Director: Katt Shea With: Sophia Lillis, Linda Lavin, Sam Trammell Release Date: Mar 15, 2019Official Site:When it comes to name recognition, few American detectives rank as high as Nancy Drew with audiences, owing to the fact that millions devoured the yellow-spined novels, and no small number of celebs (including executive producer Ellen DeGeneres) went on to credit the character with inspiring them at a young age. As a result, it’s no mystery why so many have tried to develop the character into a proper film or TV franchise — including small-screen attempts by CBS, NCB and The CW in the last few years alone.In the case of Warner Bros., the studio bought the rights to the character for just $6,000 back in 1937, and has opted to dust off and remake “” (one of the character’s earliest and most widely read novels, first adapted in 1939) from its own library. And so, Nancy’s back, reborn in the form of super-charismatic, redheaded as an assertive, redheaded millennial who embodies the classic character’s best traits — intelligence, independence, and an unerring nose for the truth — while bringing her confidently into the modern world. That’s more than can be said for Warner’s last attempt, 2007’s square Emma Roberts starrer “Nancy Drew,” in which the character looked like an escapee from a 1940s Catholic girls’ school.
Since Nancy’s always been a role model to young girls, her personality can’t get too wild, but there’s no reason to make her boring in the process. With Lillis in the lead, that’s not likely, since the actress — who stole “It” out from under her younger male co-stars — doesn’t look like a dull goody-goody in the slightest, combining tomboy confidence with a laid-back rocker-chick attitude.At first, “” seems to be trying a bit too hard to make her hip, opening with a scene of its namesake skateboarding down the street of fictional small town River Heights. Even without teen musical prodigy Emily Bear singing “More Than Just a Girl” on the soundtrack, it’s obvious that “Poison Ivy” director wants us to know that there’s no underestimating her new-and-improved Nancy Drew — even if most of the characters are constantly doing just that.Luckily, Nancy has supportive parents and a couple of best friends, Bess (Mackenzie Graham) and George (Zoe Renee), who look on in awe whenever she lays out the logic she uses to puzzle out certain mysteries. But she doesn’t stop there, stepping up to enforce wrongdoing when the situation calls for it. Flora lives in a historical mansion, Twin Elms, that she believes is haunted, and while that may sound hokey on paper, what Nancy witnesses — a sparking chandelier, kitchen drawers that open and close on their own, and a faceless figure wearing a satanic pig mask — seems convincing to her too. “And here I thought my cheese was sliding off the cracker!” exclaims Flora.
Still, it takes a special kind of brain to explain what’s behind these freaky phenomena, and that’s where Nancy Drew comes in.Using a mix of intuition and smarts, Nancy locates a secret lever in Flora’s bookcase that swings aside to reveal you guessed it, a hidden staircase. By this time in the story, audiences will have figured out the motive — Twin Elms sits on a valuable piece of real estate that greedy developers want for the train they’re planning to build through town — but they won’t be able to guess who’s behind this elaborate attempt to scare Flora into selling, or how the culprits pulled it off.
The answer is darker and more dangerous than you might expect.But here’s the cool thing: The film’s consistently clever script, from empowerment-minded “The Handmaid’s Tale” writers Nina Fiore and John Herrera, isn’t nearly as interested in the mystery as it is in Nancy Drew, or in the circle of characters and relationships that surround her. And that’s the smart way to approach such a case, since the movie was plainly intended to be more than a one-off. It’s easy to imagine further installments, so long as they don’t lose Lillis, who’s currently 17. She’s the freshest thing to happen to Nancy Drew in decades, making it clear that casting was the solution that has so often eluded this series in its jump from page to screen.Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly identified ’ age. She is 17 years old. Film Review: 'Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase'Reviewed online, March 7, 2019. MPAA Rating: PG.
Nancy Drew 2019 Movie
Running time: 89 MIN.Production:A Warner Bros. Pictures release and presentation of a Very Good, Red 56 production. Producers: Jeff Kleeman, Chip Diggins. Executive producers: Ellen DeGeneres, Wendy S. Co-producer: Rachel Abarbanell.Crew:Director: Katt Shea. Screenplay: Nina Fiore, John Herrera.
Camera (color, widescreen): Edd Lukas. Editor: Richard Nord.
Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase 1939 Cast
Music: Sherri Chung.With:Sophia Lillis, Linda Lavin, Sam TrammellMusic By:, Andrea Anders, Sam Trammell, Mackenzie Graham, Zoe Renee, Evan Castelloe, Jay DeVon Johnson, Andrew Matthew Welch, Jesse C.
This final entry in Warner Bros.' Nancy Drew series is the only one actually based on a novel by Nancy Drew creator.
Returns as the ebullient titular teenaged sleuth, while portrays Nancy's best friend and fellow 'gumshoe' Ted Nickerson. The plot concerns a bizarre codicil in a will, requiring two elderly sisters to spend every night in their family mansion over a period of 20 years in order to lay claim to the crumbling old house. The ladies plan to contribute their legacy to a local children's hospital, but certain sinister forces in town hope to erect a racetrack where the mansion presently stands. When the sisters' chauffeur is murdered, Nancy and Ted investigate, even though Nancy's attorney father, Carson Drew , has expressly forbidden them to do so.
Their tremulous journey through the cellar of the mansion leads to a surprising revelation - and, very nearly, to a watery grave. Arguably the best of the series, moves along at so fast a clip that the audience is left nearly as breathless as the heroine.
Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase 1939 Trailer
Nancy Drew and the Hidden StaircaseDistributor:Release Date: September 9, 1939Genre: Comedy ThrillerRuntime: 1 hrs. 0 min.MPAA Rating: UnratedProduction Budget: N/A.View Chart://$25,612,5202,612$6,832,3182,612Averages:$25,612,5202,612$6,832,3182,612Note: This page shows comparable movies in terms of audience appeal, genre, tone, timeframe and/or release pattern. It indicates how this movie is doing in its own playing field, to aid in forecasting and to provide suggestions for movie viewing. Release Gross does not include additional releases, if any. ^ Date is the day movie was released in theaters; click date to view release schedule.
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