★ 6 / 10
Joan Blondell ("Gail") is staying with her friend
CinemaSerf
Joan Blondell ("Gail") is staying with her friend "Ann Carrington" when she is murdered. Her ghost alights on next door neighbour "Cosmo Topper" (Roland Young)…
Joan Blondell ("Gail") is staying with her friend "Ann Carrington" when she is murdered. Her ghost alights on next door neighbour "Cosmo Topper" (Roland Young) to help her get to the bottom of it all. This is actually quite a witty little comedy thriller; Billie Burke is suitably over-the-top as "Mrs. Topper" and Rochester Anderson as the chauffeur brings his usual cheeky charm to the proceedings. The actual whodunnit it almost irrelevant: this is a film about characters and with a bit of menace added by George Zucco ("Dr. Jeris") and Donald MacBride as the pretty hapless, hopeless, "Detective Roberts" we get a decent, quickly paced, drama with all the haunted-house secret passages, moving bookcases and trap doors to keep us guessing and some good writing that swipes at almost everything/everyone.. It's way too long - could easily lose half an hour to tighten it all up but It's still a bit of a laugh to watch.
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★ 7 / 10
Murder Most Funny
BaronBl00d
Sexy, wise-cracking Joan Blondell, who has accompanied her best friend back to her stately home to meet her father after many, many years, mysteriously is…
Sexy, wise-cracking Joan Blondell, who has accompanied her best friend back to her stately home to meet her father after many, many years, mysteriously is knifed after having traded rooms with Carole Landis - the intended victim. In true Topper fashion, her ghost finds the next-door neighbor who had given them both a lift earlier, one Cosmo Topper. He sees dead people all the time, way before it became quite so fashionable in The Sixth Sense. Topper Returns is the third and last of the Topper series, all of which starred Roland Young as the lead and Billie Burke as his annoying wife. Young plays the role to perfection again and Burke is equally up to the challenge. Lots of support in this one for Young and Burke as the old, spooky haunted house genre serves as primary backdrop when Topper goes to the scene of the crime and then we get mixed identities, hidden panels, scores of red herrings pointing out everyone's guilt except for the killer but generously dosed with lots of amusing quips from Young, wise-cracking one-liners from Blondell in ghostly form, by-play between Burke and her maid, the underrated Patsy Kelly, and chauffeur/fraidy cat Eddie "Rochester" Anderson basically playing himself and hamming it up as only he can. Anderson is easily the brightest spot in the film for me, even at one point making reference to former employer Jack Benny! But the cast also has the eerie likes of George Zucco, H. B. Warner, Donald MacBryde, and Rafaela Ottiano playing one creepy housekeeper. While definitely not as polished a production as the original Topper, Topper Returns is a whole lot more fun in Hal Roach fashion. It is my favourite of the three Topper films as it mixes comedy with horror rather well for its time.
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