There have been a few movies I have seen lately that deal with what happens to a person when they die.  All of them, including Blithe Spirit (1945), assert that one’s transition from life into being a ghostly apparition is almost instantaneous.  They also share some common misconceptions about what else happens in the beyond, such as blaring trumpets and pearly gates.  Western art, mostly paintings, for centuries has struggled to depict what entrance into Heaven will look like.  Because cinema is the natural inheritor of these artistic modes, these stereotypes have infested film.  Not once during all that time has the Catholic Church come out and said definitively what the physical experience of going up to Heaven will be like, though it would agree with examples like today’s, Topper (1937), that the desire of every soul is eternity with our Creator.  It is also not too keen on the idea of ghosts, but luckily our picture treats the subject in a comedic fashion.  Everything else, spiritually speaking, is wishful thinking.

Not to get ahead of myself, but George Kerby (Cary Grant) driving with his feet while sitting on the trunk of the vehicle probably is obvious foreshadowing as Topper begins.  Marion Kerby (Constance Bennett), his wife, is unconcerned as they drive into New York City the night before George is to meet with the board of the bank of which he is the majority stockholder.  That is at 10:30 am and it is now 10:30 pm, which, as Marion points out, gives them twelve hours to yuk it up on the town.  After a night spent at several clubs, staying well past closing time for the final establishment, they park their flashy sports car in front of the bank and fall asleep.  We then shift to our title character, Cosmo Topper (Roland Young).  He is the president of the bank and his wife, Mrs. Clara Topper (Billie Burke), keeps him on a tight schedule.  She is assisted in keeping Cosmo in line by their butler, Wilkins (Alan Mowbray), and despite Cosmo’s protests over the rigidity, he is out the door on time.  Curious about the commotion caused by the snoozing Kerbys, but not enough to see who it is, Cosmo goes into his office and prepares for the meeting.  George awakens moments later and gets to his seat in the board room just as the clock strikes the appropriate time.  It is obvious by his bored fidgeting that he would rather be anywhere else doing anything else.  Following the meeting’s adjournment, George and Marion visit with Cosmo at his desk.  Cosmo’s interest in the playful Marion demonstrates to the Kerbys that the business executive needs to learn how to relax.  Instead, Cosmo stammers out protests as the Kerbys leave.  As they speed off in the direction they came, they discuss the possibility of helping Cosmo to live a little.  At the same time, George’s reckless handling of the vehicle leads to them careening off the road, dying in the resulting accident.  When the kinds of things mentioned in the introduction do not happen, they figure it is because they have not done enough good deeds to merit entrance into Heaven.  You see?  It is that for which all souls hope, even ones that lived frivolous lives apparently devoid of any thought of God.  For the Kerbys, the solution is obvious: Cosmo.  Days after their death, Cosmo receives the car in which they died.  Clara calls it a contraption, but in it Cosmo sees an opportunity to break free of his daily drudgery.  His test drive, however, does not go well, and he ends up with a flat tire at the same spot where George and Marion died.  As Cosmo sits down to sort out his decisions, he accidently sits on the invisible George, and that is when the Kerbys reveal their presence.  Instead of taking Cosmo home, George fixes the wheel and Marion convinces the living to come with them to their old apartment.  There, they get Cosmo quite drunk, which causes a scandal when they try to take the bank president to the drug store for pills to get sober.  This becomes headline news, particularly when Marion is spotted at the scene of a fight that breaks out, though disappearing just as quickly.  Though Clara is mortified by the exposure, the next day she receives several social calls from socialites interested in her crazy husband.  Cosmo, too, is looked at differently by his co-workers.  The attention becomes a little more confused when an invisible Marion puts Cosmo’s hat and walking stick on his desk, prompting him when they are alone to go out.  She makes him stop in front of a department store, and once more in see-through form, gets him to make off with a pair of panties stuck in his suitcoat.  Deciding to go home before anything worse happens, he meets a wife startled by her husband’s early return.  Startlement is turned to tears when she finds the underwear.  His explanations go unheeded.  Instead, he packs his bags and heads off with Marion.  They stop at a seaside hotel where her antics bring even more suspicion.  A few hours later, George rings the bell at the Topper residence where he confronts Clara about Cosmo’s whereabouts.  His forceful arguments about her inflexibility make her see the error of her ways.  He then goes to the resort to locate Cosmo and Marion.  George is initially cross with Marion for spending so much time with Cosmo, but they make up just as quickly, agreeing that their mission is almost complete.  Upon giving the staff and police a merry chase, they get Cosmo into the car and speed away.  As before, they crash the car on the same curve, but this time everyone is okay, though Cosmo is concussed.  He recovers in his own bed, Clara on hand to lovingly greet him when he awakens.  With that, George and Marion bid adieu from the window outside and the movie ends.

Though I made something of the mechanics of getting to Heaven in the introduction, that is not what interests this Catholic reviewer the most about Topper.  Instead, it is that George and Marion want to go to Heaven that shall be my focus for this section.  As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, it is something they desire despite seemingly not caring about doing anything about it while living.  They specifically ask each other what conduct merits entrance through the pearly gates, and they can think of nothing.  This brings up a divide between protestants and Catholics over just what needs to be done to spend eternity with God.  Protestants believe in being saved, and there is some truth to their position.  God’s graces are something that He bestows on us without us earning them.  In turn, we need to have Faith, and a relationship with God.  With those things, for them, Heaven is more assured.  The movie, despite the use of ghosts, aligns more with Catholic teaching, which makes sense given their influence on Hollywood at this time.  Rome’s position is that what we do in this life matters.  It is not so much about works being greater than faith, as our protestant brothers and sisters sometimes accuse us of believing, as works being an extension of faith.  If you have that relationship with God, then what you do should be a reflection of it.  After all, hell is a place of eternal separation from God, and it is something caused by sin.  Of course, these comparisons do not fit well with the movie.  George and Marion are, essentially, trying to buy their way into Heaven with a good deed.  Had they been more attentive to God while mortal, they would not have had to go through the trouble.  Thus, if you see this movie, know, first, that you will probably not be an apparition like them.  More importantly, make your preparations now, if eternity with God is what you desire.

I did not mean to sound dire when talking about Topper.  It is a charming little movie, though George and Marion are rather blithe about their situation, though not to make a direct comparison to its cinematic cousin.  I would certainly take Topper over Blithe Spirit any day.  I suppose that is as good a recommendation as any.