A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I bought a DVD collection of 64 Topper episodes from Nostalgia Merchant several years ago and just got around to watching it. I remember watching it as a kid some 50 (!) years ago and I still found it as funny now as I did then. However, I do have some complaints. The laugh track was so awful, more awful than usual fifties laugh tracks. It sounded like it was shown to a third grade class. The high pitched kiddie laughter made me want to scream! Then there was the quality of the videos. Some looked like they had been recorded off TV (I noted the "TV G" in the corner) and the end "throwaway" scenes were missing off of most of the episodes. The episodes were in such sorry shape. Then I wondered what happened to the missing 14 episodes. (There were 78 episodes in total.) Despite all this, it was good to see the episodes again, crappy shape, screaming kids, missing episodes and missing segments aside. I wish that someone would restore these episodes because for it's time, the writing and the situations were hilarious!

Thorne Smith wrote a lot of racily humorous books, most of them justly forgotten, but now and then he hit on a worthwhile theme. The Topper books were about how after a short and frivolously wasted life, a young couple returns from the dead to implore a Thurberesque little man to live life to the fullest. Because it's a terribly serious situation that applies to us all, it's a wonderful basis for humor. Oh, and because the young female is safely dead, she can indulge in racier behavior than was often seen on 1950s television.The TV remake with Jack Warden was less successful, largely because its Topper was at the pinnacle of the business world and thus less obviously in need of any ectoplasmic helpers.

Well, it might have been that I was so young, but I enjoyed this TV show enormously. My guess is that it was because it was so different from typical TV fare of then and even now.It relied on word play and clever dialog instead of idiotic situations and slapstick for its kick which is, I suppose, why I enjoyed it as a child. I've grown up to be a writer. For a shock, check out the writing credits for these shows and you'll see a *very* familiar name. I once, a few years ago, caught a re-run as a New Year's Day festival on a local TV channel and can report that it, unlike almost all shows from any era, holds up very well. Highly enjoyable if you can find it.

This show remains as one of my fond childhood memories...don't know how it would translate to the 90s but I've always wondered why it's not among the "oldies but goodies" being recycled on TV these days. Anybody got any suggestions?