Topper Takes a Trip | |
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Directed by | Norman Z. McLeod |
Written by | Jack Jevne Eddie Moran Corey Ford |
Based on | Topper Takes a Trip 1932 novel by Thorne Smith |
Produced by | Milton H. Bren Hal Roach (uncredited) |
Starring | Constance Bennett Roland Young Billie Burke |
Cinematography | Norbert Brodine |
Edited by | William Terhune |
Music by | Hugo Friedhofer Edward Powell |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $565,687 [1] |
Topper Takes a Trip is a 1938 [2] supernatural film directed by Norman Z. McLeod. It is a sequel to the 1937 film Topper . Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke, and Alan Mowbray reprised their roles from the earlier film; only Cary Grant was missing (other than in a few shots taken from Topper). A ghost tries to reunite a couple who she had a hand in splitting up in the prior film. It was followed by another sequel, Topper Returns (1941). The movie is in the public domain.
To gain entry to Heaven, ghost Marion Kerby has to do some good on Earth. That means reuniting a divorcing couple, Cosmo and Clara Topper. To be fair, Marion played a part in their troubles: Clara mistakenly thought Marion was Cosmo's mistress. Making peace between the pair will mean accompanying Cosmo on a trip to the French Riviera and employing plenty of otherworldly tricks, with the help of a canine spirit named Mr. Atlas.
The film received one Oscar nomination in 1939 for Best Special Effects for Roy Seawright. [3]
James Thorne Smith, Jr. was an American writer of humorous supernatural fantasy fiction under the byline Thorne Smith. He is best known today for the two Topper novels, comic fantasy fiction involving sex, much drinking and ghosts. With racy illustrations, these sold millions of copies in the 1930s and were equally popular in paperbacks of the 1950s.
Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke, better known as Billie Burke, was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the MGM film musical The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Constance Campbell Bennett was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. Bennett frequently played society women, focusing on melodramas in the early 1930s and then taking more comedic roles in the late 1930s and 1940s. She is best remembered for her leading roles in What Price Hollywood? (1932), Bed of Roses (1933), Topper (1937), Topper Takes a Trip (1938), and had a prominent supporting role in Greta Garbo's last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941).
Roland Young was an English-born actor. He began his acting career on the London stage, but later found success in America and received an Academy Award nomination for his role in the film Topper (1937).
Topper is a 1937 American supernatural comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod, starring Constance Bennett and Cary Grant and featuring Roland Young. It tells the story of a stuffy, stuck-in-his-ways man who is haunted by the ghosts of a fun-loving married couple.
Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso, known professionally as Gilbert Roland, was a Mexican-born American film and television actor whose career spanned seven decades from the 1920s until the 1980s. He was twice nominated for the Golden Globe Award in 1952 and 1964 and inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
Merrily We Live is a 1938 American comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod and written by Eddie Moran and Jack Jevne. It stars Constance Bennett and Brian Aherne and features Ann Dvorak, Bonita Granville, Billie Burke, Tom Brown, Alan Mowbray, Clarence Kolb, and Patsy Kelly. The film was produced by Hal Roach for Hal Roach Studios, and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Franklin Pangborn was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair. He appeared in many Preston Sturges movies as well as the W. C. Fields films International House, The Bank Dick, and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break. For his contributions to motion pictures, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street posthumously on February 8, 1960.
Topper is an American fantasy sitcom television series based on the 1937 film Topper, which was based on two novels Topper and Topper Takes a Trip by Thorne Smith. The series was broadcast on CBS from October 9, 1953, to July 15, 1955, and stars Leo G. Carroll in the title role. It finished at #24 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1954–1955 season. Topper also earned an Emmy nomination for Best Situation Comedy in 1954.
Zenobia is a 1939 comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke, Alice Brady, James Ellison, Jean Parker, June Lang, Stepin Fetchit and Hattie McDaniel. The source of the film was the 1891 short story "Zenobia's Infidelity" by H.C. Bunner, which was originally purchased by producer Hal Roach as a vehicle for Roland Young.
Robert Sterling was an American actor. He was best known for starring in the television series Topper (1953–1955).
Alexander D'Arcy was an Egyptian stage, television and film actor with an international film repertoire.
Holy Matrimony is a 1943 comedy film directed by John M. Stahl and released by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was based on the 1908 novel Buried Alive by Arnold Bennett. It stars Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields, with Laird Cregar, Una O'Connor, Alan Mowbray, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore, and George Zucco in supporting roles.
She Couldn't Take It is a 1935 American screwball comedy film made at Columbia Pictures, directed by Tay Garnett, written by C. Graham Baker, Gene Towne and Oliver H.P. Garrett, and starring George Raft and Joan Bennett. It was one of the few comedies Raft made in his career.
The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1939 American historical adventure film very loosely adapted from the last section of the 1847–1850 novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père, which is itself based on the French legend of the Man in the Iron Mask.
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).
Fifth Avenue Girl, sometimes stylized as 5th Ave Girl, is a 1939 RKO Radio Pictures comedy film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring Ginger Rogers, Walter Connolly, Verree Teasdale, and James Ellison. The screenplay was written by Allan Scott with uncredited contributions by La Cava and Morris Ryskind.
Verree Teasdale was an American actress born in Spokane, Washington.
They Just Had to Get Married is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Edward Ludwig and starring Slim Summerville, ZaSu Pitts, Roland Young, and Verree Teasdale.
Where Sinners Meet is a 1934 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by J. Walter Ruben and starring Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook and Billie Burke. It was adapted by writer Henry William Hanemann from Clara Beranger's 1927 movie The Little Adventuress, which in turn was a rewrite from the 1921 British play The Dover Road by A. A. Milne. The film used The Dover Road as a working title prior to its release.