Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939)

"If you wanna get rich, stay away from women.", 3 April 2008

Nancy Drew and her lawyer father, Carson, set off for the country to help out an old family friend wrongly accused of murder. Conveniently for Nancy, her friend Ted Nickerson and his family are vacationing nearby. She quite naturally ropes Ted into helping her with her investigations. But this time, Nancy may have bitten off more than she can chew. From ghostly encounters to high flying danger, Nancy will have to be careful if she's to catch a killer.

I'm kicking myself for not watching these Nancy Drew movies sooner. I only wish I had about a half-dozen more to go instead of just one. Of the three Nancy Drew movies I've seen so far, Nancy Drew…Trouble Shooter is my favorite. While the plot may hardly matter (the killer's identity is not much of a mystery - in fact, it's NO mystery), that doesn't mean the movie isn't entertaining. There's plenty of action in this well paced movie with Nancy facing and overcoming obstacle after obstacle. From burning barns to burning dinner, the set-pieces are all enjoyable. Bonita Granville is as delightful as ever in the title role. She has such an infectious nature that it's impossible not to be a fan of her performance. In this installment, I was really impressed with Frankie Thomas as Ted. With a nice sense of comic timing, he plays the put upon boyfriend to perfection. And I liked the fact that John Litel as Carson Drew is given a bigger part and a romantic interest. My only real complaint would be with the character Apollo Johnson played by Willie Best. I'm certainly no crusader for political correctness, but I still have difficulty watching the shuffling, "Yassuh!" type characters played by black actors in the 30s.

7/10