Nancy Drew, Reporter

Lyndsay M. Johnson

Bonita Granville stars as Nancy Drew and Frankie Thomas plays her sidekick, Ted, in this 1938 black and white Warner Brothers film adaptation of Carolyn Keene's beloved book series for young adults. In Nancy Drew, Reporter, Nancy, elected by her school to work as a junior reporter at the local paper, wriggles her way out of writing a fluff article and into a murder investigation. Nancy manipulates anyone she can, including Ted and her father, a lawyer, into helping her find proof that the young female defendant in the murder trial is innocent. The mystery plot is, in keeping with the classic books, completely predictable; the bad guys are obviously bad, and we know that Nancy is going to come out on top.

In an attempt to appeal to every demographic within the white, middle-class movie audience, this film incorporates not one, but two car chase scenes, rough and tumble foot-chase action, a dishwater-dull love plot between Nancy and Ted, uber-Asian stereotypes, cross-dressing, a pair of plucky, prank-pulling youngsters, uncomfortable musical numbers, a doting dad, mystery and intrigue and plenty of reinforced female stereotypes. Perfectly tame for the whole family, every scrape, set-back or discovery is punctuated with a “gee,” “gosh,” “golly,” “swell,” or “sufferin' cats.”

While the predictability of the plot and the G-rated nature of the film are perfectly keeping with the tradition of the books, the character of Nancy Drew undergoes an unpleasant transformation in the films. Nancy, in the classic series, is certainly an adventurous teen, but she's also extremely moral, independent, sensible and clever. The Nancy of the film, however, is a lying, manipulative, careless, air-headed daddy's girl who has to beg for the help of two males in order to prove her case. Nancy thinks the female defendant is innocent, not because she recognizes any evidence presented during the inquest that would support her innocence, but because Nancy feels the defendant's innocence with her “woman's intuition.”

Nancy's most stereotypically derogatory quote about her sex has to be, “You can always get information from women- they just love to talk.” Nancy herself can't seem to stop her motormouth; she uses her fast-talking wheedling and whining to get what she wants from Ted and her father. Mr. Drew does his part to reinforce the idea that Nancy Drew is a vapid little doll, instead of an aspiring journalist. When the mysterious suspect crashes into the bumper of Nancy's parked car, her father threatens to take her car away because, of course, girls can't drive. Mr. Drew's role as reinforcer of female subordination is further amplified by a particularly creepy musical scene in which Mr. Drew scoops his daughter (who looks old enough to be his mistress) into his arms and puts her to bed, all the while singing his “pretty baby” song.

Overall, this film (if you can overlook the scratchy sound quality, sexism and conventional plot) is pretty swell.