I Love B Movies

I've always loved movies. I spent many an afternoon at the Saturday matinee. At home, I watched series such as the Bowery Boys and horror films, including a Mexican vampire series starting with this film. 

Then there was the Basil Rathbone--Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes series. The series debuted in 1939. The first two films, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, had good budgets and production values. The rest of the series were strictly B movies--updated to World War II with lots of quotes from Churchill. The films were loosely based on the stories and novels (I read all of them.) Yes, the series made Watson was a lovable bumbler and the pro-Britain speech gat a bit thick (but hey, it was against Hitler, so I can't complain) but I loved them.

I love the Warner Brothers Nancy Drew series (four films) and the Torchy Blane films (nine.) I will gladly rewatch all of those films when they appear.

Recently, I've been watching some Charlie Chan movies. I was surprised to read that there are 49 films, with the first in 1926. Most of the films available are with Sidney Toler and a few with Roland Winters. I remember seeing Warner Oland in the role, but haven't come across any of his films recently. I'm keeping my eyes open hoping to catch one of  best in the series such as Charlie Chan at the Opera.

A Re-read: The Mystery of the Tolling Bell by Carolyn Keene

This is Book 23 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, published in 1946. I've always been a fan of Nancy's and have taken several opportunities to re-read the "old" mysteries--meaning the books published before the revisions began in 1959.

I picked up this book in an antique mall in Newark, Delaware. The store had a few of the older books (blue covers with a silhouette of Nancy holding a magnifying glass) along many more of the revised books with yellow covers and illustrations. 

I selected The Mystery of the Tolling Bell because I remembered it as a good one. Well, either my memory was wrong or my tastes changed because this time around I found the mystery to be mediocre. 

Oh well, you can't win them all. 

Re-read: Nancy Drew Number Four: The Mystery at Lilac Inn

After I finished Bloodless, I picked this book up; I knew it would be a quick read. 

Nancy's friend Emily is coming into an inheritance of the Crandall family jewels. Unfortunately, the jewels are stolen when Emily's careless guardian stops at Lilac Inn for lunch with the jewels in her handbag.

Of course, Nancy solves the mystery and recovers the jewels, but she solves it more through her prejudice and snobbery than by following clues. 

Racism alert: Nancy is interviewing potential servants, a colored woman, an Irish woman, a Scottish lassie, and a dark-complexioned girl who stared at Nancy almost impudently.

The Witch Tree Symbol: Nancy Drew Mystery 33

Nancy finds a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign at the site of a furniture robbery. Soon, she, Bess, and George are off to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The thief sent warnings for Nancy to stay out of Pennsylvania and spread rumors that she's a thief and a witch. It complicates her sleuthing, for sure. 

But not for long. After the bad guy locks Nancy and friends in an attic, she signals for help with a lantern. Luckily she and her friends know the SOS code. 

The Mystery at the Ski Jump Nancy Drew Mystery 29

There's a new con woman working in River Heights: Mitzi Channing is selling stock in a fake fur company as well as stolen minks. Adding insult to injury, Mitzi steals Nancy's driver's license and impersonates her. Nancy is nearly arrested and later is locked in a closet by overreacting fur sales people.

On a trip to Montreal to help her father on a case, Nancy finds clues for her mystery. In fact, Mitzi, once a professional ice skater, is planning a performance using Nancy's name. How brazen! The real Nancy ends up performing (of course) and almost catches one of the crooks (the police can't keep him on Nancy's word alone.) Nancy doesn't get that this was the same kind of flimsy evidence that almost got her arrested, and that was an outrage.

Nancy next combines a house party and mystery solving when she, Bess, and George invite their friends from Emerson College (Ned, Dave, and Burt respectively) to the Adirondacks. Nancy's Aunt Lou has a summer home there and agrees to chaperone.  Good thing, because that's where Nancy solves the mystery and provides the evidence for her father's case as well.

The bad guys had tried to stop Nancy with a fake telegram and later, a rough hand is clapped over her face in an iron grasp. She faces a squarish man with a bulldog face and beady eyes. Poor Nancy is tied up and left in a cabin to freeze. She even misses a hillbilly orchestra playing old-time ballads and toe-tingling polkas.

