Trailer
Plot summary
George and Marion Kerby live for dancing, pranks, and fast cars, while Cosmo Topper lives by his schedule at the bank he presides over, kept in line by his wife Clara and his butler Wilkins. After their car crashes, the couple find themselves transparent, and Marion reasons that good deeds may be their way into heaven. Topper, depressed and drawn to the Kerbys' roadster, buys the car and takes it out alone, and on the road he hears two familiar voices. The Kerbys appear before him needing a driver, and Marion settles on bringing some joy into his life as their good deed.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Topper (1937)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Producer Hal Roach wanted Cary Grant to play George Kerby, but Grant resisted because he doubted the supernatural story would work, so Roach pitched it to him as a screwball comedy instead, plus a $50,000 payday.
- Topper was the first black-and-white film to be digitally colorized, re-released in 1985 by Hal Roach Studios with color by Colorization, Inc. It was chosen because its 1937 release was Hal Roach's entry into major feature production.
- Roach wanted Jean Harlow opposite Cary Grant and W. C. Fields as Topper, but Harlow was near death and Fields turned it down; Constance Bennett then took the part for less than her usual $40,000 fee.
- The Kerbys' custom car resembled a Cord or Duesenberg, but its body was built on the chassis of a 1936 Buick Roadmaster by Bohman & Schwartz, and its Cord-style external exhaust pipes were non-functional.
- Topper was a box-office hit that boosted the careers of all its leads, especially Cary Grant, who went straight from it into the screwball classics The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby and Holiday.
- Songwriter and pianist Hoagy Carmichael made his debut acting role in an uncredited cameo, playing the piano in the nightclub sequence and introducing the song Old Man Moon, which Cary Grant and Constance Bennett sing.
