mother Bates! and in another scene, which takes place on a rooftop, there is a sign in the background advertising the Bates Hotel! I had to smile. Check it out.

Schoolgirl Nancy Drew (Bonita Granville) has always wanted to be a real reporter, so when she participates in a local newspaper contest, she's nothing but disappointed by the assignment she receives. However, when she pulls a little switcharoo, Nancy suddenly feels like a real reporter, for she is now covering the story of a young woman's fatal poisoning, and the arrest of a woman who Nancy presumes is innocent. Now, with the help of her friend and next-door neighbor, Ted (Frankie Thomas) as well as her lawyer father, Nancy stumbles upon some very incriminating clues, that will set the innocent free, and capture the real killer. Now all Nancy and Ted need to do is solve the case, and Nancy will be able to call herself a true reporter. And detective.

I read the NANCY DREW books for years while I was growing up, however, I grew out of them before my tenth birthday; so I never thought that the NANCY DREW films starring Bonita Granville (THE LONE RANGER and ANNE OF GREEN GABLES) would be able to hold my attention, but I was quite wrong. Bonita Granville is adorable as Nancy Drew. She is brave, cute, intelligent, and very good at using reverse psychology on her somewhat goofy neighbor Ned. Frankie Thomas (TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET and THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR) couldn't be cuter as the bumbling next-door neighbor, who is obviously the eye of Nancy's affections. Thomas has a great sense of humor - which shines through in his performance - and just looking at him alone will send you into fits of laughter, as his face conveys such expression. Yes, many of the characters found in the NANCY DREW books are missing in this film, but you can't hold that against it. NANCY DREW...REPORTER is an adorable black and white film that can be watched over and over again, whether you are young or old.

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

Take a trip back to a simpler time, when an unassuming teenage girl could track down the missing evidence in a messy murder trial. Carolyn Keene's "Nancy Drew" series received definitive screen versions in the late 1930s thanks to the Warner Brothers films franchise starring Bonita Granville as teen sleuth Nancy Drew.

In NANCY DREW...REPORTER (filmed in 1939), we follow Nancy while she works as a student reporter at the city newsdesk. Enterprising young lady that she is, Nancy secretly swaps her assigned story for a hot murder trial, where pretty chemical lab assistant Eula Denning (Betty Amann) will surely go to the gas chamber unless Nancy uncovers the vital evidence that will clear her name. Nancy teams with her next-door-neighbour Ted Nickerson (Frankie Thomas) as they set off on a dangerous, thrill-packed race against time...

Bonita Granville remains the definitive screen Nancy; the perfect embodiment of the enterprising, go-gettum spirit of the books. Frankie Thomas (best-remembered as TV's "Tom Corbett: Space Cadet") is also very fine as the reluctant stooge to Nancy's crime capers.

Nancy Drew was and is an incredibly popular book series, but film makers knew a good story when they found one, and decided to make this one into a film series. Bonita Granville stars as Nancy, an excitable young girl who itches to solve mysteries. In this movie, she finds herself assigned to a childish topic when she volunteers to work for the local newspaper. She switches her topic with a real reporter's and finds herself listening to a murder trial. She believes the main suspect is innocent and does all she can to prove her theory, even if that includes involving her lawyer father and her boyish neighbor against their will. With run ins with boxers, photographers, and security guards, this movie keeps you on your toes.

This film is ideal for young audiences too because of the age of the main characters. There are several "Golly"s and "Gosh"s thrown into the dialogue which makes these teenagers seem a bit younger than they would be in today's world. However, a good mystery is suitable for all ages, just like this movie.

Take a trip back to a simpler time, when an unassuming teenage girl could track down the missing evidence in a messy murder trial. Carolyn Keene's "Nancy Drew" series received definitive screen versions in the late 1930s thanks to the Warner Brothers films franchise starring Bonita Granville as teen sleuth Nancy Drew.

In NANCY DREW...REPORTER (filmed in 1939), we follow Nancy while she works as a student reporter at the city newsdesk. Enterprising young lady that she is, Nancy secretly swaps her assigned story for a hot murder trial, where pretty chemical lab assistant Eula Denning (Betty Amann) will surely go to the gas chamber unless Nancy uncovers the vital evidence that will clear her name. Nancy teams with her next-door-neighbour Ted Nickerson (Frankie Thomas) as they set off on a dangerous, thrill-packed race against time...

Bonita Granville remains the definitive screen Nancy; the perfect embodiment of the enterprising, go-gettum spirit of the books. Frankie Thomas (best-remembered as TV's "Tom Corbett: Space Cadet") is also very fine as the reluctant stooge to Nancy's crime capers.

Playing two troublesome whistle bomb-wielding children, Mary Lee and Dickie Jones are veteran scene-stealers. John Litel plays Nancy's father, with Larry Williams, Sheila Bromley and Thomas E. Jackson.

The print on offer from Alpha Video Classics is quite good-quality, and the price is certainly very nice. (Single-sided, single-layer disc).

The movie is played mainly for comedy; there is neither hide nor hair of Bess and George; and why on earth would they call him TED Nickerson?

All in all, this movie does depict the fun and excitement that you would relate to any Nancy Drew book. Nancy comes across young, smart and with a lot more opportunities than anyone has a right to expect. But she's not spoiled and you can't help falling in love with Bonita Granville's portrayal of the heroine.

The movie is short, fast and funny and will appeal to children and younger adults.