STATE THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 October 1941, Page 8

STATE THEATRE

“TOPPER RETURNS.” Comedy, mystery, and romance are blended in the swiftly paced story which unfolds in the new Hal Roach production, “Topper Returns,” which will be shown tonight. “Topper Returns” carries the famous characters created by the late Thorne Smith, with a new glamour ghost, still further into the realm of hilarious, ectoplasmic high-jinks. The cast of “Topper Returns” is headed by such Hollywood stars as Joan Biondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis, Billie Burke, Dennis O’Keefe, Patsy Kelly, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, and Rafaela Ottiano. Roland Young and Billie Burke are back as Cosmo Topper and his fluttery spouse, the roles they made famous in the two previous hits, “Topper” and “Topper Takes a Trip.” In “Topper Returns,” Cosmo Topper again manifests his sometimes embarrassing fascination for ghosts, and the lovely, shapely spirit which haunts him this time is Joan Biondell as the unearthly Gail Richards. Carole Landis gives an excellant performance as the romantic lead, while opposite her is the debonair and easy-going Dennis O’Keefe, the hero of the piece. Eddie Anderson, Jack Benny’s famous Rochester, is at his humorous best and appears as the chauffeur who can’t learn to like ghosts. Rafaela Ottiano, the screen’s feminine “menace,” does an excellent bit of first-class frightening.