Topper Returns

You can't beat a movie where Billie Burke is afraid some other woman will run off with Roland Young! Roland Young reprises his role as "Topper," that poor man who sees ghosts, in this third "Topper" movie; the TV show would have Leo G. Carroll in the title role. I remember it well - I'd like to say I remember it from syndication but alas, I think it was the original series. I'm that old.

This time around, George and Miriam Kerby have finally passed over and aren't bothering Topper anymore, but he's still attracting ghostly presences. This time it's (ail Richards (Joan Blondell). Topper gives her and her friend Ann Carrington (Carol Landis) a ride to the Carrington estate. There Ann will be seeing her very ill father for the first time in many years, as she was raised in France. As Ann is to inherit everything, it's no surprise when a chandelier nearly beams her. Later that night, she switches rooms with Gail, who is enamored with the elaborate suite that Ann has, and Gail is murdered. She does what every person in Topper's world does when they die - she contacts him to help her find out whodunnit.

This is your typical haunted house mystery with a very witty and clever script. It's great fun - lots of darkness, sound effects, screams, and slapstick performed by a talented cast. Carol Landis was a gorgeous woman who didn't quite make it to big stardom and died at the age of 29, possibly realizing her time had passed. She's about 22 here, beautiful and with a graceful presence. Joan Blondell is top notch, pretty and funny. She just sailed through films like this. Roland Young is great as the befuddled, nervous Cosmo who just doesn't know how he gets into these situations.

Billie Burke is back as his heartbroken wife who fears she's losing her husband to yet another blonde. No one can say "Oh, Cosmo, Cosmo" like Burke. When she sees him drive by with Blondell on his lap, she's appalled and reads him out. "You could have at least waved," she sobs. "How could I?" he responds."She was on my lap!"

Sometimes these films are uncomfortable because of racism. In this film, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson is the chauffeur. While Anderson's part is somewhat stereotypical in that he acts terrified at times, his character seems to have a nice give and take with Topper. And let's face it - Eddie isn't the only one scared here. Anderson was a well-known personality, thanks to his wonderful association with Jack Benny. He was a very funny and talented man who never seemed particularly subservient. "Coffee," Benny would say. "No, thanks, I've had some," he'd answer. He brings a lot to "Topper Returns," and not in a way that's demeaning.

Recommended for its good script and great cast.

Since both films were on my DVD I watched both of them tonight. I found this film more charming than the Cary Grant film (and that is saying something!) Not only was Joan Blondell a barrel of fun but the house was great. There were secret staircases, chairs that tuned into secret hallways. I found Jack Benney's sidekick (Chester, I believe) a total riot. This man did not mind playing this role I am sure. (Jack Benney for all his "stingy" ways was not stingy in real life, especially with this man.) The other character that was completely zany and filled with great fun was Billie Burke. She did not carry the same personality over from the first film. In the original "Topper" she played a snobbish upper crust lady who had no fun in her. For "Topper Returns" she plays a zany character so much like Gracie Allen you would think that George Burns was "Topper" and Gracie his wife. Anyway, it was a very funny, delightful film.

This film may not have been one of the "greats", but if you just want to laugh--have a go at this one.

For the third and final Topper film, Roland Young is now shed of the Kirbys from the two previous films and he and Billie Burke are now starting on a needed vacation with Eddie Anderson as chauffeur and Patsy Kelly as maid. Hey it's the best way to travel.

But the other world isn't finished with him yet. Carole Landis and her friend Joan Blondell are on their way to spend the night with her father, H.B. Warner, at the old family haunted estate. If it wasn't haunted before it sure gets haunted after Blondell is murdered by mistake because the killer is after Landis.

Of course that magnet for the other world Cosmo Topper attracts ghosts like moths to a flame and of course the now other worldly Blondell enlists him to find out who murdered her.

