Topper / Holiday

TOPPER, 1937, Hal Roach (Hallmark Entertainment), 97 min. Dir. Norman Z. McLeod. Thorne Smith’s timeless tale of a banker (Roland Young) whose existence is turned upside down by a married pair of wisecracking ghosts (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett) who decide he needs a little more life in his life. Two sequels, a TV series and countless knockoffs later, the original still shines as brightly as ever. With Billie Burke (two years before she became a good witch), Eugene Pallette, Alan Mowbray, Arthur Lake and Hedda Hopper.

HOLIDAY, 1938, Sony Repertory, 93 min. Society girl Katharine Hepburn falls in love with her sister's idiosyncratic fiancé (a pitch-perfect Cary Grant), and the result is the greatest nonconformist comedy ever made. Working with Philip Barry's play as his foundation, director George Cukor considers serious issues about the human condition and what it means to be truly independent, yet does it all with a light, hilarious and charming touch.