weezeralfalfa
The 3rd and final instalment of the Topper series of ghostly films, produced by Universal in 1937,'38, and '41. These were all inspired by several books written by Thorne Smith. The related film "I Married a Witch", filmed at Paramount, was also based on a Thorne Smith novel. The Topper series all involved one or more ghosts of a recently deceased person, who alternate between visible(mostly to Topper)and invisible. They may exert physical effects, as if they had a physical body. This provides the basis for mysterious and sometimes comical happenings. All these films were photographed in B&W, although a colorized version of the present film is available at YouTube. B&W may be preferable for murder mysteries of this era, providing a more sinister atmosphere. Unlike the first 2 Topper installments, this is a ghostly murder mystery. It's not billed as a comical mystery, although there is some humor here and there. Roland Young returns as the middle-aged Topper, and Billie Burke returns as his neurotic befuddled wife. But, Joan Blondell takes the place of Constance Bennet, as the main ghost. Also, there is no one comparable to Cary Grant's role in the first of this series. Joan, as the main ghost, helps solve the disappearance of her body, and who was responsible for her murder. Ann Carrington(Carole Landis) and her friend Gail Richards(Joan Blondell) arrive at the Carrington mansion after a near fatal crash of their taxi, caused by a gunman shooting out one of their tires. They had journeyed from the Far East, where Ann had spent her whole life, and where her mother, estranged from her father, had recently died from an accident. She had come in response to a letter saying her father was very ill, and she was the heir apparent of his estate. The girls met a sinister-looking collection of functionaries at the mansion, including Lilian: the housekeeper, Dr. Jeris: Mr. Carrington's personal physician, and Rama: the butler. Later arrivals include Cosmo Topper, his chauffeur: Rochester Anderson, his wife, his maid, and Bob: the cab driver. Also, several police spend much time trying to solve the murder case. Upon arrival, the massive central chandelier crashes, nearly hitting Ann. The girls are assigned their respective bedrooms, but Gail much prefers Ann's room, so Ann allows her to switch rooms the first night. This will prove fateful for Gail, as a man in all black enters her room and stabs her fatally during the night, escaping out her window. Gail's ghost travels to the nearby Topper residence and gets in Cosmo's bed, initially in invisible form. She asks Topper to accompany her to the Carrington's, to try to determine who killed her. Cosmo does this, and they find the body as before. However, when Cosmo goes downstairs to use the phone, various inhabitants converge on him. When he takes them to show the body, it's gone.Later, a man looking like the one that killed Gail, enters Ann's room at night and nearly knifed her, but screams brought a savior. Still later, the same person grabs Ann and takes her behind a secret panel. Again, someone saves her....I leave you to discover the remainder of this tale....Gail's killing may have been a random event. However, several happenings suggest probably someone was targeting Ann, and killed Gail by mistake, not knowing they had switched bedrooms for the night.The murder mystery itself, is fairly interesting, with a 'surprise' resolution. Joan and Rochester try to inject some humor there and there, with only modest success. Billie Burke, no doubt, comes across as more irritating than funny. To me, she's moderately amusing, with her inimical speech and frequent airhead remarks. Carole Landis serves mainly as eye candy, in one of her many supporting movie roles in the '40s. Ultimately, she was disappointed in the way her life was playing out, and took an overdose of pills, when not quite 30. Some of you may be uncomfortable with the idea that the spirits of the dead can appear in bodily or invisible form, manifesting physical abilities when invisible. In this respect, these ghosts are infringing on the characteristics of The Invisible Man, or Woman, who are not ghosts, but living people who have achieved reversible invisibility through special potions or electronics. They also exhibit physical capabilities, when invisible. The object of these fantasies is to imagine their unlikely existence, and the fun or sinister things these ghosts or people could do to drive the rest of us crazy.
jacobs-greenwood
Less than an hour into this movie, the character played by Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson (whose mildly racist part as the stereotypical scared Negro chauffeur; I guess Willie Best was unavailable) utters something like "this is getting pretty monotonous", which accurately sums up this third and last of the Topper comedy films.Without Cary Grant (only in the original Topper (1937)), Constance Bennett, nor even director Norman Z. McLeod, title role actor Roland Young and Billie Burke (along with new addition Joan Blondell) find themselves having to carry a too convoluted and nonsensical script who purpose at least seems less contrived to exhibit its Oscar nominated Special Effects than did the second film (Topper Takes a Trip (1938)) in the series. This one, directed by Roy Del Ruth, was written by Gordon Douglas and Jonathan Latimer, with additional dialogue by Paul Girard Smith, based on the Thorne Smith characters. Seawright shared his Academy Award nomination with Elmer Raguse, whose Sound Recording was also nominated.The lovely Carole Landis plays Ann Carrington who, along with her friend Gail Richards (top billed Blondell), was summoned to return home to her wealthy father's estate to meet him (H.B. Warner) for the very first time ostensibly before he passes away; he's tended to by an overbearing physician, Dr. Jeris (George Zucco). Naturally, there's also a suspicious looking butler (Trevor Bardette) and a suspicious acting maid (Rafaela Ottiano). A cab driver named Bob (Dennis O'Keefe) had driven the women part of the way there before an attempted assassin had shot out one of the taxi's tires.Along came the frequently befuddled and henpecked Cosmo Topper (Young) with his chauffeur Eddie (Anderson), who were more or less 'forced' to give the ladies a ride to the Carrington Estate, reputed to be a haunted mansion; it is a house complete with hidden passageways et al. Topper's wife Clara (Burke), who'd seen her husband driving past their home to the neighboring Carrington place with Gail on his lap, is (as usual) needlessly jealous and later, along with her maid Emily (Patsy Kelly, who'd played Burke's maid in director McLeod's Merrily We Live (1938), also with Bennett) comes to the estate.Somebody is obviously trying to kill Ann, but the same black masked assassin murders Gail by mistake instead. Now a ghost that can appear and disappear at will, with or without her clothes, she then involves a reluctant Topper and the skittish Eddie in the case. Incompetent police Sergeant Rogers (Donald MacBride) and taxi driver Bob, who not only wants to be paid but was smitten by the beautiful blonde Ann, later arrive and the shenanigans ensue, eventually leading to a revelation of true identities and a solved mystery.Hal Roach produced all four comedies referenced in this synopsis, though perhaps he was too embarrassed to put his name on this one.
Neil Doyle
This is the TOPPER film I enjoyed the most, with its clever blend of mystery, suspense and laughter. ROLAND YOUNG is still in fine form as Topper and this time it's JOAN BLONDELL who's the glamorous ghost who is seeking the solution to her own murder. The cast includes CAROLE LANDIS, DENNIS O'KEEFE, EDDIE "ROCHESTER" ANDERSON, GEORGE ZUCCO and PATSY KELLY and they all join in to make this one of the more enjoyable entries in the Topper series.Coming as it does from the Hal Roach Studios, it has surprisingly elegant production values, evident especially in the handsome mansion that's the setting for most of the mysterious goings on. CAROLE LANDIS is charming as the girl told by her ailing father (H.B. WARNER) that she is about to inherit everything upon his death. It soon becomes evident that someone in the creepy household is trying to get rid of Landis--and an exchange of bedrooms seals the fate of Blondell, who then spends the rest of the film trying to solve her murder.Expert special effects, good photography, atmospheric mood through camera-work and musical score--all these ingredients make for a deliciously creepy Topper film with good bits of humor.ROLAND YOUNG and BILLIE BURKE are given better material than they were in the second Topper film.Summing up: A pleasant surprise--every bit as good as the original.
