Topper (1937)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Norman Z. McLeod

Writers:

Thorne Smith (novel)
Jack Jevne (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

16 July 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

90 ROARING MINUTES OF LAUGHS! (original 11x14 title lobby card)

Plot:

A fun-loving couple, finding that they died and are now ghosts, decide to shake up the stuffy lifestyle of a friend of theirs.

Plot Keywords:

Ghost | Bank | Accident | Hotel | Nurse

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Constance Bennett	...	Marion Kerby
Cary Grant	...	George Kerby
Roland Young	...	Cosmo Topper
Billie Burke	...	Mrs. Clara Topper
Alan Mowbray	...	Wilkins
Eugene Pallette	...	Casey
Arthur Lake	...	Elevator Boy
Hedda Hopper	...	Mrs. Grace Stuyvesant
Virginia Sale	...	Miss Johnson
Theodore von Eltz	...	Hotel Manager
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Policeman (as J. Farrell McDonald)
Elaine Shepard	...	Secretary
Doodles Weaver	...	Rustic
Si Jenks	...	Rustic
Three Hits and a Miss	...	Themselves - Vocal Quartette
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Irving Bacon	...	Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Lionel Belmore	...	Bank Guard (uncredited)
Clem Bevans	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Betty Blythe	...	Mrs. Goodrich (uncredited)
Ward Bond	...	Eddie - Cab Driver Slugged by Topper (uncredited)
Ralph Brooks	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Hoagy Carmichael	...	Hoagy - Piano Player (uncredited)
Eddy Chandler	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Dorothy Christy	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Davison Clark	...	Police Sergeant (uncredited)
Donna Dax	...	Hat-Check Girl (uncredited)
Lester Dorr	...	Bank Teller (uncredited)
Claire Du Brey	...	Sales Clerk (uncredited)
Eddie Fetherston	...	Courtroom Reporter (uncredited)
Sam Flint	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Kenneth Harlan	...	Hotel Manager (uncredited)
Grace Hayle	...	Outraged Heavy Woman (uncredited)
Tom Herbert	...	Hen-Pecked Motorist (uncredited)
Shep Houghton	...	Waiter (uncredited)
George Humbert	...	Tony - Nightclub Owner (uncredited)
Sheldon Jett	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Eddie Kane	...	Maitre d' (uncredited)
Crauford Kent	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Jack Mulhall	...	Irate Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Sea Breeze Hotel Doorman (uncredited)
Jack Perry	...	Onlooker at Street Brawl (uncredited)
Jack Raymond	...	Taxicab Driver (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Syd Saylor	...	Car Salesman (uncredited)
Martha Tilton	...	Member of 'Three Hits and a Miss' (uncredited)
Lana Turner	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Russell Wade	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Walter Walker	...	Judge (uncredited)
Ruth Warren	...	Hen-Pecked Motorist's Wife (uncredited)
Billy Wayne	...	Taxicab Driver (uncredited)
Harry Wilson	...	Onlooker at Street Brawl (uncredited)
Eric Wilton	...	Onlooker at Hotel (uncredited)
Claire Windsor	...	Mrs. Simpkins (uncredited)

Directed by
Norman Z. McLeod

Writing credits
Thorne Smith		(novel "Topper")
Jack Jevne		(screenplay) &
Eric Hatch		(screenplay) &
Eddie Moran		(screenplay)

Produced by
Milton H. Bren	....	associate producer
Hal Roach	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Marvin Hatley		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Norbert Brodine		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
William H. Terhune		(as William Terhune)

Art Direction by
Arthur I. Royce

Set Decoration by
William Stevens		(as W.L. Stevens)
Arthur I. Royce		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Samuel Lange		(gowns) (as Samuel M. Lange)
Irene		(uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Earl Rettig	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Alex de Sakhnoffsky	....	special sets (uncredited)

Sound Department
William Randall	....	sound
Elmer Raguse	....	sound director (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Roy Seawright	....	photographic effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Cliff Shirpser	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Music Department
Marvin Hatley	....	musical director
Arthur Morton	....	music arranger
Leroy Shield	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Hal Roach	....	presenter
Harvey Parry	....	drove car (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Hal Roach Studios
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1937) (USA) (theatrical)
• Film Classics (1944) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Favorite Films (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Continental Home Vídeo (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Loew's (1937) (USA) (theatrical)
• Nostalgia Merchant, The (????) (USA) (TV)
• Top Tape (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #3272) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

Bullock's Wilshire Department Store - 3050 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Trivia:

Producer Hal Roach wanted W.C. Fields and Jean Harlow to costar as George and Marian Kerby, but neither was available at the time.

Quotes:

Marion Kerby: Let's go have some dinner.
Cosmo Topper: Oh no, we cannot eat on an empty stomach!
Marion Kerby: Then we better have a few drinks first!

Movie Connections:

References Liliom (1934)

Soundtrack:

Old Man Moon

The MADCAP antic's of one Cosmo P. Topper Stuffy Banker "I Loved It"

Two stock holders in a bank that loved living it up, real posh social folk used to living the life in the fast lane snag the BIG Detour, as their car misses a hairpin turn and crashes killing both of them. They having committed no particularly good or bad deed are in purgatory limbo caught between heaven and, earth thus existing as ghosts here.

They are charged to do one good deed. With that the object on their road to salvation becomes their former banker and friend Cosmo P. Topper. Cosmo a quiet shy hen pecked little man of respect and dignity in social circles that count in his community has a trappy motherly sort of wife who has a funny voice that simply cannot be duplicated in this film.

The ghosts act to make Cosmo Topper a changed man a person more real more free and open which yet he still remained plenty respectable a person given by today's measures of morality given the standards of the world when this film was made. Cosmo is thrust unwillingly into one mad cap adventure after another until the poor dear was numb. He became more free simply because these two ghost unable to give up their wild party lifestyle dragged poor topper with them wherever they went.

That's not to say Topper was a hostage. Oh no far from it Cosmo Topper genuinely enjoyed his new found party life drinking pink ladies, a alcoholic drink swooshing down sliding boards to enter trendy night spots, watching floor shows oh Topper was living it up. Oh yes Topper was a reluctant but willing accomplice in his own undoing. As the party life went on a more and more disturbed Mrs. Cosmo P. Topper grew concerned as she watched her mouse of a grow in self confidence. I could tell you more of the plot but won't get it on VHS or DVD yourself its awesome.

I will say that the music is so totally hot in this movie providing you like big band music. Old Man Moon is Particularly good. The whole movie is sweet. It has a little mystery in it some intrigue but its always light and gay. The movie has what I consider a sweet tearjerker ending that is only really meaningful if you watch the film from beginning to end.

This film was a product of the HAL ROACH studios and, all the trick photography you saw in this film was all done in the camera via technical means. This was a real ground breaking bit of FX technology for its day. You also get to see the actor who played Dagwood Bumstead at a very early age as the elevator dude in this film. Mergatroids the man was still a pup.

I have this one in my collection and I treasure it. I love old movies more than most of the new stuff. This movie is just good clean innocent fun. If you want sex and, naked bodies thrust so close up into your face you can see their skin cells devide this movie is not for you. If ou like a fun movie that makes you laugh at snootty upper crust posh folk of a bygone era then this movie is all that. The time is set in the distant past by todays standards but zanny people never change see this movie for yourself to see why.