AllMovie

Nancy Drew -- Detective inaugurated the four-film Warner adaptations of the popular Carolyn Keene series with star Bonita Granville and very much set the tone for what was to follow. Unfortunately, while Detective does have some resemblance to the Keene novel that is its source (The Password to Larkspur Lane), it is at best a passing resemblance. As they would in the later films, the creators decided to keep the names and basic relationships of a few characters but change the personalities drastically. Bonita Granville's Nancy is lively and appealing, but she's also somewhat ditzy, often incompetent, extremely impulsive, and overly concerned with her boyfriend. Compare this to the original heroine, who was intelligent, logical, fairly sophisticated, wary, capable of getting herself out of scrapes pretty much on her own, and interested in but not obsessed with her boyfriend, and you can see how far afield the movie version goes. Still, for those not familiar with the books, this programmer is decent entertainment. William B. Clemens' direction is heavy-handed, and the screenplay never could be accused of subtlety, but Detective is moderately engaging and a pleasant enough little diversion.