The Original Nancy Drew Movie Mystery Collection (Detective / Reporter / Troubleshooter / Hidden Staircase)

but are burned discs! I'm guessing that they are MOD. Not sure. But NOWHERE in the product description does it indicate this. However, my particular set played fine, with only Reporter having a problem with the picture quality. As for the films themselves, they are all quite fun and I'm sure anyone with kids will enjoy them!! RP

The Original Nancy Drew Mystery Collection presents the four movie Nancy Drew series released by Warner Brothers in 1938-9. Nancy Drew (played by Bonita Granville), an enthusiastic, insightful teen, delights in solving crimes. Her successful lawyer father, Carson Drew (played by John Litel) tries to restrain and protect her, to little avail. Nancy's best friend is compliant, inventive Ted Nickerson (played by Frankie Thomas), who takes frequent tumbles in Nancy's behalf. Each film is a separate story and lasts from 60 to 69 minutes. The principals are all excellent and are supported by fine character actors.In Nancy Drew - Detective, wealthy alumna Mary Eldredge wants to leave $250,000 to Nancy's school but suddenly disappears. Nancy's doctor reports being kidnapped to treat an old woman in a secret place, to gain entry to which, one must use the password `Blue Bells'. An injured carrier pigeon shows up with a message containing the password. Nancy goes to work to find out what happened to the alumna and to get the money for the school. Nancy and Ted disguise themselves. The story is based on `Password to Larkspur Lane'.In Nancy Drew - Reporter, Nancy, entered in a newspaper's reporting contest, visits a coroner's inquest and decides the likely defendant is innocent. The key to the case is finding the tin can the poison came in because the can preserves all fingerprints, including the real murderer's. Ted has to box, and a hotel sign provides fun.In Nancy Drew - Trouble Shooter, a family friend at Sylvan Lake is accused of murder. When a dead man is found under a rare, tropical flower in a field, Nancy starts to snoop. She is not happy that her father enjoys the company of a woman neighbor. Nancy and Ted get to ride in a biplane.In Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, two elderly sisters intend to donate their property to a hospital once they own it in two weeks. By their father's will, at least one sister has to sleep in the large house each night in order to inherit. The problems are that people are trying to steal the proof the sisters met the terms of the will, that the sisters' chauffeur is found shot, and that small sounds and thefts are going on at night inside. Should the sisters flee their home? Nancy and Ted find a passageway in the basement that clarifies matters. The film is based on "The Hidden Staircase".All four black & white films look good, although there are some brief segments of `Detective' that don't and at times `Reporter' looks viewed through a very thin waterfall. (The picture is still far ahead of Alpha Video's.)There are no sex or language issues. There are no skin scenes, other than a boxing match in `Reporter' between Ted and an older, bad guy. Nancy and Ted are pals and don't even kiss. The chemistry is good.The characters often say '23 80', which refers to the $23.80 fixed weekly payment to WPA workers; so if you bet '23 80', you are betting a lot.

Since Hollyweird doesn't seem to make any good films anymore, with rare exceptions, I was delighted to find this four-movie set of the absolutely delightful Nancy Drew films from the late 1930s, which arrived in perfect condition. The discs are all like new, and played excellently!Bonita Granville stars as the effervescent Nancy Drew, solving mysteries right and left, while dragging her reluctant boyfriend along- who is, of course, totally in love with Nancy Drew though he tries hard not to show it. Her father is a lawyer, who thinks he's running the household; sorry Dad, your daughter is doing that!I love this series of films, it's so refreshing not to have "the message" thrown at me constantly, and in these films men are men and women are women, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. I'm also delighted to see the wonderful old cars, airplanes, & the scenery of those long-ago times, and the way people acted & reacted back then.For me, this set of four films was just what the Doctor ordered: it banished the blues, gave me huge entertainment, and took me back to better times than now. Try them yourself, and see if they don't refresh your spirits too!

