Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939)

Sadly Over-hyped

Expected more

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Frankie Thomas nearly steals the show from right under Bonita Granville in "Nancy Drew, Troubleshooter," starring Granville as Drew, Thomas as boyfriend Ted Nickerson and John Litel as Carson Drew, Nancy's dad. As has been mentioned, the Nancy in the books was much more serious and sheer perfection as she had "luncheon" with her friends George and Bess, drove around in her roadster without crashing into anything, and solved mysteries. Granville is a very bouncy, reckless driving Nancy who becomes jealous in this entry into the series when dad gets a girlfriend.In this film, Nancy and her dad leave the city to help a friend beat a murder charge. Turns out that Ted and his family are vacationing in the same area, and Nancy drags him around as she investigates. Thomas is hilarious, especially when he and Nancy are abandoned in a crop duster mid-air.The only drawback to this delightful movie is Willie Best's unfortunate stereotypical characterization of Apollo. Though Best is very good, it's uncomfortable to watch him. Otherwise, I like this one the best of the "Nancy Drew" series.

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.

Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939) was the third in the series of four films about the teenage heroine. All starred Bonita Granville as the title character. But Granville's "Nancy" owes more to the heroines of 1930's screwball comedies than to her literary counterpart. This Nancy alternates between master of deductive reasoning and teenage airhead, causing as many problems as she solves; with nice guy neighbor Ted Nickerson (Frankie Thomas) her comic foil. Granville was extremely expressive and did not seem to mind being shown in unflattering situations (much like Zasu Pitts back then and Miley Cyrus today).In "Trouble Shooter", Nancy and her attorney father head to the country with their housekeeper to defend old family friend Matt Brandon (Nancy calls him Uncle Matt) from a murder charge. Their escapades include poison ivy, an enraged bull, crop-dusting, a rare flower, Ted's new boat, and a rival for Mr. Drew's affections. Nancy is still crushing on poor Ted-who wanders around with a dazed expression on his face for most of the film. Willie Best appears as his standard stereotype character, this time named Apollo Johnson. Also known as "Sleep 'n' Eat", in almost all of his films this early black actor encounters a ghost and gives the audience a wide-eyed look of terror. I don't know why people found this repeated gag so funny back then, maybe Hollywood just thought they did and kept using it. At least in "Trouble Shooter" Nancy has the good grace to exhibit the same exaggerated reaction when the ghost appears. All four films in the Nancy Drew series are surprisingly entertaining and have a lot of charm. "Trouble Shooter" has Nancy at her daffiest. There is more silliness than characterization so I suggest watching at least one of the others first. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

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.