Simply A Masterpiece

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film picks up where the original story left off. If you haven't seen the first Topper, there are several flashback scenes at the beginning to bring you up to speed. This is classic screwball comedy combined with supernatural fantasy, something that seems to match writer Thorne Smith's particular talents and Hollywood's fascination with anything and everything whimsical.Roland Young is impressive as the befuddled title character and Billie Burke delights audiences as his wacky wife. The issue one has with the series is not its continual use of thinly stretched gags (playing on the idea that only Topper can communicate with the dead), but rather its obvious use of camera editing to create magical special effects. For example, ghostly Constance Bennett drinks a martini that seems to disappear one gulp at a time (obviously accomplished by stopping the film, emptying some of the alcohol, then resuming camera action). Most viewers probably see such an effect as fake and contrived. Despite the basic technology, the film does retain appeal, thanks in large part to the winning performances of its actors. Especially Miss Bennett who adds an element of glamour to the whole affair.

The gimmick in this is a standard one: three worlds. The world of the ordinary people in the story. The world of the viewer. The world of spirits that directly manipulates and "stages" the folks in the film world, represented here by a beautiful blond in lux gowns. She's in between the other two. I'm interested in this because the 30's was a period of great experimentation in narrative, resulting in a few great results. One of these was noir, the unique invention of American film that has been profoundly interesting in movies, religion, dreams (which is much the same) and life. Noir is the notion of the viewer perturbing fate and influencing the characters' world, sometimes denoted by cinematic effects.See what we have here, a sort of predecessor. The previous "Topper" was quite strange, more of an exploration of sex than anything and one of the many post-code attempts at hinting sex and the importance of influential sex without showing it. This is altogether different though most of the jokes are the same, plus invisible dog jokes.Here, the ghost manipulates events, stages confrontations, shapes the story. A well shaped story is her "good deed: to be rewarded by God. See the connection? If you are interested in film, you must be of how noir changed the landscape. And then you will be noodling around in the thirties to see how it evolved (no intelligent design here). And you'll come to this.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Not as good as the original, but still fun. Considering Cary Grant's limited (to scenes from the original) presence, they did a good job of pulling off the sequel.The review omitted a continuity goof. When Topper came around the same curve as the Kirbys and duplicated their bad luck with a flat tire, there was a 'let me back up and see that again' moment. Before the crash we could clearly see that the right rear tire was flat. When the car came to rest, the rear tire was fine and the right front tire was flat. But that just made watching the movie more fun. I didn't catch any other errors, but might on my next watching.

"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.