1) films obviously did not have any digital re-mastering done to them. So the quality of the films varies.2) There is a wonderful and enchanting chemistry between Bonita Granville as Nancy Drew and Frankie Thomas as her boyfriend Ted Nickerson. The two of them are so funny and lovable together, I wish they had made more movies just to see them together.3) True Nancy Drew fans will find that the movie Nancy and the book Nancy are very different. The Nancy Drew of the books was valiant, brave, intelligent and embodied all the qualities of a "perfect" Girl. The Nancy Drew of the films is headstrong, immature, manipulative, impetuous, and loud! But she is also cute, adorable, pretty and funny! Ted (as portrayed) by Thomas, is always browbeaten into getting dragged into Nancy's schemes. Kind of like Ethel was to Lucy. He also takes many of the pratfalls. Although they don't obviously play the romantic angle between the teens, their attraction for each other is obvious. You just can't help liking them.4) This is a cute movie for kids, with enough adventure and laughs to entertain.5) These 4 movies were part of Warner Bros. B list movies but are quite good due to the chemistry between Granville and Thomas. Having seen these two performers in other things I know that both were better than the material that they were given. I wish more movies had been made of the series just to seen Granville and Thomas together. I just fell in love with these two together.6)For people interested in fashion, the clothing provides some wonderful examples of fashion of the time. Especially Nancy and Ned's clothes. Both are so attractive , that they show the clothes to the best advantage.7) the movie suffers from some typical B movie formula common at the time. eg; there is a stupid police chief who is so stupid you wonder how he became a policeman at all. Also the housekeeper is comically dizzy, Better scripts could have raised these films to A level , especially w/ the Granville /Thomas team.I really DO recommend them for Nancy Drew fans , old movie fans, and young kids. If you are a film lover and a sentimentalist, you will love them for the period of time when they were made and for the adorable team of Nancy and Ted.Enjoy

Provate a domandare, qui in Italia, chi era Bonita Granville: "E chi era?" sarà la più probabile risposta. Peccato, perché tra le attrici attive tra gli anni Trenta e Cinquanta la Granville è stata sicuramente una delle più interessanti. Figlia di attori del vaudeville (la madre, Rosina Timponi, era italiana), debuttò in teatro a soli tre anni, e a soli tredici anni (per il film drammatico "THese Three") ottenne la nomina all'Oscar come migliore attrice non protagonista. In questa raccolta di quattro film brevi (ca. 60 minuti) dimostra grande talento, grande presenza scenica e mostra già, pur avendo soli quindici anni, una grande bellezza di giovane donna, sulla quale spesso è difficile soffermarsi, trascinati dal suo talento comico. Ma non solo di talento comico fu capace: fu anche un'ottima attrice drammatica, si vedano "Seven Miles from Alcatraz" e soprattutto "Hitler's Children", film intenso e che evita uno stonato lieto fine. Sfortunatamente i produttori spesso la sottovalutarono, relegandola in film di basso costo e in parti secondarie se non addirittura quasi da comparsa. Nel 1947 sposò un miliardario, Jack Wrater, e, cosa rarissima nel mondo di Hollywood, quello fu il suo unico matrimonio, che durò trentasette anni e finì solo con la morte di Wrather. Il marito si rese subito conto della straordinaria intelligenza della moglie e la cooptò alla dirigenza di numerose sue aziende. Fu anche una grande organizzatrice di cultura: a parte la produzione delle serie televisive di Lassie e del Lone Ranger, fu in due occasioni direttice del John F. Kennedy Center Board of Trustees. Inoltre nel 1986 e fino lalla morte fu Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Film Institute, ente la cui missione è la salvaguardia dell'eredità del cinema americano. Morì nel 1988 per un cancro ai polmoni, a soli 65 anni di età. Peccato che i suoi film siano stati in qualche caso doppiati in spagnolo e non in italiano.Rowley, Don; MacDonald, Mary. MGM Students Movie Stars: Secret stories of famous Movie Stars at The MGM "Little Red Schoolhouse", as told by their teacher, of 32 years. (p.24). UNKNOWN. Edizione del Kindle.

My parcel arrived in the expected time frame. The four movies come on two discs. There is the movie and the trailer for each movie. I loved watching these and have wanted my own copy for a long time. I am pleased with my purchase!

At first I was prepared to not like this series of movies ["reporter", "detective" and "and the hidden staircase"]. because it did not star Tracy Ryan, who I associated with the role from the 1990's TV series, and because I don't like B&W movies. None the less, it only took a short time and I was hooked. These movies are every bit as good as the TV series and I hardly noticed that they were B&W. Everything is well done; casting, writing, acting. Try it, you'll like it.

Although the cover has been recolorized, it is actually 4 black & white episodes, from years 1940s.Though acting is quaint and some themes are borderline in today's view of things (very traditional view of society and woman's place!!!), plots are quite elaborate with nice old ladies living in large houses, thugs wanting to grab inheritances, and Nancy Drew hair-bobbing her way through problems to the end. My 10 year old daughter enjoyed them and wanted to see them all.

Enjoyed these old movies. Will watch for more.