80 Years Ago Nancy Drew Made Her Big Screen Debut

America's foremost girl sleuth returns to theaters next summer, but she cracked her first case on celluloid nearly a century ago.

In April 1938, Warner Bros. announced a forthcoming series of four Nancy Drew films.

Warner Bros. / Via Flickr: hazardous_operations_movie_posters_and_stills

The following month, Variety reported the first film, under the working title Nancy Drew Gets the Passport, was being screenplayed by Robertson White. Filming was slated to begin June 13, with John Farrow set to direct.

White and Farrow were quickly replaced.

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Though the reason for the change is unknown, Kenneth Gamet and William Clemens were appointed the new screenwriter and director respectively. Production began as scheduled, and the film's title changed to Passport to Larkspur Lane, then to Mystery of Larkspur Lane.

Spoiler Alert: The film was (loosely) based on The Password to Larkspur Lane, the tenth Nancy Drew Mystery Stories novel.

Grosset & Dunlap / Via cdn0.rubylane.com

As a promotional tie-in, Grosset & Dunlap reissued The Password to Larkspur Lane with a special dust jacket wrapper featuring stills from the film. A reissue of the entire series in this format was announced, but it's unclear whether any other volumes carried the wrapper. Also unclear is why this book, originally published five years prior, was chosen for adaptation over, say, The Secret of the Old Clock or The Clue in the Diary.

Or the most recent Nancy Drew book at the time, The Haunted Bridge.

Grosset & Dunlap / Via pictures.abebooks.com

Actually, it turns out this book nearly did make it to the big screen. Motion Picture Daily reported Anthony Coldeway was adapting The Haunted Bridge as the third film for the series. Ultimately, however, an original story would be used. But let's back up a bit.

Special dust jacket wrappers weren't the only gimmick used to promote Nancy Drew.

Warner Bros. / Via nancydrewsleuths.blogspot.com

"As a permanent plug for its Nancy Drew series," reported the Motion Picture Herald, "Warner Brothers publicity department has organized Nancy Drew Clubs in . . . high schools throughout the country." As outlined in the press kit page above, the club promoted female empowerment as much as it did the Nancy Drew films.

(Side note: The sample membership card is No. 666. Perhaps Nancy really is "the demon detective.")

There were also plans for a Nancy Drew radio series.

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Motion Picture Daily reported Warners was preparing radio program counterparts of three of their B-grade film series, including Nancy Drew. Audition episodes featuring the same casts as the movies were "transcribed for presentation to prospective sponsors." Sadly, the sponsors must have passed because Nancy Drew never materialized (so to speak) over the air waves. Any transcription records produced are now presumed lost.

Finally, on November 19, 1938, moviegoers got to meet Nancy Drew...Detective.

Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com

Played "mighty swell" by Bonita Granville (then the youngest ever nominee for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), the beloved girl sleuth of "sweet sixteen" and "mass appeal de luxe" was indeed a "tiny terror."

That is to say, she was a "typical all-American girl."

American Radio Works / Via americanradioworks.org

Writing with presumed facetiousness in their December 1938 issue, quoth Silver Screen:

"In an effort to make [Granville's] role that of a typical all-American girl [Warner Bros.] is querying scores of famous women, including Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Kathleen Norris, Emily Post and Dorothy Thompson as to whether or not a fourteen-year-old girl should drink cocktails, smoke, have dates, go out at nights unchaperoned, and so on. The character of Nancy Drew will be based on their replies and the result should prove very interesting."

That result? A crafty, madcap menace to crime and civilized society alike.

Warner Bros. / Via movieposter.com

"If It's Murder She'll Solve It Right... If It's Homicide She'll Spell It...Wrong!" quipped ads for Nancy Drew...Reporter, the second film in the series.

What's with the digs at Nancy's scholastic skills, Warner Bros. marketing department?

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I'll bet you $23.80 they couldn't even spell corpus delicti, much less define it.

But Nancy can.

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Intelligent Queen!

Before we continue, can we just take a moment to appreciate how seriously precious cartoon Nancy is?

Warner Bros. / Via nancydrewsleuths.blogspot.com

Since we didn't get that radio series, how about a Nancy Drew animated series instead? I'll settle for a comic strip. At least give us a picture book.

Anyway...

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The film was a hit!

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Supported by Frankie Thomas, Jr. as Ted Nickerson; John Litel as Carson Drew; and Rennie Riano as the Drews' housekeeper, Effie Schneider, Nancy Drew... Detective opened to mostly favorable reviews.

Enthusiastic audiences flocked to see the picture.

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Popular demand kept the film playing in small town theaters across the U.S. for almost a year, sharing double billings with such releases as The Dawn Patrol; Sing, You Sinners; The Law West of Tombstone; and The Lady Vanishes.

Warner Brothers was so pleased with its box office success, they increased the budget for the third and fourth films.

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Filming for the second installment, Nancy Drew...Reporter, had already wrapped.

Originally titled Nancy Drew Steps Out, script duties were first assigned to Eddie Anderson and Charles Perry.

UCLA / Via hammer.ucla.edu

Plans apparently changed, however, and Kenneth Gamet once again took over as screenwriter. He remained for the rest of the series.

Featuring burning buildings and aerial stunts, the third film took full advantage of its expanded budget.

At times romantic, at others action-packed, Nancy Drew...Trouble Shooter began filming around early February 1939, just before Reporter opened, again to mostly favorable reviews.

With Nancy Drew now twice a proven hit at the box office, Warner Bros. announced an additional four films!

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"The first releases of this swell series met with such instantaneous approval that Warners will follow it with four more . . . all with new action, new adventures, new laughs," wrote The Exhibitor.

Back in November, there had already been reports of Kenneth Gamet working on a sixth Nancy Drew script.

Motion Picture Herald / Via archive.org

Even earlier, Motion Picture Herald had written that Bonita Granville was set to appear in six Nancy Drew films, though this was probably just a typographical error.

Then, in a move toward eliminating double features, Warners announced Nancy Drew would instead continue as a series of two-reelers.

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The Exhibitor was critical of the decision to switch the films from feature-length to the roughly twenty-minute run time of short subjects, predicting fans of the series would feel cheated. Film Bulletin was more supportive of the proposed change.

The "first picture under the new setup" would be Dangerous Nancy Drew.

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With Gordon Hollingshead announced as director, production was slated for late July or August.

Literally days later, Warner Bros. canceled all plans for future Nancy Drew films.

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Disappointed fans and theater-owners alike were given no explanation for the abrupt decision. Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, which had already been shot back in May, would be the fourth and final film to feature Bonita Granville as the spunky super-sleuth. It opened on September 9, 1939.

Now, 80 years later, a new version of Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is in the works.

Warner Bros. / Via imdb.com

Starring Sophia Lillis as the titian-haired teen, the new take is hoped to be the first in an ongoing series. Fingers crossed that time will bear out this hope. For the first sequel, may I suggest The Haunted Bridge?

Case closed.

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