Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939)

One of my all time favorites.

Let's be realistic.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It would be too easy to pick this story apart for it's lack of credibility, but that would be a disservice to all the young fans of the Nancy Drew series of books and films that continue to entertain to the present day. The best thing to do with this one is watch it with a few kids and get their reaction to the on screen hi-jinks between Nancy (Bonita Granville) and her put upon pal Ted Nickerson (Frankie Thomas). Nancy's pretty slick actually, the way she filched the newspaper assignment and how she managed to con her way into and out of the scrapes she found herself in.There were a few things that had me going 'Huh?' though, like did the door man at the gym REALLY charge them ten cents to get in? The other head scratcher was the lettering on the office door of the River Heights Tribune - what exactly is a 'Newspaper Morgue'?

Another pleasant programmer in the Nancy Drew series starring BONITA GRANVILLE as the girl sleuth, this time it's NANCY DREW...REPORTER based on the Nancy Drew books by Carolyn Keene.This one was written by an original screenplay writer, not based on an actual Drew story, but it follows the mold of the original books, using some of the same characters again. Nancy is determined to prove Eulah Denning is not a murderess but her father (JOHN LITEL) vehemently disagrees with her. DICKIE JONES (he was the voice for "Pinocchio"), is her pesky kid neighbor and once again, Nancy has to enlist the aid of FRANKIE THOMAS to help her do some investigating.Watch for JOAN LESLIE in a bit role as one of Granville's classmates on a field trip.The story has Nancy tricking her father into defending the accused woman while she works on finding exculpatory evidence. Litel, by the way, has a much lighter touch than usual as the stolid attorney and actually kids around with his daughter in this one. FRANKIE THOMAS has his usual line where he says, "You're not going there alone, are you?", as Nancy talks him into joining in on her detective work. The accent is more on comedy than mystery, especially when Nancy gets boyfriend Ned involved in a boxing match.There's even a totally unexpected sequence where Nancy, Ned and the pesky kids have to literally sing for their supper in a Mandarin restaurant. The plot goes off in all directions without keeping track of finding the real murderer, which makes it one of the weaker entries in the series.Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to have a writer work up an original screenplay. At any rate, it doesn't work this time.

A very enjoyable movie. Oh sure, there will be the people who analyze everything to the last degree who will find things to complain about. But for a fun, lighthearted 68 minutes be sure to watch the movie. Since I never read a Nancy Drew book I don't know how close it was to the character, but this one was about teenager Nancy getting herself into and out of plenty of scrapes and near disasters. She takes on a murder case as a mis-representing cub reporter and gets her father lawyer to help the accused lady whom she feels was framed and innocent. She sneaks into the murder house where one of the bad guys is hiding and watching her. I found myself feeling the suspense. Bonita Granville does a great job. I didn't like her in the part at first but she won me over fast. She apparently did other Nancy Drew movies and now I will have to keep a look out for them. She also did some Andy Hardy movies with Mickey Rooney and was a producer of the Lassie TV series. The younger sister of the male lead was Mary Lee and was in some Gene Autry movies and if that was her really singing in this movie, wow what a voice for a young girl! The younger brother Dickie Jones went on to become Buffalo Bill Jr on TV when he was a bit older and I remember watching and liking him in that show. John Litel as the father and of course, he was in so many movies over the years and always did a professional job. The movie is just plain, good old fashioned fun - give it a watch.

Although it took a few minutes for me to accept Bonita Granville as Nancy Drew, once I did, I really enjoyed this little film. Having read both some of the modern 'Nancy Drew Files' (and having submitted a manuscript for one) and one of the original 1930 stories, I was taken slightly off-guard by Granville's somewhat flighty, scheming character.Still, Granville did make a good Nancy Drew. While she seemed to fluster and fright much more readily than the Nancy of the novels, she still showed the ingenuity, spunk, determination and courage. She was a wee bit more manipulative of her father, successful attorney Carson Drew, and of Ted (Ned in the books) Nickerson, the boy next door.Ted was solidly played by Frankie Thomas, certainly not the athletic, confident Ned of the modern books, but an ideal sidekick for the movie Nancy. Thomas' wiry build and facial contortions added to the comic effect.In fact, while the Nancy Drew novels have always been detective/adventure stories, the movie version – at least Nancy Drew … Reporter – was really a comedy. And a cut little comedy it was. The cast went well together and the script was cute. I wasn't bothered by the one musical number. Actually I found that young Mary Lee, later a Roy Rogers sidekick, had a very charming voice.John Litel as Carson Drew was certainly different than the father in the books. The Carson Drew of the novels is a very serious, stoic attorney, who rarely shows much life. Litel's Drew was a pleasant surprise as a doting, affectionate father. He was quite charming when he carried Nancy to her bed, forcing the hyper teen to hit the sack, serenading her all the while. I suspect an identical scene filmed today would lead to speculation about the nature of the father-daughter relationship. This was 1939, though, and Nancy fibbing to the newspaper editor with fingers crossed behind her back was about as naughty as things got.Overall, this is still a fun little family film. For its time and place, I would have to call it at least a solid '7.' This may have been a 'B' movie but, just like in high school, a 'B' is not usually a bad thing.