{"id":5923,"date":"2008-09-13T16:05:19","date_gmt":"2008-09-13T23:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5923"},"modified":"2021-01-31T00:24:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T07:24:57","slug":"topper-1937","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5923","title":{"rendered":"Topper (1937)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I want to drink, I want to dance, I want to sing&#8230; I want to have fun &#8212; whee!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/Topper-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/Topper-Poster-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-23489\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/Topper-Poster-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/Topper-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/Topper-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen a fun-loving socialite couple (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett) is killed in an automobile accident, their ghosts attempt to do a &#8220;good deed&#8221; by helping a repressed banker (Roland Young) with an uptight wife (Billie Burke) live life more fully.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cary Grant Films<\/li>\n<li>Catalysts<\/li>\n<li>Character Arc<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Constance Bennett Films<\/li>\n<li>Fantasy<\/li>\n<li>Ghosts<\/li>\n<li>Roland Young Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this supernatural box office hit &#8212; which sparked two sequels and a television series &#8212; is &#8220;not nearly as good as its reputation&#8221;. If one can forgive its countless logistical loopholes (why don&#8217;t any representatives from the &#8220;Other Side&#8221; ever show up to validate the proceedings?), the fact remains that &#8220;most of the humor is silly; the special effects aren&#8217;t that imaginative&#8230; and the storyline doesn&#8217;t have enough surprises&#8221;. In addition, despite the fact that this was a major breakthrough role for him, Cary Grant &#8220;isn&#8217;t in the picture enough&#8221;; and while Bennett is a sparkling actress who &#8220;turns in a comedic performance worthy of [Carole] Lombard&#8221;, her desire to pursue &#8220;Topper&#8221; (Young) so aggressively &#8212; while Grant waits petulantly in the wings &#8212; simply doesn&#8217;t ring true. Young is perfectly cast in the lead role, and admirably engages in several sequences of amusing slapstick; however, Billie Burke (typecast as his socially conscious wife) is simply annoying (that voice!). <em>Topper<\/em> is worth a look by all film fanatics for its historical relevance, but is ultimately a disappointment. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Constance Bennett as Marion Kerby<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/topper-bennett1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/topper-bennett1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5920\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Cary Grant&#8217;s droll delivery as George Kerby:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;All right, I&#8217;ll change the tire&#8230; But I&#8217;ll be darned if I&#8217;ll waste any ectoplasm doing it!&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/topper-grant.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/topper-grant.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5921\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Roland Young as Cosmo Topper<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/topper-young.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/topper-young.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5922\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s worth a look simply for its historical popularity. But don&#8217;t expect to be as amused as contemporary audience members once were. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0029682\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moria.co.nz\/fantasy\/topper.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/614613\/topper#articles-reviews\">TCM Articles<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I want to drink, I want to dance, I want to sing&#8230; I want to have fun &#8212; whee!&#8221; Synopsis: When a fun-loving socialite couple (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett) is killed in an automobile accident, their ghosts attempt to do a &#8220;good deed&#8221; by helping a repressed banker (Roland Young) with an uptight wife (Billie Burke) live life more fully. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Cary Grant Films Catalysts Character Arc Comedy Constance Bennett Films Fantasy Ghosts Roland Young&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5923\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5923"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67314,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5923\/revisions\/67314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}