Topper Returns (1941)

Directed by

Roy Del Ruth

Genre

fantasy film, comedy film, mystery film, ghost film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 30m

Rated

KN

Rating

6.5 of 10 from 61 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A murdered woman asks a timid banker who can see ghosts to help solve her own murder. They investigate in a creepy mansion full of odd characters and hidden passages.

whimsicallightheartedspookyplayfulbreezymysteriouseccentriccharming

What happens

Topper Returns is a 1941 American supernatural comedy thriller film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Joan Blondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis and Billie Burke. The third and final installment in the initial series of supernatural comedy films inspired by the novels of Thorne Smith, it succeeds Topper (1937) and Topper Takes a Trip (1938). As in the prior films, Young plays Cosmo Topper, a mousy banker who gets into trouble because of his ability to see and speak with ghosts, and Burke plays his wife, who is constantly befuddled by his strange antics. The plot revolves around a murder mystery. Blondell portrays a slain woman who seeks the reluctant Topper and enlists his help in identifying her killer and saving her friend, played by Carole Landis. Most of the action takes place in a spooky mansion filled with eccentric characters, trapdoors and secret passages. The film was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Special Effects (Roy Seawright and Elmer Raguse) and Best Sound Recording (Elmer Raguse). A TV series, Topper, premiered in 1953 and ran for two seasons. A pilot called Topper Returns (1973) was later made for a proposed TV series. There was also a made-for-TV remake, Topper, in 1979. In 1969, Topper Returns entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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• The Black Cat (1941)
• Who Killed Who? (1943)
• Murder Among Friends (1941)
• Topper (1937)
• Whispering Ghosts (1942)
• Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring (1941)
• The Haunted Mouse (1941)