Drew, Tarry More!

Nancy Drew, quite the lady in print
Didn't do well in Hollywood stint.
Who knew that they'd type her
A screwball so hyper
That she flew through each film at a sprint?

Donald B. Benson

In Warner's quartet of programmers, the composed young sleuth became a frantic, comedic Bonita Granville. Amusing films...if you're not one Nancy's devoted readers. Pictured: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, and John Litel in Nancy Drew… Detective (William Clemens; 1938)

Throw the Books at Them

Some carp about viewers who choose
Those Marples and old Nancy Drews
Which tick off the purists
But tickle the tourists
With sharp comic turns between clues.

Donald B. Benson

Bonita Granville (center) stars as Nancy Drew...Detective (William Clemens; 1938); also pictured are Frankie Thomas and John Litel.

Double for Nothing

Twin sisters will give you the blues
Or drive you to drown in the booze
Date boyfriends in pairs
Play musical chairs
'Til one takes a permanent snooze.



The former Nancy Drew grows up. Bonita Granville plays twins in The Guilty (John Reinhardt; 1947), a low-budget B based on a novelette by Cornell Woolrich. Here are links to two reviews of this noir murder mystery. The first is at Noir of the Week, the other a less than favorable comparison of film to story at Mystery File.