gridoon2018 That title goes to "Nancy Drew - Trouble Shooter", in my opinion. But "Detective" may be the (relatively) "grittiest" of the series - which is ironic, because it's also the only one where no murders occur. However, it has a real sense of danger sometimes, as the bad guys take Nancy very seriously and try to intimidate her into stopping her investigation. Bonita Granville gives a typically bright and spirited performance, and she has excellent chemistry with both John Litel (Nancy's loving father) and Frankie Thomas (her on-and-off boyfriend Ted, who is sometimes the unsung hero of these films - here he is even the one who makes the smartest realization: that they should look not for the place that the pigeon was going TO, but the place it was coming FROM). Technical note: this is the only one out of the 4 Nancy Drew films in the official DVD collection that has a severely damaged print on two or three instances. **1/2 out of 4.

Michael_Elliott Nancy Drew--Detective (1938) ** 1/2 (out of 4) The first of four films in Warner's Nancy Drew series has Bonita Granville playing the teenage detective. In this film the wannabe detective tangles with gangsters over a missing old woman who was about to donate money to Nancy's school. The only other one in the series that I've seen is the second one and I really enjoyed it more than this one. The 66-minute running time goes by fairly slowly due to the middle section that really drags. The story really isn't all that interesting and none of the supporting characters have any flair. Granville is terrific in the lead and the main reason for watching this.

Neil Doyle While not quite capturing the essence and old-fashioned charm of the original Nancy Drew novels, Warner Bros. turned out a series of pleasant programmers starring BONITA GRANVILLE as the teen-age sleuth who is a lot smarter at solving crimes than her elders.The Nancy Drew of the original stories came across as a bit more sophisticated in her behavior than she is in any of the Nancy Drew films. And sometimes Granville's girlish behavior borders on brat territory and can be slightly annoying--but overall she's a bundle of teen-age energy in the role and FRANKIE THOMAS as Ted makes an appealing helpmate out of a rather colorless role.JOHN LITEL, a reliable Warner contract player, is perfectly cast as Nancy's attorney father. The story involves the disappearance of a nice old lady who has contributed a good sum of money to Nancy's school and then promptly disappears from sight. Nancy takes a chance on tracking her down (in some highly improbable ways) and she and her boyfriend are able to solve the case in time for the predictable happy ending.Based on "The Password to Larkspur Lane", it passes the time pleasantly enough in a modest running time, although it's not without its faults and is clearly aimed at younger viewers familiar with the Drew stories.Summing up: A fairly good start to the series.

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.