Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939)

the leading man is my tpye

Better Late Then Never

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Third entry in the delightful Nancy Drew series starring Bonita Granville. This time Nancy's lawyer dad (John Litel) has to leave town to help an old friend accused of murder. Nancy comes along and, of course, takes it upon herself to investigate the case. While there, Mr. Drew meets a woman and becomes enamored but Nancy isn't crazy about her. Granville's wonderful as ever as the headstrong sleuth. Litel's great as well. Frankie Thomas is also here as Nancy's sidekick and would-be boyfriend, Ted. He and Granville had great chemistry. Aldrich Bowker steals every scene he's in as the cantankerous accused murderer. Additional comic relief in this one comes from Willie Best. It goes without saying Mr. Best's negative stereotype character will offend some modern viewers. Exciting climax involving a barn, a bull, and an airplane. Points for creativity.

Nancy Drew--Trouble Shooter (1939) *** (out of 4) Third film in Warner's teenage detective series has Bonita Granville returning as Nancy Drew. This time out she's trying to save her uncle farmer whose been accused of killing a man. This is probably my favorite of the first three films because it takes on a lot more than just the actual mystery behind the killing. There's an entire subplot where Nancy gets jealous that her father is dating a woman and you'd expect something like this to come off silly but it actually works pretty well. There are plenty of laughs as well especially one sequence where Nancy tries to cook dinner. The mystery in the film doesn't actually get too much attention but it leads to a nice, if unbelievable, ending.

By far, this was one of the better Nancy Drew's, with Ms. Granville. When her Uncle Matt is accused of murder, the best lawyer Carson must take the case, and naturally Nancy goes with him.Since Carson is not a townie, he comes in under scrutiny but gets Matt out of prison for a little while. During this time, he meets a beautiful woman who catches his fancy, much to Nancy's dismay. Since Ted is also in town, she enlists him to dissuade her father. Naturally Ted falls for the loveliness of the woman and Nancy's troubles amount.The whole resolution was done masterfully. It showed a maturation of Nancy and dealing with another woman in Carson's life.The mystery of the killer was rather simple, but interesting with Ted along. Frankie and Bonita were great with each other. I wish they had done more together.A great movie to watch - so pop your corn, grab a soda and don;t miss a minute of this very cute endeavor of a movie.

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.