Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939)

When an accused murderess is sentenced, high school reporter Bonita Granville steps up to the plate to follow a suspicious suspect whom she believes to be the killer and in the process gets into all sorts of trouble. Along the trail with boyfriend Frankie Thomas and a few bratty siblings, she manages to outwit the law. Little Mary Lee steals the scenery when she all of a sudden breaks into song after the gang can't pay the bill in Willie Fung's Chinese restaurant. Washy dishy!, Fung hollers repeatedly after Granville announces that they don't have the 65 cents. The riotous conclusion involves a man in drag. At 70 minutes, the film is no drag, but it ain't a bucket of intelligence either. Love the kid with the Donald Duck voice, though!

Actress Bonita Granville wasn't a raving beauty, but she was spunky and she could act circles around other dames. "Nancy Drew, Reporter" was the second of the four Nancy Drew B-movies that she appeared in for Warner Brothers. This crime thriller about a wrongly accused murderer is fairly average, but "Case of the Stuttering Bishop" director William Clemens keeps the action moving at a breakneck pace. This is one of the B-pictures that Bryan Foy produced for the studio and it looks polished with several Warner Brothers contract players, one of whom is Joan Leslie. Leslie went on to become a major Warner Brothers starlet in movies like "Sergeant York" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy." The biggest mystery in this fast-paced yarn is the murder weapon, something called sodium ferrinide that contains poison and is used to kill a woman. Mind you, the murder occurs off-screen before the narrative unfolds. One of the most memorable lines is Nancy's description of a reporter: "A reporter has the right to do things an ordinary citizen shouldn't."

This was a really fun and snappy series. The only question I have is why only four???? There were several Nancy Drew books of which only the last film (Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase) was based.Bonita Granville showed her versatility as an actress - a few years before she played a psychotic school girl in "These Three" and now she was in a series in which she played a typical all American girl. The supporting cast was tops as well. John Lytell, who had been a dependable supporting actor, played her dad, Carson Drew and Frankie Thomas was excellent as her long suffering boyfriend Ted Nickerson. If you recognise the voice of the City Editor Bostwick, it is Thomas E. Jackson, who played Sergeant Tom Flaherty in "Little Ceasar" (1930).Nancy wins a journalistic prize at school and she gets a chance to be a reporter for a day. Disgusted at the topics they are given (Squirrels in a park - a day in the life of a goldfish) she secretly changes topics and now finds she is investigating a murder of an elderly lady. While she is leaving court she is sideswiped by a speeding car. In hot pursuit she chases the driver to the house where the elderly lady was murdered. The trail leads to a boxing gym and a comical scene involving Ted masquerading as "One Hit Louie". There is a pretty girl, behind bars begging Nancy to let her father, Carson Drew, defend her. Most of the film is played for laughs and you lose sight of the mystery. Ted's pesky little sister and her pal (Mary Lee and Dickie Jones) are heavily featured - they are all involved in a musical quartet at a restaurant, they have to "sing for their supper". The comedy gets in the way of the mystery. Bonita Granville is very peppy and resourceful as Nancy although I think this is the weakest entry in the series.

City Editor Thomas E. Jackson is not a happy man being saddled with these six high school kids who won a day to spend as a reporter on his paper. But when one of them is Bonita Granville as Nancy Drew, you know they're in for some big trouble.Nancy's not happy with the puff assignment she received, she takes a real one from a reporter's desk who's late that day to cover a coroner's inquest. Betty Amann who nursed a rich old lady is being charged with her murder. Nancy sees some suspicious behavior from a man in the audience and she follows him to the crime scene which is still taped off. If you think that stops her, you haven't seen any of the films in this series.Two things stand out about this one. The teenage girls of 1939 got to see young Frankie Thomas as Ted Nickerson stripped to the waist as Nancy convinces him to pretend he's a boxer. He goes into the ring with a real boxer who's her real suspect and the results are predictable.The second thing is that this is the only one of the Nancy Drew series with a musical number. Granville, Thomas, and two younger kids in their charge, Mary Lee and Dickie Jones are stuck for a bill in a Chinese restaurant. Owner Willie Fung says sing for your supper or wash dishes. Young Mary Lee is up to the challenge with a nursery rhyme swing medley that's real nice.Again, nothing outstanding, but amusing nonetheless.