Topper/Topper Returns
|
Our Price: $33.48 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.98 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Topper/Topper Returns
Movie Review: The honest truth:
Summary: 4 Stars
OK folks: Below this review, you'll see mostly positive reviews and 1 negative review (by a person that has since been dubbed the "Disgusted Hal Roach Fan") for this Artisan/Hallmark release. The negative review claims that the picture and sound are "flat," tells us what that means, and how it came to be. That reviewer is absolutely correct about the *technical details* of this release, especially with the comparison of this release to the Nostalgia Merchant release of Topper in 1984 (I own a copy of that, too). I do not agree with that reviewer's other perspectives though.
Regardless of the deficiencies, it's still a good release: the picture and sound are not the best, but they are good enough to delight the average viewer. The more discerning viewer will notice the issues discussed by the "Disgusted Hall Roach Fan," but this release is good enough not to be a distraction.
I recommend this release with 3.5 stars, but I would have given 5 stars (I really do love these films) if the producers had found the original film elements for the DVD transfer, as the difference between an original black and white verses a flat black and white are substantial - the world becomes almost completely two-dimensional in a flat film.
For comparison, I just watched The Criterion Collection's version of Hitchcock's film Notorious. It's a black and white film that was restored from the best nitrate originals and passionately supervised by leading film historians. I was stunned by the clarity and depth of the picture.
If you think you'll enjoy these films, buy this DVD - if there is to be a restored edition, it is probably 2 years away.
_____
D.P.B.
Movie Review: Classic comedy
Summary: 4 Stars
The dimutative Roland Young was exquisite in his portrayal of conservative and henpecked Wall Street banker Cosmo Topper in the 1937 madcap comedy "Topper". Topper was an unwilling focus of attention of George and Marion Kerby played by the dapper Cary Grant and the stylish Constance Bennett. The Kerbys were killed in an auto crash, a result of a tire blow out around a dangerous curve. They inexplicably morphed into ghosts able to materialize and disappear at will.
Carousers by nature, the Kerbys felt compelled to do a good deed to gain their angel's wings. They decided to influence the staid Topper in order to alter his rigid and regimented lifestyle orchestrated by his overbearing wife Clara played by Billie Burke. Using their abilities to appear suddenly they manage to get Topper drunk and involved in a fracas that gets exposure in the press much to the dismay of Mrs. Topper. To her shock, Topper's apparent partying ways make him the toast of high society and his employees at the bank.
Bennett gets a hankering to run off with Topper and have fun without the company of husband Grant. This causes a rift between both the Toppers and the Kerbys. In a riotous scene in the exclusive Seabreeze hotel featuring the main players as well as froggy voiced corpulent and excellent character actor Eugene Pallette playing the house detective, the film has its best and funniest moments.
In a rerun of the Kerby's auto accident, Topper crashes a vehicle at the exact same curve but survives. His life has been altered as he's learned how to kick back and his wife realized that she needed to lighten up. Alls well that ends well.
Movie Review: Topper/Topper Returns
Summary: 4 Stars
The DVD is a combination of two of the Topper seires of films. The original film, "TOPPER" is an excellent film, starring Cary Grant & Constance Bennett as the Kerbys, whose wild ways lead to their untimely demise and subsequent appearance as ectoplasmic madcaps to Cosmo Topper, played perfectly by Roland Young. The script follows Thorne Smith's book in it's hilarious journey to free the timid Mr.Topper from his wife's domineering control. Billie Burke eschews the role perfectly. The special effects were a marvel for the film's time, and add to the viewer's enjoyment of this classic story.
"TOPPER RETURNS" is not such a charming film as the original. Roland Young, Constance Bennett & Billie Burke appear once more in their original roles, but the script is far too silly and lacking in the clever situations and charm of the original. Eddie "Rochester" Amderson from the Jack Benny radio show is an addition for slapstick comedy. A murder mystery is the used as the spine of the story, and the film becomes not a clever advnture for Topper and his ghostly adventures, but rather a somewhat tiresome and predictable 'B' movie vehicle for the stars. Cary Grant is seen briefly and is sorely missed.
Movie Review: Well worth the price
Summary: 4 Stars
Although I don't think Topper with Cary Grant is as good as some of his other B&W comedies, "Bringing up Baby", "The Bachelor and Bobby Soxer" or even "Monkey Business", it is a good old B&W movie to watch. However, I think I like "Topper Returns" even better, "Topper" gets bettter as the movie nears the end, but "Topper Returns" seems to keep laughs coming throughout the picture. I find the scenes with "Rochester" from the old Jack Benny show most memorable, the comments he makes ( he has a very memorable voice) , the way he rolls his eyes and responds to the ghost extremely funny. "Topper Returns" has more people doing the funny scenes, little things throughout the movie.The picture and sound quality on this DVD seems better on our Hitachi 57S700 better than "Topper Returns" by Alpha Video. We have one of our Dtivos getting every Cary Grant movie for the past few years but never seemed to get Topper. We were at a store and saw "Topper Returns" by Alpha Video. After buying this I decided to buy Topper/Topper Returns here on Amazon, just to get "Topper" with Cary Grant, and glad I did. Once again, for those of you that like old B&W comedies, this DVD is welll worth the Amazon price.
Movie Review: Things to do When You're Dead: 1. Have a Drink. 2. Solve a Murder...
Summary: 4 Stars
3. Tease the hell out of the living.
A slightly unusual DVD release in that you get the first and third films in a series. TOPPER TAKES A TRIP is the direct sequal to TOPPER and is, as far as I know, currently unavailable on DVD. But the two films here act as a fascinating contrast. TOPPER is a typical, high-lit thirties farce where much of the humour arises out of the vacuity of the rich and the social aspirations of the middle-classes. TOPPER RETURNS, on the other hand, is a wild, self-referential satire on the old-dark house thriller (at one point, the delightful Eddie Anderson rues the fact he ever left Jack Benny). Both films are excellent examples of their type; but RETURNS has a playful inventiveness of a medium newly intoxicated with the possiblities presented by CITIZEN KANE, while the first film is an expertly played combination of slapstick and light, social comedy.
I found the DVD transfer perfectly acceptable. The sound seems to have been cleaned up, and the print sources are good. There are no extras; but considering you get two excellent films on one disc, asking for more seems churlish.