Topper Takes a Trip

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, Topper (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, Topper Returns (1941), which just uses the Toppers for an unrelated though similar ghost story script set in a horror house.

Topper Takes a Trip just never gets going. It's an OK comedy sequel to the 1937 smash hit but without Cary Grant. That leaves Marion (Constance Bennett) alone to hound Topper (Roland Young) but the film is missing the marital sparring that made the first one so good.

Mrs. Topper (Billie Burke) is seeking a divorce because Topper and Marion had stayed at a hotel together in the first film. Slim plot device then has the Mrs. heading to France for a quickie divorce where she falls among thieves: her "friend" and a phony baron. Topper and Marion head to France to stop the divorce and foil the setup.

Roland Young is still very good with his blank face and funny body movements (when the invisible Marion is prodding him). But there's just too much talk in this one. Bennett is as always beautiful and breezy. Burke is hilarious as the dithery Mrs. Topper in a way that no one else could copy. Alan Mowbray is back in the thankless butler role as is Spencer Charters as the judge.

Verree Teasdale plays the acid friend, Alex D'Arcy the faux baron, and Franklin Pangborn is the French hotel manager. Grant appears via flashback from the original film, but his absence is not well explained. Asta (the dog) is funny too.

Not a bad film but it could have been funnier.

"Topper Takes A Trip" is a charming, airy, lyrical fantasy comedy. No one ever made a fantasy comedy like this. The playing of all actors and the set design mix screwball comedy with fantasy elements, making an appealing, sexy, subtly witty comedy that was the best sophisticated comedy feature ever to come out of the Hal Roach Studios.

The cast is a dream. Although all three actors' characters do not appear to each other, the chemistry between Roland Young, Constance Bennett, and Billie Burke is a joy to watch. The musical score by Marvin Hatley not only complements the film beautifully, it features pieces that sound more from the 1960's than 1939. A remarkable score that deserves major recognition by film scholars, students, and buffs.

Roland Young and Billie Burke made several films together for different studios however it was in this film and in Selznick's "The Young In Heart" that showed them at their absolute best as a team. They also deserver greater critical recognition for their work.

The camerawork and set design evoke a polish and sheen common to '30's romantic comedies. A handsome look that stimulates suspending disbelief for a fantasy film. "Topper Takes A Trip" is, undeniably, the best of the three Topper films produced by Hal Roach.

This may be an odd suggestion, but I think this film actually benefited from the absence of Cary Grant. Now I love Cary Grant, but in the original Topper, he is conspicuous by his absence from much of the action, and it is a distraction: after all, he was supposed to be the star. Here, however, we get to focus exclusively on the wonderful Roland Young and the drop-dead gorgeous Constance Bennett.

Young is quite frankly great as the bumbling and often mumbling Cosmo Topper. He is so good at pretending to be pulled, pushed and twisted around by the invisible Mrs. Kirby that you really completely believe unseen forces are constantly roughing him up. And he so thoroughly throws himself into dancing by himself, kicking his feet around in a jig, and kicking at invisible dogs, that it is a real joy.

Have I mentioned that Constance Bennett is gorgeous? How many marriages on the set must have been broken up by her walking around in a bathing suit for a good portion of the film? Billie Burke was also much more interesting here than in the original. The writers surely delighted in giving her so many inane and nonsensical lines, which she, in her well-meaning but confusing daffiness, plays to perfection.

Finally, Franklin Panghorn has a lovely and meaty role as a manager of a French hotel; but his French accent has to be one of the worst ever. Luckily the film is filled with upset, screaming Frenchmen all always yelling at the same time.

I don't think everyone will agree with me, but I found "Topper Takes a Trip" to be at least as enjoyable as the original (except for the long introduction with its extensive borrowing from the original). Highly recommended.

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."