Nancy Drew -- Detective (1938)

Director:

William Clemens

Writers:

Mildred Wirt Benson (story)
Kenneth Gamet (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 November 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Plot:

After a wealthy dowager who has made a substantial donation her alma mater suddenly disappears, Nancy Drew sets out to solve the mystery.

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Donation | Nancy Drew | Disguise | School

Cast

Bonita Granville	...	Nancy Drew
John Litel	...	Carson Drew
James Stephenson	...	Challon
Frankie Thomas	...	Theodore 'Ted' Nickerson
Frank Orth	...	Captain Tweedy
Helena Phillips Evans	...	Mary Eldredge
Renie Riano	...	Effie Schneider, Drew's Maid
Charles Trowbridge	...	Hollister
Dick Purcell	...	Keiffer
Edward Keane	...	Adam Thorne (as Ed Keane)
Mae Busch	...	Miss Tyson, the Nurse

Runtime:

66 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Vitaphone

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #4703)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Adapted from the "Nancy Drew" novel, "The Password to Larkspur Lane," first published in 1933. The original author of the novel was Walter Karig (using the Stratemayer Syndicate house pseudonym, "Carolyn Keene"). In the "Nancy Drew" books, Nancy's boyfriend is named Ned Nickerson. For the 1938-39 movie series, his name was changed to Ted Nickerson (played by Frankie Thomas).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: The wire attached to the carrier pigeon's leg to prevent it from flying off is visible a number of times.

Quotes:

Carson Drew: Those men are not going to stand for Nancy Drew poking her little nose into their affairs.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939)

Follow That Pigeon

The first of the four Nancy Drew mysteries that Bonita Granville did for Warner Brothers finds her trying to find an old woman who donated some big bucks to her high school for a swimming pool and promptly disappears.

Our intrepid heroine to four generations of young girls goes into action to find what's happened to the old dame. The high school benefactor has fallen into the hands of a gang of crooks led by James Stephenson. They've got an interesting way of communicating by carrier pigeons.

When Nancy discovers that she and her ever helpful boyfriend Ted Nickerson go in hot pursuit of the bird. Of course as things developed in the series the biggest pigeon for Nancy was Ted as played by Frankie Thomas.

No heavy drama here, but Granville and Thomas are enormously appealing, though gloriously out of fashion with a new Nancy Drew coming to the silver screen.