Luckily Nancy knows enough to keep exercising until her friends came to the rescue.

Nancy Drew Mystery 22: The Clue in the Crumbling Wall

Nancy's four choice rose brushes have been stolen. The thief is Joan Fenimore a little girl in a faded pink dress. Her home is a cottage (greatly in need of repair) in a poor section of the city. Joan only took the bushes due to the bad influence of a neighbor boy. Joan's mother is a sweet-faced woman with lines of deep suffering in her forehead.

There is hope for the Fenimores. Mrs. Fenimore's sister Floriana had inherited a castle from her wealthy fiance, but she mysteriously had disappeared. Florianna now has only three weeks left to claim the property.

Enter Nancy, with assistance from Bess and George. They visit the crumbling castle and find several clues, including an imprint of Florianna's dancing shoe, which will prove her identity. (An imposter had rather large feet--"size eight at least.") Florianna had disappeared when she was crippled in a car accident and retired to a flower farm.

In addition, Nancy helps find whelks with dye and a spring with "unusually beneficial qualities, even curative effects in bone disorders." With income pouring in, Floriana, Joan, and her mother move to the castle along with underprivileged crippled children.

The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion: Nancy Drew Mystery Number 18

Nancy, Bess, and George encounter an isolated mansion and hear wild shrieks --what a way to kick off a mystery.

Nancy is in the area to help her father find an heir to an estate. In their quest, they interview an old friend, Mrs. Labelle, who is guess what? Poor. Nancy and her friends hope the heiress June will help her friend.

Eventually Nancy thwarts Ramo, a swarthy gypsy-like looking man who wears long dangling earrings and a bandanna, his fortune telling sister, and reluctant accomplice niece in their attempt to steal June's inheritance. You know Ramo is bad: he sneers through clenched teeth, storms, fastens his beady black eyes as if trying to hypnotize Nancy, and his eyes dart fire toward her.

Nancy ends up finding June in the moss-covered mansion of the title where an artist is confining and abusing wild animals. Note: I say he is abusing them; Nancy and her friends don't seem to see it that way.

Nancy survives a plane crash and a leopard attack. At least she solved the mystery.

Nancy Drew Mystery 17: The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk

Nancy, Bess, and George are sailing to South America. But getting to the boat presents some challenges. First, an obnoxious woman (well-advanced into middle age in a tight fitting suit) demands Nancy sail on another ship because Nancy will corrupt her daughter. Someone attempts to steal Nancy's travel clothes. A scatterbrained maid (not the always reliable Hannah Gruen) misplaces Nancy's passport. Worst of all, Nancy and George are falsely accused of stealing a diamond bracelet. Of course they make it, and Nancy thwarts jewel thieves and smugglers.

The secondary mystery is silly: Nancy is obsessed with finding a red-haired man  to return $50. His car rear-ended Nancy's in Chapter One. He gave Nancy $100, but the car repair only cost her $50.

The book provides a little more details about Nancy's appearance: "Nancy was endowed with a good figure, clear complexion, intelligent blue eyes, and a pretty face." This book also shows Ned to be a jealous ass. How dare Howard switch place cards so he could sit next to Nancy at a going-away party.

The Clue of the Tapping Heels: Nancy Drew Mystery 16

This is the last mystery published in the 1930's (1939.) Nancy found another of the poor, but proud club. This time it's Miss Carter, a kindly cat-lady "past middle age" who had once been an actress. (She later implies she's 50--heaven forbid.)

In addition to helping Miss Carter, Nancy saves the captain of a steamer after a "sinister sailor" causes an accident. She gives "perfect" testimony at the trials of the bad guys, gets kidnapped twice, and is rescued by tap dancing in code. All these successes help her recover from the indignity of being mistaken for a maid.

Racism alert: This book includes the "colored" man with freckles who is the "darky" who asked Ned the location of the Carson Drew home. There is also a conversation about Egyptians being dark-skinned with sharp features.

Nancy's Mysterious Letter: Nancy Drew Mystery Story Eight

This is my least favorite of Nancy's mysteries. It is also the first book written by a man. Walter Karig wrote books Eight Through Ten (the other books are The Sign of the Twisted Candles and The Password to Larkspur Lane.)

