![]() In fact, despite the abundance of original source material, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase was the only one of the Warner Bros. Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase was based on the second book in the Nancy Drew series, The Hidden Staircase. ![]() However, it proved popular enough with audiences that the studio quickly cranked out three more in succession with the same cast and crew. The low-budget film was originally intended as a B-movie second half of a double bill. made its first Nancy Drew film, Nancy Drew Detective, in 1938 starring Bonita Granville as Nancy and Frankie Thomas as her boyfriend, Ted Nickerson. snapped up the movie rights to the series in 1938. ![]() They were an immediate sensation with young readers, and Warner Bros. Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, then edited the completed books for final publication. Stratemeyer outlined the first four Nancy Drew stories himself, but enlisted writer Mildred Wirt Benson to flesh them out into full manuscripts under the pen name Carolyn Keene. The books were the brainchild of publisher Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, with the first one, The Secret of the Old Clock, published in 1930. The Nancy Drew films grew out of the popular juvenile book series aimed at young girls. Widely considered to be the best of the Nancy Drew films, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase has plenty of suspense, plot twists and humor to keep any fan of the detective genre satisfied. series directed by William Clemens, plucky teenage girl sleuth Nancy Drew (Bonita Granville) helps the elderly Turnbull sisters solve the mystery of their "haunted" mansion. In Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939), the fourth and final film in the popular Warner Bros. In the ensuing scuffle, Nancy knocks Talbert unconscious with her shoe, and after the trio is rescued by the police, Talbert is arrested for murder. Tracing their muddy footprints, Talbert pursues them to the tunnel where they become trapped as the passageway begins to flood. Realizing that Talbert must have murdered Phillips to make certain that the sisters would lose their house and hence make his property lucrative for racetrack development, Nancy and Ted retreat to the tunnel, when they hear Talbert return. She and Ted discover a hidden doorway and tunnel leading to the house of Talbert, the Turnbull's neighbor, where they discover a plan for a racetrack that includes the Talbert and Turnbull house. The house seems lost to the hospital when Captain Tweedy arrests the sisters for Phillips' murder, but Nancy remains determined to find the real murderer. That night, someone sneaks in and steals Ted's clothes, and when Nancy and Ted develop the negative the next day, they see a blurred figure moving toward the wall. Convinced that the robber entered through the basement, Nancy chides Ted into spending the night in the darkened cellar and sets up a camera to provide evidence of any intruders. The sisters threaten to leave once again when a robbery occurs in their locked house, but Nancy persuades them to stay. To allay their fears, Nancy fabricates a suicide note but recognizes Phillips as the gangster in search of the affidavits, leading her to suspect foul play. Soon afterward, the Turnbull chauffeur, Phillips, is found dead, and the terrified sisters threaten to move out of their house. Two weeks before the twenty-year term has elapsed, a gangster appears at the Drew house and demands the affidavits proving the sister's residency, but he is thwarted by Nancy's boyfriend, Ted Nickerson. Under the provisions of their father's will, the sisters must live in the mansion for twenty years or the property will go to the city. Mayhem erupts when teenager Nancy Drew convinces the elderly Turnbull sisters to give their estate to a children's hospital.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |