Topper Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Topper Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 8, 2019

It may not have risen to the generally accepted ranks of a true “franchise”, but 1937’s Topper was successful enough that it gave birth to two film sequels, Topper Takes a Trip and Topper Returns, as well as a television sitcom inventively titled Topper which ran for two seasons in the mid-fifties (and which will forever be immortalized in the world of musical theater trivia because some guy named Stephen Sondheim co-wrote several episodes). In many, and perhaps inarguably most, ways, the first Topper was the best of them all, benefiting from not just the bantering interplay between stars Cary Grant and Constance Bennett, and the inspired buffoonery of Roland Young and Billie Burke, but also probably undeniably from the very "newness" of the premise, something that obviously may have suffered from the law of diminishing returns as the series went on. Topper details the adventures of two sanguine upper crust folks, George (Cary Grant) and Marion Kerby (Constance Bennett) whose disregard for the little things in life like driving relatively sanely lead to their premature deaths, and subsequent transformation into ghosts. They end up haunting an uptight guy named Cosmo Topper (Roland Young), in the hopes that helping him might grant them a "golden ticket" through those vaunted Pearly Gates.

Kind of interestingly, Topper kind of plays with class consciousness in some unexpected ways. George and Marion are — or rather were — obviously well to do, and Cosmo’s job as a bank president obviously puts him in whatever the 1930s equivalent of the “one percenters” was. But it might be in the social climbing exploits of Cosmo’s wife Clara (Billie Burke) that the film finds some of its surest comedic footing in skewering the foibles of the “ruling class”.

There are perhaps expected trials and tribulations that both sets of married couples need to go through to get to their individual "happily ever after", but the film offers a generally sweet accounting of characters who are each attempting to reorient their moral compasses. Roland Young scored an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work here, but he's ably matched by the typically daffy Billie Burke, and Grant and Bennett certainly make for two of the most patrician spectral entities one might imagine. What's kind of interesting is that Grant, who reportedly had a stake in the film's considerable success, is kind of shunted off to the sidelines throughout parts of the film, leaving center stage to Bennett and Young.

The film is also filled with some great, and at times quite inventive, sight gags, that make use of the “ghostly” presences of George and Marion, at times to the consternation of innocent bystanders who don’t quite understand what’s going on. The film has a bright and breezy ambience despite its kind of dour subtext of two wastrels caught in some kind of afterlife limbo, hoping to make amends for missed opportunities. As discussed in our Topper Takes a Trip Blu-ray review, that film just pretty much ignores the wrap up of this film, which suggests that George and Marion are finally able to move on to their Heavenly reward.

Topper Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Topper is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual and VCI with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.42:1. VCI's track record with its high definition output has been somewhat spotty, though I personally scored both Topper Takes a Trip and Topper Returns at least a bit higher than this. Unfortunately, this older release from VCI sports some of the encoding anomalies that have afflicted other releases, with kind of weird swirling patterns and near pixellation at times, with an uneven accounting of the grain field (look at screenshots 13 and 14 in full resolution for some examples, though several other screenshots also exhibit them, as around Roland Young's eyes in screenshot 2). What's a bit odd about grain in this presentation is how it almost cycles through various thicknesses; at times, things look filtered, almost video like, and then slowly but surely grain will reappear until it can become rather rough looking. It's almost as if some weird alogrithm was utilized that "managed" grain over select periods of time, and then (to borrow a phrase from a different activity) "rinsed and repeated". There are recurrent if minor signs of age related wear and tear and some noticeable fluctuations in brightness, though contrast is generally good and in shots not featuring opticals detail levels can be at least decent.

Topper Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Topper features a decent sounding LPCM 2.0 mono mix. Things are rather boxy throughout the presentation, and occasionally amplitude varies. There is some hiss evident. Dialogue makes it through the gauntlet without any major problems, though music can sound a bit on the tinny side at times. Trivia fans may recognize iconic composer Hoagy Carmichael at the piano (which looks amazingly like the "mini" keyboard played by Sam in Casablanca) in one scene (see screenshot 3).

Topper Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 3:05)

Topper Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Topper is an outstanding entertainment and boasts a rather interesting premise for a perceived screwball comedy. Unfortunately the technical merits of this release, notably video, could stand some improvement. My advice to fans of the film is to carefully parse the screenshots accompanying this review to at least get some idea of what this looks like.