Hardy Boys – The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure

Posted by Adventure Dad on January 24, 2010 at 8:44 am

As a young boy, I was thrilled with the Hardy Boys. The series of books begins with a story called
The Tower Treasure, and in 1956 some producers at Disney Studios decided to turn that book into a serial, which means that they made a movie out of the book, and broke it into nineteen episodes, each lasting about twelve minutes. They played these episodes over nineteen days during the after-school show called The Mickey Mouse Club, which you have probably heard about by now.

Children loved that show, and they rushed home everyday to see it. Part of the reason they did during October and November, 1956 was to see this serial. Each episode ends with an exciting “cliff hanger” ending, which leaves the Hardy Boys or some other characters in some sort of peril until the next day, when the story would continue.

The video is pretty faithful to the book, but there are some changes. The acting is very good, and although most of it was shot inside the famous Disney Studio Stage 2, you really can’t tell. Actually, because I knew that while watching, it really made the experience even more fun – that’s a very big and amazing studio full of cars and streets and real, life-sized buildings!

My children, both boys and girls, all love this set of two DVDs. My daughter, who is six, roller skates around pretending to be Iola Morton, one of the girls featured in the serials, and my boys love anything to do with the Hardy Boys, but they especially enjoyed this version. They also liked the extras, which include some historical narration and an interview with the two main actors, who are now all grown up. There is also one episode of the Mickey Mouse Club on the disk, which is the one that featured the first episode of The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure.

I think you’ll enjoy these DVDs, and if you do, won’t you please write a review in the comments below? You could earn points that you can turn in for prizes!