Am I Missing Something?

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Those my age remember the TV sitcom of the 50's starring Leo G. Carrol as Cosmo Topper, the boring, reserved banker, beset by George and Marion Kirby, a couple of party- people who kept killed in a car accident, but who return as ghosts. This is the source (actually a book series is) of that show. In this the Kerbys are the great Constance Bennett and Cary Grant. Topper is Roland Young, one of the great character actors of the 30's. His wife is Billie Burke, the good witch from "The Wizard of Oz." Topper is a button downed boring man who is pushed around by his wife. The Kerbys believe if they can make Cosmo come out of his shell it will help them get into heaven.. What ensues is some terrific sight comedy where Topper begins to do things he never would do on his own. George and Marion are glib and funny and because of a lack of ectoplasm can only be seen for short periods of time (otherwise they are transparent). This is well worth seeing.

When better than Christmas-time to watch a classic Hollywood fantasy feature, especially as it stars the great Cary Grant and sexy, sophisticated Constance Bennett. The film makes one obvious mistake in not naming the film after them, as the live-on-the-edge 24-hour-party-people couple who finally crash, literally, over to the other side when their car (and what a car it is!) hits a tree, leaving them as two disembodied spirits requiring to do a good deed before they can quit their earthly ties completely. This then, they decide, is to be the emancipation of their middle-aged, henpecked bank manager friend, the only mildly rebellious thing about whom is his name, Cosmo Topper, played by Roland Young. Ordered about by his dull wife and domineering butler, Topper's worm gradually turns due to the influence of alcohol, Grant and in particular Bennett's coaxing but finally his own suppressed natural spirit coming to the surface.A great screwball comedy, directed at high speed by Norman Z MacLeod, "Topper" is great fun from start to finish. The two separate lengthy opening scenes perfectly encapsulate the contrast between the high-flying Kerbys and the low-lying Toppers and it's no great surprise as to who changes who for the better by the final reel.With the usual 30's comedy mix of sharp dialogue, slapstick and fine-for-the-time special effects to suggest ghostly comings and goings, the film entertains from first to last. Most surprising is the prominence given to a racy pair of lady's drawers not only in clearing a fashion store of its occupants but in later proving the catalyst for Topper's wife to go from strait-laced to frilly-laced and put the fire back into their staid marriage.Grant and Bennett are great as the high-society duo who aren't on the screen enough (and I don't just mean when they're invisible in spirit form). Shame they didn't make another movie together, they're well-matched here. Young is fine too as the mousy manager who finally learns to roar.This was a fun romp of a movie, with just a gentle live-for-today (but not too fast!) moral at its heart.

Norman Z. McLeod, the director of this delightful classic 1937 comedy, is rarely mentioned when the names of the great comedy directors of the Hollywood's golden era are listed in the history books. In every sense an "invisible director," in that he never draws intention to himself, his perfect staging and timing here is truly admirable. Every joke, however silly, works. McLeod's fast-paced style had much to with the success of the early Paramount Marx Bros. and W.C. films for which he is rarely given credit. Just compare McLeod's light but sure touch to what the heavy-handed studio director Sam Woods wrought a few years later on the Marx Brothers at MGM (DAY AT THE RACES). TOPPER is helped enormously by a perfect cast, and for that we have the producer Hal Roach to thank; rarely have so many wonderful and attractive comedians been assembled: Cary Grant, Roland Young, Constance Bennet, Billie Burrke, Eugene Palette, Alan Mowbray and Arthur "Dagwood" Lake. One of the best zany comedies of the late thirties-- romantic, sexy and hilarious!

Enjoyable fluff about a stuffy banker who loosens up a bit after meeting the freshly-minted ghosts of a couple of fun-loving bank stockholders. Grant and Bennett (in her most notable role) seem to be having fun as the ghostly couple who don't let death cramp their style and Young is perfectly cast in the title role of the banker. Burke, the good witch from "The Wizard of Oz," plays Topper's overbearing wife. The cast also features Palette as a hotel detective and Lake, who would go on to play Dagwood Bumstead in "Blondie" films, as an elevator boy. While the antics of the invisible ghosts lead to some amusing scenes, the film rarely rises above the level of a sitcom.