Rounding out this cast of some of the best character actors around are Dennis O'Keefe as a taxi driver trying to collect a fare, Donald MacBride as the perennial dumb cop and George Zucco as the doctor/friend of the Landis/Warner family.

The mystery has plenty of plot holes in it and we're never really told the reason why Landis is being targeted. One thing I will say though, given that the reader of this review might be knowledgeable in the typecasting of all these faces, don't think you've identified the culprit by that.

Roland Young probably could have gone on making more Topper films, but I'm willing to bet he decided to quit while ahead. In any event Cosmo Topper probably decided to go with the flow and left the banking profession to become a psychic.

Thorne Smith is just now beginning to be taken seriously as a writer. Often brushed off as just another pulp fiction fabricator, Smith's works are filled with satirical, humorous jibes at American culture concealed in well-written stories of fantasy. Though all three Hollywood versions of one of his best character creations leave out much of the satire they are each highly entertaining romantic comedies with many sexual innuendos considered bawdy when released in the late 30's and early 40's. This third film adds an element of mystery, suspense and chills to the comedy. Even the humor comes faster than in the first two Topper's. Billie Burke as Mrs. Cosmo Topper is given more clever lines this go around. Being one of the best actresses around, she knows exactly how to use the lines for ultimate comedic effect.

Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson was one of the funniest men around at the time. Mainly a radio comedian and sidekick to the inimitable Jack Benny, he stands out in every movie role he was given. He was one of the few African-Americans of his day who was able through sheer talent to rise above the racist Hollywood stereotyping rampant in the media at the time. Later during the civil rights movement Jack Benny told Rochester to do an errand for him. He replied, "Mr. Benny, we don't do that anymore." There's one scene in "Topper Returns" involving Rochester that's a gem when the raven flies to his shoulder and he gives a double take. Don't miss it. I don't know whose idea it was to have him wear a fur coat but that one prop adds tremendously to the fun.

So much has already been said by IMDb reviewers about the sensational Joan Blondell who deservedly got top billing in this film. She was a multi-talented actress who could play any role given her better than anyone else. She was also a topnotch comedienne as she shows in this outing when she somewhat assumes the role played by Constance Bennett in the first two outings. Donald MacBride as the police sergeant in charge of investigating the murders plays the part of a dumb policeman (typical for Hollywood in those days) in such a lofty comic manner than his stupidity is actually believable and this time funny. Adding to the creepiness of this truly scary comedy is the performance of Rafaela Ottiano as the housekeeper. She would frighten the pants off Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. The rest of the cast made in heaven is just as effective.

Special note should be given to the special effects which were nominated for an Oscar. The man behind them, Roy Seawright, had also been in charge of the special effects for the first two Topper's. I've read that he had a hand in doing the special effects for the 1933 horror classic "The Invisible Man," although he is not credited with that in his profile.

Roland Young is for many viewers the definitive Topper but the later TV Topper, Leo G. Carroll, did a fine job too. Plus the later TV series added a ghost St. Bernard named Neil who just happened to be an alcoholic. Except for this the three movie versions are superior. The made for TV "Topper Returns" actually deals with Cosmo Topper Jr. and though OK is nowhere near the caliber of this "Topper Returns."

I agree with the comments that this 1941 "sequel" to the 1937 classic is actually a better film despite the absence of Cary Grant. This movie is loaded with talented people - Joan Blondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis, Billie Burke, George Zucco, Patsy Kelly, Eddie Anderson, Dennis O'Keefe, Rafela Ottiano, all of whom have their moments to shine. Blondell is the only bona fide major movie star in the group but it's very much an ensemble cast picture in a way you don't often see in movies from the period. Mainly a slapstick comedy, it works as a mystery too, I was surprised by the murderer's identity. Anderson and Burke are particularly funny and Blondell is a delight, very sassy and very sexy, she looks a few pounds heavier than in her 1930's Warner Bros. films but those extra curves look sensational on her, making her more Mae West-like than ever.