Vice Versa

Peter Ustinov is a witty literary man. His first love is the theatre, which is a form of literature and he has always tried to bring this love to the cinema. This film is based on a picaresque novel he has made immortal. Its parent-offspring body-swap theme was reprised, pilfered, borrowed and plagiarized in an untold number of similar films (and novels) with titles like "Freaky Friday" (all three versions), "Vice Versa" (1988), "Big" (1988), "18 Again!" (1988), "Like Father Like Son" (1987) and "Dream a Little Dream" (1989). Because of its cast, rhythm and wit, this film owes much to the Ealing comedies and to Powell & Pressburger's "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp". Everyone in it shines and makes the dialogue sound like it was written by Oscar Wilde on marijuana. Even little Petula Clark bravely holds her own opposite Anthony Newley (who also wrote the music), Roger Livesey and James Robertson Justice, whose blustering personality makes this film a true comedy of hypocrisies. The film is full of audacious set pieces that send up the very concept of Britishness and propriety. Its charm is of course untranslatable in any other language. As a screenwriter and filmmaker of intelligence and invention, Ustinov shows he is easily the equal of René Clair and Sacha Guitry. A must-see.

We've seen plenty of films where some bit of magic occurs and two characters are forced to trade places. "Vice Versa" is another from that mold. It takes place in Victorian England and involves a stuffy father and his son, who must endure the hardships of a proper boys boarding school run by a humorless martinet with sadistic tendencies.

Though the film is comedy, its pedigree is straight from melodrama. The characters posture and pontificate--intentionally--so that Dudley Do-Right would fit right in. No matter where the story goes, this tone keeps it light.

For someone interested in filmographies, the prominence of young Anthony Newley and Petula Clark in the cast is noteworthy. Newley has to play two roles, in essence--both the young son and the father in the wrong body.

This is not a great film. And much of the story is predictable. Still, it is entertaining and a glimpse at British humor in the late forties.

Roger Livesey ("Paul") is the wealthy but rather indifferent dad to "Dick" (Anthony Newley). The youngster hates the idea of going back to his boarding school, but his skinflint of a father is having none of it. When "Dick" tries a bit of emotional blackmail, his dad - clutching a mysterious stone from a temple in faraway India finds himself making a wish and now has the mental age of his son. His son, seeing an opportunity for some mischief takes hold of the stone and is soon his father in the body of a boy! What now ensue are an entertaining series of escapades as the youngster goes back to a school under the austere tutelage of "Dr. Grimstone" (James Robertson Justice) and the father tries to fit into a modern adult life of industry and duels - when all he really wants is lemonade and a kiss from "Dulcie" (Petula Clark). Livesey is on good form here as is the increasingly exasperated JRJ and Kay Walsh as the girlfriend of the father who finds herself continually perplexed by these unexplained developments. It is directed by Peter Ustinov and that's quite obvious after a while - it has a haphazard quirkiness and whimsy to it that provides for a slightly grander, more sophisticated, humour as the story moves along. It takes a swipe at the pompous and the shallow, and though it is probably twenty minutes too long, is still quite an enjoyable watch with some amiable characterisations and fun dialogue.

Roger Livesey and Anthony Newley play a father and son at the end of the 19th century. Livesey is stuffy and distant and Newley is a rather normal boy who is cursed to live at a rather harsh and humorless boys school. However, by accident they switch bodies and both learn what it's like to live in the other's place AND there are many complications that arise from this unwanted switch.

I love British comedies--especially the lovely and rather subtle films from Ealing Studios as well as some of the comedies of Peter Sellers and Alec Guinness. They are extremely clever and funny with a gentle sense of humor. However, VICE VERSA is not such a British film. While it is occasionally funny, the humor is also extremely blatant and "in your face"--far from subtle or sophisticated. You can tell this will be the tone of this film starting with the opening titles that hit you up side the head--almost as if they are yelling "this is funny, dang it, so laugh!!". Well, I don't need my humor infused with a tiny hint of Benny Hill, thank you, though I still did enjoy this movie as a harmless time-passer and nothing else.

There's no film quite like Peter Ustinov's Vice Versa, the clever playfulness is constant and yet is never so overpowering as to bore you. I hadn't seen it for nearly 10 years before tonight but remembered most of the excruciatingly erudite and formal dialogue enunciated by the melodramatic caricatures of the ridiculously socially atrophied Victorians perfectly.

Father Roger Livesey and son Anthony Newley (in his 2nd film) make unfortunate hasty wishes holding the stolen mystical Garuda Stone changing their bodies around. The upshot being the young father is sent back to boarding school to astound the natives by the middle aged son who begins to astound his butler and doctor by his sudden propensity for sherbet and ginger ale. Their separate adventures form the film, delightfully and uniquely presented and acted. Favourite bits: The courtroom bursting into The Merry Wives Of Windsor and the swift justice meted out to the duelists because the judge had to get off to Rickmansworth; Reaching for the note on the floor of the school chapel but being startlingly and loudly spotted by headmaster James Robertson Justice - my favourite film of his.

I think it might possibly help to be British or have a working knowledge of the Boys Own Paper and Victorian penny dreadfuls to fully appreciate this, or maybe just keep in mind that this is a fond and gently relentless satire on the genre. In a unique whimsical class of its own, I've always loved this Vice Versa Version but it probably won't appeal to the more serious who prefer sober message to witty inconsequentiality - and of course masochists who would hate all 97 keenly watched minutes.