Fantastic!

A Brilliant Conflict

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Bonita Granville has the title role in "Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase," the final entry into the Nancy Drew series. It also stars Frankie Thomas and John Litel. This particular film is based on one of the actual books, but how closely it sticks to the story - well, I haven't read Nancy Drew in nearly 50 years, so I can't remember. Since in the books, Nancy had two girlfriends, missing in the series, it probably doesn't stick all that closely.In this one, Nancy is determined to make sure that two elderly sisters keep to their father's will so that the house can be donated to a hospital. That won't happen unless at least one of them is in the house every night for twenty years. With only two weeks to go, and their chauffeur shot dead in the house, the ladies want out - fast.Nancy manages to drag Ted Nickerson, her quasi-boyfriend, into all kinds of trouble, and that's where the fun happens. Thomas is a riot. Nancy always got into deep water in the books, but I remember her as more serious and perfect. That wouldn't have worked for the films, so Nancy is kind of a Lucy and Ted is Ethel, an unwilling participant in her schemes.Bonita Granville was a fine movie Nancy, very lively, wacky, and likable. It's a shame there are only four "Nancy Drew" films. It is a very good series.

In the last of the Nancy Drew film series, another volume is adapted for the big screen, but mostly in title and character only. Again depicted as giddy, the film takes plot elements from the book of the same title, and adds much comic relief, and much nonsense, plus darkens the entire plot with murder. In the novel, Nancy helps the acquaintances of a person involved in her first case in investigating their "haunted" mansion. Her father turns up missing, and Nancy must investigate thoroughly before she discovers the two cases are connected, by illegally entering another home and discovering a secret passageway, connected to the haunted house by several flights of a "Hidden Staircase." In the 1930 novel, Nancy carries a revolver in addition to her trusty electric torch.The film keeps a passageway between two homes, under a city street, no less, and involves much mayhem as Nancy tries to find out who killed a servant in the home of the Turnball sisters. Nancy is involved as she arranged for the ladies to donate the house to River Heights following completion of the terms of a will, requiring one of the sisters to occupy the home daily for twenty years. Ted is there for comic relief, now as an iceman. The series stoops to ridiculous comic levels, with Ted losing his pants once in public and then having his clothes stolen while he sleeps, leaving him with the choice of another public underwear appearance, or wearing "drag," turn of the century gowns, complete with a bonnet.The story resolves with silly conclusions, and not much of a staircase, and, despite drawing on the novel, is far worse than the two films not drawing on texts. Entertaining for the very young (although the appropriateness of murder is questionable) but not much fun and too much Three-Stooges humor.

I think Warner Bros. captured the spirit of the Nancy Drew novels, and presented them in great style. The give and take between Nancy and her father is actually better than the books, and Ted Nickerson, as played by Frankie Thomas, makes the character stand out far more than in the books, where he was just a straight man for Nancy. And Bonita Granville as Nancy gives a phenomenal film portrayal of the heroine of millions, without going over the top, and she is especially likable and memorable. We have to remember this is a film portrayal of a book, it is not the book, nor was it meant to be, and it captures exactly the feeling of Nancy Drew mysteries. I wish the Hardy Boys had been done like this! I gave it a 10 not because it was the best movie ever made, but because it was a great interpretation of the book that lost nothing in the translation to screen, and gained in the character given by superb actors.

Warner Bros. filmed several of these Nancy Drew stories in the late 1930s with Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas and John Litel top-billed and this one is probably the best--and the only one actually based on one of the early Carolyn Keene novels.But the script is a hapless, far-fetched one and really stretches credibility and patience when viewed today. Only a certain nostalgia for these kind of B-films that played the lower half of a double bill can have any appeal for modern viewers.The actors aren't to blame. Bonita Granville as Nancy does an excellent job, as does Frankie Thomas as her All-American boyfriend Ted, and John Litel as her lawyer father. All of it, however, is weakened by a poor script and a weak storyline. Only the last twenty minutes or so maintains any real suspense.Most of it is pretty uninvolving but appeals more as a curiosity piece than anything else.