Topper Takes a Trip

We find Mrs. Topper (Billie Burke) is going to get a divorce due to catching her hubby with a woman that is not a woman, Marion Kerby (Constance Bennett.) or at least she is being pushed into thinking she wants a divorce by a so-called friend of whom has a nefarious purpose of her own. Toppy must go after his wife and woo her back.

The storyline is weak and the acting trite. There is a defiant lack of comedy or even credulity. There are countless counts and an unbelievable scheme. Oh yes, Cary grant is replaced by Skippy.

On the plus side, Cosmo Topper (Roland Young) does a great job of being pushed around by the invisible. And Alan Mowbray the bad guy in "Charlie Chan in London" made a believable butler. "Now you are holding the door open for me."

This sequel to the funny Topper lacks the entire sophistication of that film yet is able to stand all by itself as a worthy successor based on the performance of Roland Young once again playing the amusing, befuddled Cosmo Topper - he who sees dead people way before it became fashionable by The Sixth Sense and on a cast of wonderful character actors doing their "bit." Topper Takes a Trip does have some major flaws; however. The film opens with Young in a courtroom going through divorce proceedings from his even more befuddled wife Billie Burke. Topper explains to the courtroom how he was befriended by the ghosts of Constance Bennet and Cary Grant(who could not join his former cast-mates because he was now too big a star but magnanimously agreed to allow them to use footage from the original - Swell Guy!). This whole beginning seems very forced as it tries to make sure that all is explained in case you missed the first film. Once they get out of the courtroom, Topper and one ghost and her ghostly dog go on a drinking binge and discover that Mrs. Topper's best friend has taken her to Paris to try and get her hooked up with a Baron there. Topper and companions follow and the laughs go from a trickle to an avalanche at times as Young does all kinds of crazy things with the aid of his spectral friend. The hotel is headed by Franklin Pangborn whose performance really is a comic treat. Pangborn made me laugh so hard with that sardonic look and witticisms. Butler Alan Mowbray follows and adds a fine turn as the Topper's butler. The rest of the cast is also suitably funny. It is important to remember just how influential these films were in this little sub-genre and that the special effects used were state-of-the-art at the time(Oscar nominated in this case. Many scenes stand out for me as truly masterful bits of comedic timing: Young dancing with a ghost on the dance floor, Alexander D'Arcy(the Baron) being bulldozed by a huge beach ball while shortless in the sand, and Young being cramped in his small room standing out particularly.

"Topper Takes a Trip" is a nice follow-up to "Topper," and has the same cast but no Cary Grant as George. He's shown in the beginning as the film goes over how George and Marion got to be ghosts in the first place. Alas, Grant's ghostly presence hangs over the entire film and puts a big hole in this movie.

Constance Bennett is her usual gorgeous self as Marion. She is compelled to come back without George and soon realizes that she's there to help Cosmo once again - though the Kerby's idea of helping Topper leaves much to be desired. This time, though, she discovers a dog, Atlas, in spirit also and brings him along. Mrs. Topper (Billie Burke) learning that Cosmo was with a woman in a hotel has sued for divorce. At the trial, Cosmo claims the woman was the late Marion and begs to tell his story.

The judge understandably gets too confused and throws the case out. Mrs. T sails for France and Cosmo, Marion, and Atlas follow. One of the best scenes takes place in a casino where Cosmo just can't help winning, thanks the ball landing on one number and then mysteriously jumping to another thanks to guess who.

Very cute, with another fine performance by Roland Young as Cosmo. The special effects are still marvelous

Cosmo TOPPER TAKES A TRIP--with ghostly Marion Kerby and dead dog Atlas--to the French Riviera in hopes of winning back the estranged Mrs. Topper.

Hal Roach Studios presents more of the adventures of Topper in this follow-up to their previous comedy success. Many of the comic situations are highly reminiscent of the first film, but they are still funny and enough new material has been added to engage and hold the viewer's attention.

Roland Young & Billie Burke return as the Toppers and they are still a delight--Mr. Young owlish & serious in the silliest of situations and Miss Burke forever sweetly vague and befuddled. Gorgeous Constance Bennett, as ghostess Marion, remains free-spirited in her (unwelcome) attempts to help Cosmo out of his latest pickle. Somber Alan Mowbray is also back--and in top form--as the Toppers' devout butler.

Some new costars are on hand to help liven things up: Verree Teasdale plays Mrs. Topper's catty friend; Franklin Pangborn is the oleaginous manager of the Hotel St. Pierre; and suave Alexander D'Arcy provides some laughs as a gigolo baron intent on acquiring Miss Burke's money.

Movie mavens will recognize George Davis as a temperamental porter and Paul Porcasi as a suspicious casino manager, both uncredited. Atlas is played by that remarkable canine thespian, Asta. Cary Grant appears only in footage lifted from the first film.

A couple of scenes in particular are worth waiting for--the first when Topper, with invisible ghostly help, breaks the bank at the French casino's roulette wheel; the second comes when D'Arcy is subjected to humiliating indignities on the beach, courtesy of Miss Bennett and Asta.

This was the second of a 3-film series, coming after TOPPER (1937) and followed by TOPPER RETURNS (1941).

This film starts in court, with the divorce proceedings between Cosmo Topper and his wife. A flashback explains how the events of the original film, Una pareja invisible (1937), supposedly caused this. However, the real reason (which does not get sufficiently clear until much later) is that Mrs. Topper's lawyer is trying to manipulate her into marrying a French fortune hunter. It appears that the events of the previous film just gave the crooked lawyer an opening that she could exploit.

The original film was based on a novel by Thorne Smith, and this sequel is based on the novel's sequel. The fun-loving dead Kerby couple who previously rescued Mr. Topper from boredom somehow get reactivated from heaven as ghosts to correct the unfortunate side-effect of their good deed. Except that George Kerby (Cary Grant) didn't like the film's script, or wanted more money than was available, or just had something better to do with his time, and so wasn't available. So unlike in the novel, in the film Marion Kerby (Constance Bennett) returns alone. Which comes across as odd because unlike in the novel, the film doesn't portray an actual romance between Marion Kerby and Cosmo Topper, choosing to depict the Kerby marriage as totally harmonious.

For added variety in the invisibility-based slapstick scenes, Marion finds herself a cute dog ghost as a sidekick. Unfortunately, the dog is never really used properly. Like the original film, this sequel could no doubt have profited a lot from breaking the prejudice of the early sound film era and hiring a slapstick expert rooted in the silent film era as an adviser. But they clearly didn't, and so the physical comedy, which should have been the strongest point, again comes across as having the handbrake on. Of course this was true already in the original film.

The original film somehow managed to be above average through a consistently high quality of script and acting. This and Cary Grant seem to be the second most important things missing in this sequel.

At least this is a proper sequel, unlike the second sequel, Vuelven los fantasmas (1941), which just uses the Toppers for an unrelated though similar ghost story script set in a horror house.