Underplayed Gems

Hardy Boys (1956)

Hardy Boys poster
Original title
The Hardy Boys
Genre
kids, mystery
Country
United States
Length
2 seasons, 19 episodes
Rating
8.8 of 10 from 4 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More series like this

How it feels

Two teenage brothers solve mysteries in their hometown. The show follows their adventures as they uncover clues and face challenges in a serialized format.

nostalgiclightheartedadventurousfamily-friendlyfast-pacedwholesomecheerfulplayful

What happens

In the late 1950s, Disney contracted with the Stratemeyer Syndicate and Grosset & Dunlap to produce two Hardy Boys TV serials, starring Tim Considine and Tommy Kirk. The first of the serials, The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure, was aired on The Mickey Mouse Club in 1956 during the show's second season. To appeal to the show's audience, the Hardy Boys were portrayed as younger than in the books (Considine was 15 and Kirk was 14 during filming). The script, written by Jackson Gillis, was based on the first Hardy Boys book, The Tower Treasure, and the serial was aired in 19 episodes of fifteen minutes each with production costs of $5,700. A second serial, The Mystery of Ghost Farm, followed in 1957, with an original story by Jackson Gillis. This serial shares some elements with "The House on the Cliff", the second Hardy Boys book. Kirk said The Mystery of Ghost Farm was "inferior to the first one. It's a real mishmash; it's pretty terrible... real cheap. Gobbledygook." Kirk recalled Charles Haas, who directed the first as "a very strict, very tough, no-nonsense director. That's what I remember: very stern and rough, really. The other was directed by Bud Springsteen, who I've never heard of before or since, and who was a real happy-go-lucky." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.