Although this doesn't really follow the story of the two previous Topper film, to understand who Topper and his wife are, it really helps to have seen them first.
This is a little different to those first two. It's not worse, it's just a bit more typical of what you'd expect from Hal Roach Studios. Rather than tying to be just a copy like TAKES A TRIP, it tries something different and it works. Compared with the first two this is a little less sophisticated, relying more on sight gags and the old haunted house tropes but it fortunately avoids going down the slapstick route and of course has the massive benefit of having Joan Blondell.
It's not a laugh out loud sort of picture but it will certainly put a smile on your face and probably raise a few chuckles. A lot of the humour is generated because it's all so charmingly predictable. You can see the jokes coming a mile away which adds to the fun. With a lesser director and a less experienced cast that could have been disastrous but we don't have to worry on that account - it work's just right.
Joan Blondell, a little older now than how many of us are used to seeing her is still lovely, bubbly and injects so much natural warmth and energy that you can't help smiling whenever she's on the screen. She seems to be effortlessly making the transition from the early talkies through the marvellous madcap mayhem of the thirties to the more modern feel of 40s comedies. Such a shame the forties weren't as generous to her as they should have been. But never mind, she's fabulous in this.
Roland Young is again the befuddled and bewildered perfect English gentleman as he always was. His Oscar winning performance in the first film could easily be considered to stretch over all three pictures. What a lucky man he was - over the last few years he'd stared with the most beautiful actresses of the 1930s: Constance Bennett, Genevieve Tobin, Jessie Matthews and this time with Joan Blondell!
The characters are all absurd but somehow believable which is important. The police are predictably dim but not ridiculously stupid which they often were in similar films of the previous decade. The whole cast, under the expert direction of Roy del Ruth achieve the perfect balance between being believable and silly.
A lot of similar comedy films from this period are so stupid that they become more annoying than funny. Some are so ridiculous they just make you angry: none of those problems with this though. Although the script is noticeably less witty than in its predecessors, the comedy is far from subtle and the credibility of the characters is stretched to breaking point because of Roy del Ruth's expertise, you will definitely still be able to enjoy this daft and very amusing story.