The mysteries were mundane. The first involves a mail bag stolen when the mailman comes into Nancy's house for cocoa and leaves his bag out on the porch. His perfect record on the eve of his retirement is ruined. I don't really care. At best, he seems pretty careless to me.

The second mystery involves the letter of the title. Nancy receives a letter about an inheritance for a Nancy Smith Drew. She decides to try to find the missing heiress herself.  Can't the lawyers do this on their own?

Oh, and Ned's a college football hero. Meh.

The Clue in the Diary: Nancy Drew Book Seven

Nancy, Bess, and George met another poor, but proud woman and her adorable daughter. Nancy later solves a mystery that helps a man who was swindled--Joe Swenson--the husband of the poor, but proud woman. What a coincidence!

When Nancy first gets a glimpse of the man, she thinks he might be a tramp, but his expression indicated a man of a different type. Shortly after that. she has her first encounter with Ned Nickerson. He impresses her enough that she asks Hannah to wear a pretty apron and cap and serve ice cream and cake when Ned visits.

There's a brief description of a country club dance. Nancy was popular (of course.) "Bess fared well also, but George was too blunt and boyish to captivate the young men." (Luckily George will captivate Burt, one of Ned's buddies in future books.)

There's a line when Nancy first meets Ned that Nancy knew better than to judge entirely by appearances. But she had a knack for doing that here and here. As soon as she talks to the sad-eyed, kindly, inoffensive Joe Swenson, she's sure he's innocent.

After all, it's the bad guy who sneers, "A girl, eh?"

"The Man Was Polite Enough But He Looked Like a Gangster."

That line may sum up all of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories and appeared in The Secret of Red Gate Farm, published in 1931,

A reluctant perfume saleswoman and a fainting girl lead Nancy into a new mystery when Nancy. Bess, and George to visit Red Gate Farm. (Bess and George first appeared in Book Five, The Secret at Shadow Ranch.

Once again Nancy helps a woman and her grandmother who have fallen on hard times (and of course, are good people.)

We learn Nancy is an excellent actress while helping Millie (the fainting girl) apply for a job. Is there anything she can't do? (From what I remember, no.)

On the way to infiltrating a mysterious cult and foiling a gang of counterfeiters, Nancy is falsely accused of passing counterfeit money herself.

Racism returns. When Nancy asked about a woman she later learns is Yvonne Wong, the janitor asks if she is squint-eyed? Nancy nods eagerly.

The Adventures Continue: The Bungalow Mystery

The Bungalow Mystery is the third book in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories and was published in 1930.

Nancy and chum Helen Corning are enjoying a motorboat outing on Moon Lake when one of those pesky rainstorms springs up and sinks their boat. Even though Nancy is an excellent swimmer, she alone can't save herself and Helen. Luckily, Laura Pendleton comes to the rescue and also brings a mystery with her.

A few days after the rescue, Laura's guardian arrives to meet her. A tiny scowl lines his forehead, and at times his eyes have a hard, almost cruel glint as he gazed upon Laura. Nancy takes an almost instant dislike to him.

Besides not keeping a single servant (gasp) at his bungalow, Laura's guardian is also an imposter who imprisoned the real guardian. Nancy discovers the real guardian chained in a bungalow cellar. She is knocked unconscious and tied up. Luckily Nancy remembers that a detective had demonstrated how to hold your hands so you can later escape after being bound.

Nancy frees the real guardian, chases down the crook, and literally saves Laura's fortune from a fire. All in a day's work.

Introducing Nancy Drew

The Secret of the Old Clock was published in 1930 and describes Nancy as a pretty girl of sixteen with a curly golden bob and a blue roadster. Nancy is unusually capable: under her direction everything ran smoothly in the Drew household. After all, Nancy is the type of girl who is capable of accomplishing a great many things in a comparatively short time. She even found time for clubs and parties.

The opening chapter sets up the mystery. Nancy is bitching about the snobbish Tophams and how much worse they will be if they inherit all of Josiah Crowley's fortune. She soon meets more deserving potential beneficiaries.

