Password to Larkspur Lane/Nancy Drew: Detective

I'm combining two separate posts into one because I realized that I could count this for the Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge so excuse me for double posting both these reviews.

Password to Larkspur Lane (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories 10)

"You attract mystery like nectar in a flower attracts a bee, Nancy."

Nancy has a mystery literally fall into her lap when an injured messenger pigeon falls from the sky.  The pigeon is carrying a mysterious message that attracts Nancy's curiosity.  That plus a story from a doctor about an old lady being held captive and her bracelet as a clue involves Nancy in a dangerous mystery.
Also Helen Corning lives!  She's Helen Archer now, but since she and Bess and George cannot live in the same plane of existence she doesn't stick around.  She introduces a mystery to Nancy at her grandparent's house and then leaves the girl detective to solve it.  Honestly, so far, this was my least favorite.  The series of coincidences is this book are almost too much even for a Nancy Drew.  Also it turns out that in the original 1933 version Helen had a bigger role but since she is married in the 1966 revision she obviously cannot go around sleuthing so her part is regulated to Bess and George.  But still it was nice to see her for a few pages.

Nancy Drew: Detective
Based on the Password to Larkspur Lane,  there are significant changes to Nancy's personality and the personality of Ned, now Ted, and her father.  She is given a hard time by all the men, a lot more so than in the books and they treat her like a little girl most of the time.  That bothered me because Mr. Drew always supported Nancy and encouraged her to sleuth, but in the movies he doesn't do that.  Ted is more of a foible and talks back to her and goes along reluctantly.  He is also her next door neighbor.  I know that these movies would have to be based on the orginal text of the books, but I doubt Ted (Ned) would have ever been so mean to Nancy.  He is rather good looking though and they obviously like each other.  Nancy tends to use her feminine wiles and "women's intuition" a lot and it usually backfires, but she would never behave that way in the books.

The plot similar to the book but there is no Bess or George or Helen so Ted is her companion.  Mrs. Eldrigde promised Nancy's school some money and then she disappears so Nancy sets out to find her despite the protests of her father and the police chief.  She, of course, finds out what happened and there is much excitement in the meantime.  It's a fun movie though not the greatest portrayal of Nancy Drew.