Vice Versa

VICE VERSA (1948), a sort of proto-FREAKY_FRIDAY story about a father and son switching places, is a delightful British comedy in the vein of, perhaps, KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949), brought to you by theatrical Renaissance man Peter Ustinov, who wrote, produced, and directed the film (but does not appear on-screen).

The action is set around the turn of the century and involves a magic wish-granting stone, stolen from a temple in India. When young Dick Bultitude protests being sent back to his boarding school, his blustery father (holding the stone) makes an off-hand remark about wishing to be young again. Soon the elder Bultitude finds himself in the body of a schoolboy, the spitting image of his own son. And Dick grabs the stone and wishes to be grown-up, filling out the body of his middle-aged father. Understandably, everyone mistakes Dick for his father and vice versa, sending the father off to school in the boy's place and leaving the son to manage the father's affairs at home.

The dual performances by the two main actors are superb, with an adolescent Anthony Newley (later to star in DOCTOR DOLITTLE and write songs for WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY in a varied entertainment career) doing a spot-on imitation of Roger Livesey's Bultitude Sr. and Livesey in turn acting believably childish as a boy in a man's body. Each actor gives such a distinctly different performance after the body swap that it's no trouble believing that Newley IS a fifty-year-old man or that Livesey IS a boy of fourteen, despite the absurdity of it all. And from there the hijinks are a lot of fun.

Ustinov's film has a wonderful flair for comedy, from the charmingly old-timey title slides to the bookending narrative device that breaks the fourth wall, inviting the audience into the Bultitude home. The literate script uses stuffy British propriety to humorous effect, particularly through the characters of Paul Bultitude (the father) and James Robertson Justice's strict headmaster Dr. Grimstone. There's also a madcap farce of a duel and a subsequent courtroom scene that's a riot.

Very entertaining - in a silly kind of way. Anthony Newley knocks most other child actors into a cocked hat, and Roger Livesey is very endearing: neither overplay their parts as so often happens in this kind of yarn. If you appreciate light-hearted vintage English comedy you will surely enjoy this one - I thought it superb - but don't watch it if your movies need to be in colour or have relevance to something as it's just a bit of pure fun. This said it holds the attention throughout due to it's fast-paced antics and great characterisations. Hope it's out on DVD somewhere as would love to own a copy.

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 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.

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.