Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939)

Wonderful character development!

That was an excellent one.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Nancy Drew is back and Warner Brothers did a fine job with the character. However, sadly, the film also features Willie Best as Apollo...a rather politically incorrect character to say the least. He's lazy, steals chickens and is a black man who would clearly make many folks uncomfortable today. But if you can look past this, it's a solid B-movie worth watching.The story begins with the dumb police arresting a man for murder. There are only two problems...there's no body nor is there any real proof the man was killed! Not surprisingly, it turns out the accused is a friend of the Drews and they soon arrive to get him out of jail AND find out what happened to the man and why. Naturally, Mr. Drew is unable to restrain his curious daughter and she and her friend Ted figure out what really happened.The conclusion to the story is a bit silly. After all, instead of murdering Nancy and Ted, the baddies come up with a way that is complicated AND offers them a chance to escape! But despite this and Best, the film is watchable and reasonably well made.

William Clemens once again returns to direct this third case of Nancy Drew(played by Bonita Granville) with her father Carson Drew(played by John Litel) and her boyfriend Ted Nickerson(played by Frankie Thomas). This time, a family friend living in the country is wrongfully accused of murdering a neighbor, so Carson and Nancy go there to help, though this time Carson finds a love interest, much to the chagrin of Nancy. It seems another neighbor and his pilot henchman had reason to dispose of the victim, so they gather evidence to prove it. Despite an effective runaway plane sequence with Nancy and Ted, mystery is once again flimsy and thin, though Bonita still shines as Nancy.

Sadly this is the weakest of the four Nancy Drew films that Bonita Granville made for Warner Brothers in the late Thirties. It's also the one where unfortunately Willie Best gets to be horribly racially stereotyped. Can't avoid it either, because his character is essential to the plot.An old family friend, Aldrich Bowker, is being held for murder in a rural community and he retains John Litel as Carson Drew as his lawyer. Naturally this includes a package deal, an amateur sleuth in the form of Nancy Drew who of course puts the local police to shame.Frankie Thomas is once again along for the ride. Bonita Granville gets him to do more dumb things than Bing Crosby got Bob Hope to do in those road pictures. This time though he steps up to the plate and takes some fast lessons in how to fly a plane. He comes in for quite a landing in the end.If it only could have been done without Willie Best's shuffling act.

Nancy Drew battles to prove that her uncle Matt is innocent of murder. Nancy also battles her father Carson Drew but not over how to prove her uncle innocent but over his love life. Mr Drew has been single for many years but meets Edna Gregory, a single woman that likes him. What, another woman for Mr Drew, heavens no!, not for Nancy's father! She enlists the help of her friend Ted to battle this Gregory woman. But love transcends all ages as Ted is bitten by the "cupid" arrow also. Fine performance by John Litel and Charlotte Wynters "Drew & Gregory" make this Nancy Drew film one of the best ever made. The ending will also take your breathe away as Nancy becomes co-air pilot w/Ted a self taught "by book" pilot. So I leave these questions with you, can Nancy free her uncle? Can Nancy stop her father from asking a certain question?