Customer Reviews

Topper Takes a Trip (World Cultural Heritage Library)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Topper movies have been some of the best clean cut comedy ever. These are the types of movies you can watch over and over and still continue to laugh. More comedy movies of today should be made this way. I know there are "Topper" lovers as myself and would enjoy being able to see them on the American Movie Classic channel or just on regular tv from time to time. The only move I own is Topper Returns and would love to have these others. I grew up watching these movies and will continue to watch them. Please bring them back.

This follow-up to the highly successful TOPPER - which was made earlier that year (1939) - picks up where the last film left off. After reestablishing the auto accident which killed the drunken Bennett and Grant in the first film and turned them into ghosts, we are treated (sans Cary Grant) to a hilarious 85 minutes. Clara Topper (Burke) spots Marion Kirby (Bennett) in her husband Cosmo's room. Clara goes to Paris - with Cosmo following - in order to get a divorce because she believes her hen-pecked husband has been seeing another "woman". Unable to explain to Clara that Marion is only a ghost, Cosmo tries to fast-talk Burke into a reconciliaton. Several floating martinis later, Bennett manages to reconcile the couple, and is now able to join her husband in their celestial home. The trick photography by Roy Seawright is astonishing for its day. Cushions which deflate when invisible figures sit on them, cigarettes being smoked in mid-air and pencils writing notes by themselves are all executed with great skill. The sight of the Kirby's dog Skippy - also a ghost - is hilarious when only his tail fails to become invisible or when he bites the ankles of totally flabbergasted men! A third film, TOPPER RETURNS is a surprisingly pleasant diversion from 1941: it stars Joan Blondell as Marion Kirby.

it would do all of us good if more movies were being made today that can make us laugh just by it being funny not by it being an effort to hurt or humiliate a person place or thing. maybe someone someday will look again at these old classics and see how refreshing it was to be entertained not by seeing people or places blowing up or being destroyd but just being allowed to sit back relax and enjoy the fact that what your watching can entertain you your grandmother and your kids all at the same time.

Topper, Scallops and Mrs Topper go to France for a rest, only to be disturbed by the ghostly George and Marion Kirby, and the raucous Colonel and Mrs Hart. This is just a truly funny book, that will have you roaring with laughter on that damed commuter special. Bright and fizzy as a champagne cocktail it never outstays its welcome. I've read it many times and will do so again. Smith was truly an underrated genius and a master of language. Here's a sample from Chapter 1: "Yes, Topper was fond of his wife, but being fond of one's wife and getting along with her were two entirely different matters, as many a husband had found out before him. Perhaps it was not to be expected. Topper did not know. The problem had been too long with him. It was barnacle encrusted." If Smith is an acquired taste, now is the time to acquire him. I have some 11 of his books and in three short years he's come from being someone I'd never heard to being my favourite author. He has many imitators, but forget them, they are not worthy. This is the first Smith novel that I read, and it is still my favourite.

opper Takes a Trip is the second (and last) of the Smith's books in his Topper series. One can only speculate if this was to be the last entry in the Topper series, but it's a suitable vehical for Thorne Smith's most memorable character.

The story begins with Cosmo Topper on vacation in the Riviera, studying a sun bathing, scantily-clad German model on the beach from his balcony. Again, he does his best to escape from Mrs. Topper and take some time for rest, relaxation, and a good drink. As he relaxes, he thinks of his adventures with the ghostly Marion Kirby and wonders what became of her, the Colonel, and Oscar the dog. Before he begins to grow nostalgic, a disembodied leg shows up in his bed and proceeds to make his life miserable. It begins to dawn on him that this leg and the other assorted body parts that begin to show up, belong to Marion Kirby who, after tormenting Topper, makes her appearance. Marion's presence is much to the chagrin of Mrs. Topper, causing her another bout of dyspepsia. George Kirby, in search of his wife, materializes later in the story, vowing to put an end to Topper during a clam shell duel. The Colonel and Oscar also show up to add fun and misery to Topper's vacation.

Many have sited this book as their favorite in the Smith canon and one of the most humorous of his books.

I rented this video many years ago (b/w), and I have been waiting a long time to get my hands on it again. This version is colorized, which I enjoy even more. The quality of the tape is perfect. The movie and script were not the greatest, but, compared to the junk that is out there now, it is something that the whole family can watch. Billie Burke (the good witch in the Wizard of Oz) is a delight and I wish that she had more screen time. I saw this video on the Internet in DVD, but the price was criminal, to say the least. If you like good clean comedies, here is one for you. The first Topper with a limited appearance of Cary Grant was good and the third in the series: Topper Comes Home had a lot of more action. Get all three if you can. These are on DVDs at a respectful price. +JMJ+

Bought for my mother who had lost her copy of this much loved book. She was chuffed to finally have it back in her collection.

If you haven't experienced the Topper movie trio, you just must. We all love them!

TOPPER TAKES A TRIP is almost the equal of the original film, "TOPPER." It lacks the presence of Cary Grant as Constance Bennett's partner as George & Marion Kerby and their ectoplasmic adventures; (Grant makes only a cameo appearance).

The script follows Thorne Smith's book fairly faithfully, except the glaring absence of Mr. Kerby. However it is clever and funny and keeps the clever interplay between the bewildered Cosmo Topper, played to perfection by Roland Young and his companion, Marion Kerby played by Constance Bennett. Good fun and very entertaining.

We find Mr. Topper (Billie Burke) is going to get a divorce due to catching her hubby with a woman that is not a woman, Marion Kerby (Constance Bennett.) or at least she is being pushed in to thinking she wants a divorce bay a so called friend of whom has a nefarious purpose of her own. Toppy must go after her and woo her back.

The story line is week and the acting trite. There is a defiant lack of comedy or even credulity. There is a countless count and an unbelievable scheme. Oh yes, Cary grant is replaced by Skippy.

On the plus side Cosmo Topper (Roland Young) does a great job of being pushed around by the invisible. And Alan Mowbray the bad guy in "Charlie Chan in London" made a believable butler. "Now you are holding the door open for me."