The four "Nancy Drew" movies are now available from Warner Bros. in an excellent DVD set, I don't advise viewing them in order, as the first of the series, Nancy Drew – Detective is undoubtedly the weakest. Not only are production values slight, but the plot is totally unbelievable. Even halfway competent crooks would make sure they snatched lady bountiful from sight before — not after — she made a public announcement drawing attention both to herself and her bounty. The pity of it is that the actors concerned, James Stephenson (who looks rather odd without his customary mustache) and Charles Trowbridge might have got away with it had they played their roles for laughs. But, no! Even worse, perhaps, is the slow pace with which Clemens unwinds the story. His monotonous, never varied camera style of inter-cutting loosely framed medium shots with dull close- ups doesn't help liven up his sluggishly routine direction one iota. Admittedly, the screenplay's long dialogue exchanges don't help. Fortunately, there is a bit of action at the climax but even this disappoints when it is simply cut short just as it reaches the confrontation stage.Not exactly an auspicious start. Fortunately, the second movie, Nancy Drew – Reporter, represents a considerable and even an astonishing improvement. There are at least five reasons for this remarkable turn-around: (1) The budget was much higher, permitting the use of a large number of sets, peopled with fair crowds of extras; (2) Kenneth Gamet was allowed to write his own script around the Keene characters, not try to adapt one of the silly plots from the books; (3) Arthur Edeson (whom just about everyone would agree is Hollywood's greatest black-and-white cameraman) was assigned to do the photography; (4) the hiring of Edeson seems to have inspired everyone else, including director Clemens and the players. Even the kids are good, while Litel gives one of the most engaging performances of his entire career. Outstanding in the support cast are Olin Howland and Jack Perry. Howland is always a barrel of fun. Perry, however, spent his time in bit parts. Here, as Soxie, he has a decent role for once; (5) Best of all, Reporter all comes to a rousingly funny, enjoyably thrilling and satisfyingly slap-up conclusion.Trouble Shooter builds on the success of the second entry, and in some respects is even more entertaining. This time we have another straight-forward murder mystery. I thought the identity of the killer was revealed a little too early in the piece, but otherwise we are treated to plenty of exciting incidents, including a seat-twitching climax. Clemens utilizes his extensive budget wisely, turning on the pace and making effective use of numerous fascinating locations. The photography is crisp; and the players, especially Miss Wynters, are both engaging and appealing.Unfortunately, this admirable momentum is not carried over into the fourth and final "Nancy Drew". For some reason, it was decided to adapt one of the silly novels (as was done for the first entry), not write an original. The novel has many shortcomings, not the least of which is that the whole plot is given away in the title itself! True, on its own juvenile level, Gamet's screenplay is reasonably well-written. It can also be argued that Clemens has directed with okay competence and that the players are still in fair form. One thing for sure, however: Despite its promising plot premise, "Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase" falls far short of its predecessors. There are no acerbic newsmen like Thomas Jackson, or villainous plug-uglies like Jack Perry, or even young stars of tomorrow like Joan Leslie, Mary Lee, Charles Smith and company in this one.

When a ranchowner's body is found buried on his own land, it's up to Nancy Drew to solve another murder in NANCY DREW--TROUBLE SHOOTER. And once again, BONITA GRANVILLE decides that she and FRANKIE THOMAS must go about solving the crime despite the warnings of her father (JOHN LITEL) to stay away from the case.Nancy's other concern is that her father is being too chummy with a woman he seems to be attracted to. But mostly, she's bubbling with energy as she and Frankie Thomas set out on another adventure while racing around the countryside in her roadster. A tropical flower and a greenhouse figure importantly in the plot.So does a crop duster airplane. The film is an improvement over the first two entries as far as production values go. The B&W photography is crisp and the sets look as if more money was spent on them. The crop duster sequence is milked for all it's worth and ends the film with a wallop of a ride.Summing up: Better than average entry in the series.

Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939) was the third in the series of four films about the teenage heroine. All starred Bonita Granville as the title character. But Granville's "Nancy" owes more to the heroines of 1930's screwball comedies than to her literary counterpart. This Nancy alternates between master of deductive reasoning and teenage airhead, causing as many problems as she solves; with nice guy neighbor Ted Nickerson (Frankie Thomas) her comic foil. Granville was extremely expressive and did not seem to mind being shown in unflattering situations (much like Zasu Pitts back then and Miley Cyrus today).In "Trouble Shooter", Nancy and her attorney father head to the country with their housekeeper to defend old family friend Matt Brandon (Nancy calls him Uncle Matt) from a murder charge. Their escapades include poison ivy, an enraged bull, crop-dusting, a rare flower, Ted's new boat, and a rival for Mr. Drew's affections. Nancy is still crushing on poor Ted-who wanders around with a dazed expression on his face for most of the film. Willie Best appears as his standard stereotype character, this time named Apollo Johnson. Also known as "Sleep 'n' Eat", in almost all of his films this early black actor encounters a ghost and gives the audience a wide-eyed look of terror. I don't know why people found this repeated gag so funny back then, maybe Hollywood just thought they did and kept using it. At least in "Trouble Shooter" Nancy has the good grace to exhibit the same exaggerated reaction when the ghost appears. All four films in the Nancy Drew series are surprisingly entertaining and have a lot of charm. "Trouble Shooter" has Nancy at her daffiest. There is more silliness than characterization so I suggest watching at least one of the others first. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Though I've enjoyed the four Warner Bros. Nancy Drew films for their fast pace, snappy dialog and light touch, Bonita Granville doesn't bear much resemblance to the hyper-perfect Nancy of the long-running series of novels. The main drawback to the literary Nancy is that she's too perfect, even winning a golf tournament against a superior, more experienced player in THE HAUNTED BRIDGE. In TROUBLESHOOTER, (which bears the least resemblance to the books of any of the four films), Nancy's perfection is taken down a few notches: she can't drive (rear-ending several parked cars, constantly taking her hands off the wheel in her excitement), she can't cook (making a veritable Lucy of the kitchen), she allows the bad guys to destroy evidence -- why, she's as scared of ghosts as Willie Best and she can't even fly an airplane! NANCY DREW, TROUBLESHOOTER, with its general lack of mystery and constant slapstick, is essentially a parody of Nancy Drew. Fun, and satisfying in a slightly sadistic way, but nothing like the books.