Topper Returns
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Movie Reviews of Topper Returns
Movie Review: As close to perfect as you can get
Summary: 5 Stars
That's right, this movie has everything. It has an all-star cast, a mansion, a murder, a ghost, and comedy! One review I read for this movie said it was the perfect rainy day movie. To that I agree. I remember the first time I saw this movie, it was pouring down rain and I remember Tom Hatten giving the introduction to it on the "Family Film Festival", a Los Angeles TV show every weekend back in the 1980's.
Cosmo Topper (Young) picks up two women (Blondell and Landis) whose taxi has broken down and takes them to their destination, an old mansion on a hill. Later that night one of the women is murdered and her ghost finds Topper once again, drags him and his chauffer (Rochester) back to the mansion to find the murderer. This intimate gathering becomes large as Topper's wife (Burke) and maid follow shortly thereafter. Also joining the party is the taxi cab driver that had broken down, along with the household of the rich old man, his doctor (Zucco), maid and butler. Oh, did I forget the police chief and officers? Even with this somewhat large staff the movie is easy to follow, they all interact well, and everyone gets in some jokes.
The only disappointing thing about this DVD is that there are no, and I mean NO extras or special features.
This movie is really a treat to anyone who hasn't seen it before.
Movie Review: Blondell Begins Her Descent
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the greatest screen personalities of the 1930s, Joan Blondell found herself being edged out of films by the decade's end. Soon she would be reduced to playing the Shelley Winters parts before Shelley Winters found her niche, and then actually competing with Shelley Winters for the same roles, which must have been terribly frustrating for a talented actress like Blondell. Here she is and you can just see a hint of desperation as she "jumps the shark" into a sort of limbo of "being a star" and "no longer a star." I can picture her face when handed the script, "And you get killed on page 15." What? And this is long before Janet Leigh's brave decision to let her character get killed off in Hitchcock's PSYCHO! But leave it to Joan, she took the part and really ran with it. All the way up to the end she was a classy actress and the definition of "star."
TOPPER RETURNS has a lot of fun with the idea of Joan Blondell as a "ghost of her former self." Roland Young, Billie Burke, and winsome Carole Landis offer suitable support. Eddie Anderson tries varying his Rochester persona here--he's great, but the script doesn't give him enough to do--or when it does (like playing with the trained seal) it's the wrong kind of thing. However, like Joan Blondell, he rises above it with style.
Movie Review: Topper has a girl on his lap
Summary: 5 Stars
And his wife caught him. Besides revisiting your favorite characters, there is a pretty good murder mystery going. There is an old dark house with secret passages and secret people. In the middle of this is Topper. And on top of Toper's lap there is a ghost.
Ann Carrington (Carole Landis) is returning to her old family estate. Traveling there with her friend Gail Richards (Joan Blondell), we see the front end of a rifle and soon the cab they are traveling in gets a flat tier at the most incontinent location. This sets the tone as later Gail gets ghostafied.
So who did it and why? Gail is determined to find out with the help of the only person who can see her Cosmo Topper (Roland Young).
The Parent Trap (Vault Disney Collection)
Movie Review: Great, Wonderful, Hysterical!
Summary: 5 Stars
Your whole family should enjoy this hysterically funny suspense/comedy that stars Topper and a blonde ghost. Hal Roach lavished this l941 production with opulent sets--especially that enormous mansion where all the action takes place--and a dazzling cast of comedians and supporting actors. Joan Blondell plays the curaveous ghost who wants Roland Young (Topper) to help find the villain who killed her. Billie Burke is in top form as the ditzy, screaming Mrs. Topper. But its Rochester who steals all of his scenes with his double-takes and priceless one-liners. Patsy Kelly is terrific as Mrs. Topper's long-suffering maid. "Topper Returns" is that rare example where the third episode of a series is ten times better than the original "Topper" (1937. You can't go wrong with this comedy to watch with your family or laugh like a hyena alone in your own home.Movie Review: What a fun movie.
Summary: 5 Stars
I wish we really had a here-after like in this film. Then I wouldn't fear death so much. This was fun to watch. I loved the mansion on the hill. Where on earth do they have places like this? I'd love to stay in one sometime. Wouldn't it be nice? Only, I wouldn't want to end up like the girl in this movie. I liked this movie. The DVD skips in a few places though and is frustrating, only when that happens.