From this first Nancy Drew story, I learned that poor people are good. At least the ones with cultured voices and manners, whose clothes while not expensive, were neat and well-made. (This theme is repeated in The Secret of Red Gate Farm, The Clue in the Diary, and The Clue in the Crumbling Wall.)

Here are some other lessons.

Driving could be dangerous in 1930. Sudden rainstorms changed roads into seas of mud. (There were many of these storms that Nancy had to navigate: good thing she was such a capable driver and had chains with her.)

Bad guys are rough looking with cold and cruel faces. They growl, sneer, and berate each other savagely.

Unfortunately, the early books also have a legacy of racism. The "colored" caretaker Jeff Tucker (at least he gets a name) speaks in "dems" and "dat's" (as do others Blacks in later volumes.)  A band of robbers get him drunk so they can take the furniture from the Tophams' summer cottage. Nancy could have been a little nicer to Jeff. He did save her from a locked closet after she had been "left to starve" (title of chapter XVI) by the robbers.

In 1959, many Nancy Drew mysteries were revised and modernized. It was good to get rid of the racial stereotypes,  but as my sister said, other things were lost. The Nancy Drew sleuth website has a great article about the revisions focusing on The Secret of the Old Clock.

Re-Visiting Nancy Drew Yet Again

As I wrote before, I once belonged to a Nancy Drew book club and received a new book each month. My sister Joanna read my books and told me they were different than the ones she had read. She thought the earlier versions had more character.

Years later when Joanna was sick with cancer, I tried to find as many of the original Nancy Drew stories as I could. After Joanna died, I took the books back.

It's been over 20 years. I decided to keep one and donate the rest to the Norwalk Library when it accepts donations again.

Here the books I have:

• The Secret of the Old Clock
• The Bungalow Mystery
• The Secret of Red Gate Farm
• The Clue in the Diary
• Nancy's Mysterious Letter
• The Clue of the Tapping Heels
• The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk
• The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion
• The Club in the Crumbling Wall
• The Mystery at the Ski Jump
• The Witch Tree Symbol

I'll be writing about these books and about Nancy in future posts.

TV Time

It's been about a year since I've written about what TV shows we're watching.

Vikings has been on hiatus since December. I'm surprised how much I've been enjoying this season compared to last season. The show continues to kill off its stars; I'm not sure what will happen next. I'm a little wary because a few of the characters went to Iceland, and I hated the Iceland storyline last season. Oh well, only a half season to go.

Homeland is back after two years for its final season. I'm intrigued by what happened to Carrie in Russia and Sunday's episode about the loss of two presidents was suspenseful.

Outlander is a bit of a mixed bag. I As I said last year, I hated Brianna's visit to Bonnet for "closure."  It just opened her up to more possible victimization, and I don't want to watch that. Now Brianna is just waiting to be terrorized.

One episode this season seemed to be a stand-alone horror show of abuse and torture. While I haven't read the books (except the first) this show didn't appear to advance the story at all. It was well-acted, but I wonder if it was necessary. I, for one, want to see the start-up to the American Revolution.

Nancy Drew is a show that I was psyched to see. This isn't your mother's Nancy Drew or my Nancy Drew. Nancy is in a new city Horseshoe Bay, Maine (not River Heights in the books.) In this series Nancy even has sex with Nick (pka Ned Nickerson.)  The biggest change to the tone of the books is the element of the occult. I'm not sure how I feel about it, or about the series in general. But I'm in for all the Nancy I can get.

Batwoman--I've lost interest in this show. It started when an episode suddenly appeared that was a crossover with other shows. I actually thought we had recorded the wrong show. It broke up the Batwoman story and added elements that I didn't care about. We've watched more episodes, but meh.

Hawaii Five-O and Magnum PI are shows that Jeff records. They're okay to good, but I won't miss them when they're gone.

The Last Czars is a six part docudrama that we finished watching last night. It had been released last July, but I just heard about it recently.  I enjoyed it. I never realized that Nicholas was anti-Semitic and authorized pogroms. The film Nicholas and Alexandra portrayed him as more naive and incompetent and less evil. 

