Absolutely brilliant

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Ann Carrington (Landis) stands to inherent a fortune on her 21st birthday and is invited to her home where she is to meet her father for the very first time. Ann brings her best friend Gail Richards (Blondell) to stay with her in the home. The girls end up changing bedrooms to sleep in and Gail is murdered, the murderer intended on killing Ann instead for the inheritance: money and home. The ghost of Gail ends up enlisting the help of Cosmo Topper (Young) in order to find out who killed her and why. A reluctant Topper helps to cracks the murder case.Fun story! Large old mansion, plenty of secret passageways, a phantom killer on the loose, a ghost, bungling police and a cast of zany characters pull off a film enjoyable for the whole family to watch.8/10

This is a ghost comedy wrapped in a murder mystery. It works because of the funny ensemble cast. Billie Burke (Mrs. Topper), Eddie Anderson (the chauffeur), Donald McBride (the police detective) and Joan Blondell (the ghost) produce a nice steady stream of laughs. Roland Young (Topper) and Carol Landis (Ann Carrington) play it straight and that provides a nice balance, so the comedy does not overwhelm the mystery.The film won an academy award for special effects. They were nice, but they were similar and not much better than 1933's "Invisible Man." I haven't seen "Topper" or "Topper Takes a Trip," so I cannot compare them. I was a fan of the 1950's "Topper" television show as a child. It seems to me that that show set the formula for "Bewitched," ""My Favorite Martian" and "I Dream of Jeannie," three of the best supernatural comedies of the 1960's.

Most of the film takes place in a spooky mansion with secret doors, hidden passageways and a creepy knife-wielding killer lurking in the shadows.Roland Young reprises his role as Cosmo Topper, the straight-laced, bespectacled banker. In the original, Cary Grant and Constance Bennet were the ghosts who only Topper could see. This time it's Joan Blondell who is accidentally murdered.Billie Burke is the hysterical and somewhat dotty Mrs. Topper. Donald MacBride is a flustered police sergeant straight out of keystone cops.Check out Joan Blondell's friend, Carole Landis, as the rich girl who was the intended murder victim. Landis was in her early 20's and committed suicide at 29. She was an absolutely gorgeous woman who, unfortunately, is not remembered.The actor who steals the film is Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as the chauffeur. He played Jack Benny's sidekick Rochester on radio and TV. He has the movie's best lines and was an extremely talented comedian.This was the final film in the series after TOPPER (1937) and TOPPER TAKES A TRIP (1939). If you want to see one of the original haunted house mysteries with lots of darkness, sound effects and screams this is it.

I must I admit that the other two installments are very funny screwball comedies, but this one tops them all.The mainstays of Roland Young and Billie Burke are back as the tentative couple who are always one-part bumbler and the other-part clueless. Their scenes are always funny as Young tries so hard not to let on to his clueless wife what is really going on! But the star who carries this one is none other than that bombshell comedienne herself, JOAN BLONDELL. Just when you think she is only going to be a sidekick, she turns into THE kick. Her comic flair and range serve her well. As do the talents of the Donald MacBride as the Police Captain. (It's amazing how many defenders of the law he actually played during his long career - which by the way goes all the way back to the silents.) [1914]. The other star in his own right is Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. He shines numerous times in this outing as the Topper driver. Every comedy needs a great last scene or last line. And this time, it belongs to Rochester. Many people do not know that he became a wealthy man and lived in the "Hills" alongside many of the film star greats of the time. No mean feat for a "man of color" in those days. What a great talent he was! All in all, so many others also bring this ensemble work to work...notably the always underused Patsy Kelley, whose frumpish comedic gifts rounded out this wonderfully funny movie.Sit back and enjoy this ghostly screwball gem!