Topper Returns
About Topper Returns
Ann Carrington and Gail Richards survive a shot-out tire and a cliff-edge crash, then flag down banker Cosmo Topper. At the Carrington mansion Gail trades rooms with Ann. A masked figure knifes Gail, meaning to kill Ann before she inherits. Gail's ghost drags Topper back to find the killer, while Mrs. Topper, the maid Emily, and chauffeur Eddie follow. The body is hidden in a sea cave under the house. Topper works out that the man called Henry Carrington is really a dead business partner impersonating Ann's father. Carrington dies in a crash, and his ghost is made to write the confession.
Cast & crew
More about Topper Returns
Roy Del Ruth directed. Hal Roach produced for United Artists, which released the picture on 21 March 1941. Jonathan Latimer and Gordon Douglas wrote the script, with additional dialogue by Paul Gerard Smith, using Thorne Smith's Topper characters. Norbert Brodine photographed it. James Newcom edited. Werner R. Heymann wrote the music.
Themes
Making
UCLA Film and Television Archive preserved and restored the picture. The restoration premiered at the UCLA Festival of Preservation in 2022, paid for by the Packard Humanities Institute.
Reviews
Variety wrote that the film begins to miss when the story leaves its own premise and drops to the level of a conventional mystery farce.
Look
Norbert Brodine shot the mansion, with trapdoors and rotating panels. Roy Seawright and Elmer Raguse handled the ghost effects named in the Academy nomination.
Music
Werner R. Heymann wrote the score.
Preservation
Public domain in the United States since 1969. UCLA restored it for a 2022 festival premiere, with funding from the Packard Humanities Institute.
Notes
- It follows Topper (1937) and Topper Takes a Trip (1938). Roland Young again plays Cosmo Topper and Billie Burke plays Clara.
- Dennis O'Keefe plays the taxi driver Bob. George Zucco is Dr. Jeris. Donald MacBride is Sergeant Roberts. Rafaela Ottiano is the housekeeper Lillian.
- The Academy nominated Roy Seawright and Elmer Raguse for special effects, and Raguse again for sound recording. Neither nomination won.
- The copyright was not renewed, and the film entered the public domain in the United States in 1969.
- A television series, Topper, premiered in 1953 and ran two seasons. A 1973 pilot was also called Topper Returns. A 1979 television movie remade Topper.
Scenes
- Gail trades rooms with Ann. The masked killer comes through a panel and knifes Gail by mistake.
- Eddie sees doors, cushions, and footprints move and bolts, not knowing Gail's ghost is in the car.
- After Carrington dies in a crash, Gail's ghost makes his ghost write a confession.
Influenced by
- Topper (1937)
Also available
- Internet Archive (Topper_Returns_41)