1939 Movie Miscellany

1939 is generally considered to be one of, if not the best, year for films including Gone with the Wind, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, Destry Rides Again, Ninotchka, The Rules of the Game, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Here are some of my favorites: They Made Me a Criminal, The Roaring Twenties, The Rains Came, In Name Only, The Hound of the Baskervilles (first of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes series) Dodge City (mostly for the dueling anthem preview to Casablanca.)

Bette Davis Films: Dark Victory, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The Old Maid, Juarez.

I learned today that 1939 also marked the end of two of my favorite movie series: Nancy Drew and Torchy Blaine.

TCM had a series theme starting last Tuesday. I caught the end of my second favorite in the Nancy Drew series, Nancy Drew, Reporter. I actually said out loud--that Sergeant Entwhistle wasn't committed to drag like Tom Sandoval (exposing my Vanderpump Rules fandom here.) I recorded Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase--the last entry and my personal favorite. The TCM announcer said this was the best reviewed of the series. It should have been the first of a longer series, but Bonita Granville left Warner Brothers and that ended the films.

The Torchy Blane series ended the same year. According to the article linked above, Torchy and Nancy movies were shown together, had a similar structure and shared some of their writers. As part of TCM's series theme, the Torchy movies also ran this week. I recorded all of those. I love Torchy's introduction in Smart Blonde. Steve McBride is more of an ass in the first entry than others and can barely drive. At least the film ends with Steve taking Torchy out for steak.

Here's more on Torchy.

Reading the (Female) Detectives

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been reading mysteries. After I read Breakdown, I read Brush Back, which had been the latest VI Warshawski mystery. Last Sunday's New York Times reviewed a new book, Fallout. 

I went to the library: I'm fifth on the Fallout waiting list. The library expects to receive multiple copies, so the wait might not be too long.

I just finished Critical Mass. This book takes place between Breakdown and Brush Back, but I missed it. I also picked up Deep Pockets, a Carlotta Carlyle mystery. By googling, I discovered there's a later Carlotta book I haven't read (Lie Down with the Devil.)

Most mystery/detective books I've read feature female detectives. Nancy Drew is the first series I remember reading; I was in a book club and received monthly installments. I also read Trixie Belden, Judy Bolton and the Dana Girls.

The first VI Warshawki and Kinsey Millhone books were published in 1982. Carlotta Carlyle first appeared in 1987. I'm not sure how I found VI or Kinsey or which one I read first, but obviously, I've enjoyed both series.

They are similar in some ways: both are licensed private investigators, divorced, runners, involved with musicians at some point, often at odds with the police, committed to their clients, smart and determined. Both have older male neighbors as confidants and friends.

Kinsey is a loner, almost anti-social. She's an orphan without family at least for part of the series. In later books, Kinsey discovers relatives from both sides of her family. She seems to have only one friend--Henry, her landlord and neighbor. In the series Kinsey's had three short-term romantic relationships. Kinsey was once a police officer before she went private. She never seems to cook--eating cereal, sandwiches, Big Macs and strange meals at Rosie's Tavern. One last thing that makes a big difference in her stories--Kinsey is "trapped" in the eighties--the setting of her mysteries--in her thirties.

VI is more social and comes from a large family. Friends and relatives are the catalysts for many of her cases. I think she has had three long-term relationships--although I'm not sure about the length of one (Conrad)--and a few other relationships. VI loves food and is a good cook. She is also a singer. VI is a feminist and a progressive; most--if not all--of her cases involve white collar crime. One predictable thing in VI mysteries--the rich/corporate people are almost always the guilty criminals.

I haven't read a Carlotta Carlyle mystery for years. She's tall, red-headed, a cab driver, a former cop, a guitar player. Carlotta has a long term off and on relationship with her cab company boss (or owner?) Sam, who has a mob family background. Carlotta is a devoted Big Sister.  I don't remember many details. I'll have to write more after I read Deep Pockets.

I prefer to read about female detectives, though I've read about male detectives such as Spenser, Lord Peter Wimsey and Sam Spade. I identify more with the women, I guess. There's no residual narrative sexism. (Hmm, what exactly is residual narrative sexism anyway? I like the phrase: did I just invent it?)

