TOPPER RETURNS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 114, 29 August 1941, Page 21

TOPPER RETURNS

(United Artists)

HEN I set out to review this picture, I felt that there would really be little for me to say about it. I felt that it would probably only be necessary to

point out that it was a repetition of the

popular Topper theme, the poor bewildered little man pestered by an annoying and persistent female ghost, doing his utmost to escape from the consequences of a series of compromising and fast-moving situations. However, I soon found out, not entirely to my pleasure, that there is a little more to it than that. The trials. of Topper, it is true, are still an important and amusing theme, but, as might be expected, a theme which is not as successful as when first introduced some years ago. Billie Burke’s fatuous remarks, her shrill demands to be told why her husband is sitting in the ice chest, or who the invisible female companion is in his bedroom, begin after a while to irritate. The ghost (Joan Blondell) invisibly leaves visible footprints or smokes visible cigarettes, just as did her predecessor-her tricks are no longer new, thought often still funny. The producers seem to have realised that, to make a success out of a wellworn theme, considerable genius is rtequired. But. they have attempted to remedy the matter by introducing, not directive genius, but another well-worn theme, that of The Cat and the Canary, with secret passages, a murder or two, midnight prowlers, the eeriness of a big black lonely home. There also seemed to be an attempt to repeat The Cat and the Canary’s signal success of bringing comedy into sharp relief with horror. Perhaps I have mistaken the theme, and it was meant to be a satire on horror films. Certainly, nobody was awestruck at the cloaked murderer with the witch’s cap, or frightened. by the solemn-faced maid, appropriately dubbed " Rebecca" by the bombastic police sergeant, or the other atmospheric tricks in the bag. Photographic skill was much in evidence in the comic scenes, but in the tragic ones failed dismally. But it would be unfair to harp on this note of censure. Many of the situations are crazy in the extreme, and the facial expressions of the negro chauffeur are delightful-particularly the utter misery that appears on his broad face when the seal gently but firmly pushes him with the monotony of pure rhythm back into icy water. For those who had the misfortune to miss the previous Topper pictures or The Cat and the Canary, Topper Returns will still be very entertaining comedy.