Saturday, February 4, 2012

Topper Returns (1941)

          
          This is the final installment in the ‘Topper’ series.  It again stars Roland Young and Billie Burke, with the welcome additions of Joan Blondell, Eddie Anderson, Carole Landis, Donald MacBride and Patsy Kelly.  With apologies to Cary Grant, I think this episode was much better than the first.  If you’re looking for a surprising, well-developed plot that makes sense, this  movie doesn’t have it.  However, it does proved a very diverting hour and a half’s entertainment.  This is mainly due to the quick dialogue and the amusing ensemble.



You’re the Topper
You’re a secret passage
You’re the Topper
You’re a crowded refridge

You’re the bubbly ghost
By a murderous host
Mistake!

You’re the witty chauffeur
You’re Blondell’s gofer
You’re chocolate cake.

You’re distraught
You’re a haunted house
You’re the thought
Of a daffy spouse

I’m the dim detective
Who’s not effective
No equal!

But if baby
I’m the bottom
You’re the Topper … sequel.

          What was most interesting about the case was the sheer numbers they presented.  While only a few had major roles and lots of lines, I must enjoyed the scenes where the entire bunch was crammed into the goings-on, whether it made sense or not.  Perhaps the best example of this is when Topper pulls a gun on them and the entire cast hustles into the icebox for protection.
                The combination of a dithering Roland Young and a flittering Billie Burke works surprisingly well for a duo that has nothing to ground it.  In fact, there really was no “voice of reason” in this movie – even the detective Donald MacBride was participating in all the verbal insults and illogical logic.


                The cast was so unified in action, dialog and thought that it almost seemed as though they were one character with a dozen bodily manifestations.  Maybe its giving the writers too much credit to say this was purposefully done to highlight the supernatural elements of this ghostly who dunit.  But the supporting cast of Anderson, Burke and MacBride were all comic gems.  Even the bland boyfriend got in a few memorable zingers.  And Joan Blondell was a most lively ghost – a delightful contradiction.
                All in all an amusing, briskly paced trifle, with very few dead spots.

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