I'm  not sure if I'll continue with my mystery reading binge. For now, on to Carlotta.

"I'll Bet You $23.80."

I can't believe that I forgot about this line when I wrote about the 1930's Nancy Drew films in this post. As described on this Nancy Drew site, $23.80 was the weekly paycheck for WPA workers. WPA in pop culture again.

Bonita Granville's Nancy Drew

Over the summer, TCM ran the four 1938 - 1939 Nancy Drew movies starring Bonita Granville and Frankie Thomas as Ted Nickerson. I'm a big fan and have seen the films several times. I recorded and watched them in July and recently re-watched the series.

The series has a madcap comedy approach: book Nancy is serious and responsible, and as my sister complained--too perfect. Granville's Nancy is impulsive and let me repeat madcap. She also plays fast and loose with evidence, something book Nancy would never consider.

The first film Nancy Drew Detective is loosely based on the book, The Password to Larkspur Lane. It seems to be the most serious of the films, but its overall tone is lighthearted. Nancy's attempted rescue of an older woman held prisoner in a nursing home is foiled by Ted's poor attempt to dress in drag as a nurse. His pants leg drooping down from under this uniform gives him away. Of course, they ultimately succeed.

Bonus: James Stephenson, who was so memorable as Bette Davis' lawyer in The Letter, appears here as one of the villains.

The second film is Nancy Drew Reporter. Nancy investigates a murder case while allegedly on an assignment as a student reporter. (She steals the assignment from another reporter's desk when the reporter is away.)

As part of Nancy's investigation, poor Ted winds up in the boxing ring with Soxie Anthens. A clue from the boxing ring takes them to the Mandarin Café. Unfortunately, Ned's bratty sister and her friend (Mary and Killer) tag along by hiding in the rumble seat. They order chop suey even though Nancy and Ted don't have the money to pay the bill. To avoid washing dishes, Mary, Killer, Nancy and Ted sing a medley with a full orchestra (!) The patrons throw enough change to pay the bill. I don't usually care for these musical interludes, but this one was fun. (Compare it to "Blow that Horn" in After the Thin Man.)

Another scene in drag: this time it's Sergeant Entwhistle masquerading as Grandma. While searching the villain's room, the Sergeant is revealed when his skirt is caught in a trunk and is pulled off, revealing his pants. Damn, if only Ted and Sergeant Entwhistle were committed to their disguises, they might have gotten away,

I loved Nancy's trick after she and Ted are locked up in the electrical room on the roof of a hotel. By removing fuses, they change the sign of the Beldenburg Hotel to the Bedbug Hotel, and they get rescued.

Mary and Killer even come through.They put whistles on Nancy's car, just before the bad guys try to escape in it.The police can easily apprehend the villains.

Nancy Drew Trouble Shooter is my least favorite of the series. None of the regulars come off well: Nancy is especially scatterbrained and Ted is especially clumsy. Carson Drew acts like a lovesick schoolboy at the first sight of an attractive neighbor.Ted is also immediately smitten. Nancy becomes jealous of the neighbor, calling her a "scheming adventuress."

There are many "slapsticky" scenes including a bull whose charge frees Nancy and Ted from a locked building, Ted flying a crop dusting plane, and Ted and Nancy sinking in the boat Ted built, the Nancy. Somehow, no one notices the big hole Nancy makes christening it.

Perhaps the worst part of the movie is Willie Best's stereotypical character Apollo. Apollo's hides a live and later a cooked chicken behind his back, complains about his work, and is so afraid of ghosts that he doesn't realize that he's witnessed a murder.Thank goodness Nancy's around to figure it all out.

The final film of the series is Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase. This film also had some outlandish situations, but they were fun. I loved the situations created by Ted as the iceman, despite the silly falling pants routine. I laughed when Nancy ordered 500 pounds of ice just to get Ted's help.

Ted makes a final appearance in drag. He's on stakeout in the basement to try to catch the bad guy, and strips to his underwear to sleep. When the bad guy takes his clothes, all Ned can find is an old-fashioned women's dress. Okay, but why did he don the lady's hat?