Bonita Granville has the charm, the spirit, the joy and pure liveliness to play the favorite female sleuth of murder mysteries, Nancy Drew. Though Granville starred in only four Nancy Drew films, they are all fun and infectious. Although she is a little more ditzy than in the books, Granville still holds her own and has enough intelligence to find the clues to solve a mystery.
In "Trouble Shooter," she wants to clear her "Uncle" Adams, a farmer, who is suspected of murder. Naturally, stubborn Uncle Adams knows he is innocent and procures help from attorney Carson Drew (John Litel). Carson pretends to be going on vacation out in the country until the tight-lipped housekeeper lets the cat out of the bag to the curious Nancy (Granville). Nancy spends time uncovering a rare tropical plant on the grounds where the murdered victim, a ranch owner, is found. She and her semi-boyfriend Ted (Frankie Thomas), a typical klutz, go off gathering information on this darn plant that leads to a burning greenhouse and the pair trying not to fly a crop duster plane into the ground! There is also Nancy trying to clumsily make dinner for her father and his guest, a practically next-door neighbor he has a romantic interest in.
"Nancy Drew...Trouble Shooter" has enough laughs and action overall to please anyone, though the plot is rather flimsy and the whodunit is not exactly something that will leave you scratching your head. The racist caricature of Willie Best as the farm hand who steals chickens is obviously done for comic effect but it will prove deleterious and cringe-inducing to most (he was used to far more execrable effect in Harold Lloyd's "Feet First"). "Trouble Shooter" is still a pleasant diversion with the added treat of an angry cow.
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