weezeralfalfa The first film in the Topper series included Cary Grant as Constance Bennett's co-ghost. In the present film, Cary's place is essentially taken by Mr. Atlas(Asta): the talented wire-haired terrier 'actor' in several of The Thin Man film series, and several Cary Grant comedies. I would say, in the context of the films, Mr. Atlas made a more interesting ghost than Cary. Also, the present film clearly is funnier than the original. Who said sequels never live up to the original? Not only Mr. Atlas, but Constance Bennett, as Marion, Roland Young, as Cosmo Topper, and Billie Burke, as Mrs. Topper. are all more animated and funnier than they were in "Topper". Like the other films in this series, it was shot in B&W, but a colorized version was later made of each. The copy at You Tube is colorized. The screen play is about Mrs. Topper seeking a divorce from Cosmo. But, her friend, Mrs. Parkhurst seems much more enthusiastic in pushing for the divorce than is Mrs. Topper. Whereas Mrs. Parkhurst painted Cosmo as an evil man, his wife provided a much more positive assessment of Cosmo. Throughout the film, I wondered about Mrs. Parkhurst's motive for promoting the divorce. Is she being paid by Mrs. Topper? Is she a gold-digger, hoping to wed Cosmo? This latter possibility would seem remote, given the animosity toward Cosmos in the court room. Near the end, she seemed to be getting friendly with the 'baron' she had picked out for Mrs. Topper to wed after the divorce, whom Mrs. Topper ultimately rejected. The basic plot is rather similar to that for "Topper". Marion wants to do a good deed so that she can return to heaven with her husband.(Perhaps, she did something naughty to be thrown out of heaven?). Namely, she wants to patch up the animosity between Cosmo and Mrs. Topper, which she feels partly responsible for(see "Topper"). She thought she had accomplished that at the end of "Topper", but apparently it didn't last. Since Mrs. Topper's attempt to obtain a divorce locally failed, Mrs. Parkhurst arranged for them to travel to the French Riviera to try there. But, Cosmo, Marion, and Mr. Atlas follow them to the same hotel(Nice detective work!). Mrs. Parkhurst finds a suitable gold digger as a possible replacement for Cosmo. Nothing is said about a divorce hearing there. Cosmo has difficulty explaining why he orders 2 meals and a dog bone with only him evident in his room.Marion makes Cosmo look foolish numerous times when invisible, but makes up for it in getting him out of bad situations, in winning a fortune for him at the casino, and in getting Mrs. Topper's attention away from the 'baron' and back on Cosmo. Marion now thinks she has done her good deed, and petitions God to let her back into heaven, to be reunited with George(Cary Grant).

MartinHafer Now that I've seen "Topper Takes a Trip", I have seen the three original Topper films. They are all mildly amusing, at best, but the shtick gets a little old after a while.In the original film, Cosmo Topper (Roland Young) is visited by two ghosts (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett). The film surprised the filmmakers, as it was a hit and folks were clamoring for more...but for some reason Cary Grant didn't agree to do the sequel. I can only assume he had better film projects and in hindsight I think he was probably wise to avoid this one. Instead, believe it or not, they replaced him with a ghost dog!! Uggh!This installment finds Cosmo fighting to stay married as Mrs. Topper (Billie Burke) is seeking a divorce. This really makes no sense, as she loved Topper...and her suddenly listening to bad friends who want to separate them is pretty awful and far from funny. Well, apparently American divorces take too long so she heads to Paris...and Cosmo goes there to try to stop her from doing this and marrying some Baron. Whatever. The bottom line is that this film seems to scream out "there is NO reason for this film"....and I would definitely agree. Not a terrible film...but not a good one. Oddly, the third film (starring Young, Burke and Joan Blondell as the ghost) is probably the best of the three movies.

tedg The gimmick in this is a standard one: three worlds. The world of the ordinary people in the story. The world of the viewer. The world of spirits that directly manipulates and "stages" the folks in the film world, represented here by a beautiful blond in lux gowns. She's in between the other two. I'm interested in this because the 30's was a period of great experimentation in narrative, resulting in a few great results. One of these was noir, the unique invention of American film that has been profoundly interesting in movies, religion, dreams (which is much the same) and life. Noir is the notion of the viewer perturbing fate and influencing the characters' world, sometimes denoted by cinematic effects.See what we have here, a sort of predecessor. The previous "Topper" was quite strange, more of an exploration of sex than anything and one of the many post-code attempts at hinting sex and the importance of influential sex without showing it. This is altogether different though most of the jokes are the same, plus invisible dog jokes.Here, the ghost manipulates events, stages confrontations, shapes the story. A well shaped story is her "good deed: to be rewarded by God. See the connection? If you are interested in film, you must be of how noir changed the landscape. And then you will be noodling around in the thirties to see how it evolved (no intelligent design here). And you'll come to this.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

bkoganbing After creating enough mayhem in the life of Cosmo Topper in the first Topper film, Marian Kerby comes back from the afterlife to do a little more damage than before. She means well of course and by chance things do work out in the end.Roland Young as Topper, Constance Bennett as Marian, and Billie Burke as the ditzy but patient Mrs. Topper are back again. Cary Grant as George Kerby is here too, but only in a flashback from the original Topper movie. The flashback occurs when Topper is on the witness stand in a divorce case as Billie Burke is filing for divorce. Topper takes the stand and tries to explain that wasn't a real woman in his room, just an other world spirit.Judge Spencer Charters won't grant a divorce, but come back the next day he might sign some commitment papers. So Billie Burke and her friend Verree Teasdale are off to France. Now it becomes clear what Marian Kerby is back on terra firma for.Connie and Roland are off to France where they have to deal with fussy hotel managers and pretentious gigolos like Franklin Pangborn and Alexander D'Arcy. Best scenes in the film, in the casino with Paul Porcasi as the manager and in the bar with Paul Hurst as bartender.It's not as good as the original Topper film, but still has a lot of laughs left in the old spirit.