Have Cheetah,Will View #97 – “Nancy Drew….Reporter” (1939)

It’s 6:37 pm

Despite it being October and getting close to Halloween,the cheetah and I aren’t feeling like rolling out a cliche like reviewing 31 days of Horror films. We been on a bit of a gentle mood as you can see by the reviews. Yeah,we did look at one film, “American Horror House” but that was a made-for TV movie and I’m not even sure it counts as a true “horror”flick. Instead we have watching calmer,more fun movies….

In our review of “Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome” I related how I got this movie for my collection. The DVD that carried the Tracy film had another film on it as well featuring that famous teen girl detective,Nancy Drew. We thought we would watch this one as well.
This too is a another Public Domain movie.

In this caper Nancy,along with several of her high school classmates are part of a class in journalism that get a chance to work at the local paper. The editor is being run ragged as a big story about a murdered woman is causing big headlines and he is trying to cover all the angles.
As the kids gather round the editor’s desk,he assigns them fluffy stories,the one who writes the best story wins 50.00 and a medal. As the kids start to filter out,Nancy overhears the editor tell a office boy that he wants his ace reporter to cover the Lambert inquest at the courthouse as he is running late. The office boy writes a note and leaves it on the reporter’s desk where upon Nancy switches her puff story for the Lambert one.
She then drives down to the courthouse where she finds herself seated next to a man with a strange looking ear. She begins to take notes as Eula Lambert is being question on why she killed Mrs. Lambert. Her step-brother suspected foul play and during the autopsy,it is discovered that Mrs. Lambert died by a chemical only a photographer would use.

Eula Lambert is the only photographer who has bought this chemical and it looks terribly bad for her. But she says that whoever handled the can last would leave their fingerprints in the chemical can and wouldn’t be able to wash it away. Eula is held for trail and as Nancy leaves,the funny eared man hurries in front of her. As Nancy gets into her car,the same man hits her car and keeps going!
Nancy pursues the man who also has a blonde woman in the passenger seat all over town into losing him when he pulls into a driveway. As Nancy begins to despair,she sees the name “Lambert” on the ivy wall of a huge house.
She pulls in and asks a security guard if a car had pulled in,as he says “No”,a noise is heard and the guard with Nancy in tow,heads to the backyard where the funny eared man is spotted. He claims he is from the gas company but when Nancy says he is the hit and run driver,the guard wants to call the cops. The funny eared man says he’ll pay for damages and does so.

Nancy rushes back to the paper to give them the scoop from the courthouse but the delay has allowed the other papers to swoop in…
Nancy is going to need some help and she turns to her friend Ted Nickerson and to some extent Ted’s sister Mary and her pal Killer Parsons. Hi-jinks ensue as Nancy and Ted race to save Eula from the electric chair while catching the real crooks and they don’t have much time to solve the case….

Bonita Granville played Nancy Drew in this short series of four films that came out during 1938 and ended in 1939. She had a very productive career as a actress,she retired as a full time performer when she married and later on became a producer for the Lassie TV program.
She made a great Nancy,full of energy,spunk and a never give up spirit. The supporting cast here was pretty fun as well with Frank Thomas doing a equally fine job as Ted Nickerson. He likes Nancy but at a long arm’s length as she always seems to put poor Ted in serious trouble. Thomas would go on to immortality as “Tom Corbett,Space Cadet” but he was done in Hollywood by 1958.
The character of Nancy Drew remains very popular with Hollywood always looking to bring back into the spotlight. Last year CBS shot a pilot with Sarah Shahi being cast as a grown up Nancy living in New York.
Wisely that wasn’t picked up because America prefers to see Nancy as a young teen as she always been portrayed in the books.

I included the movie which runs at a brisk 67 minutes and is rated “G”.

Are you a Nancy Drew fan? Or more of a Hardy Boys fan? Drop a comment below!