Vice Versa

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.

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.

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.

English comedy tends to fall into one of two types. The first involves the clever and often risqué use of the English language. The second involves physical or slap-stick humour. The best English comedies successfully combine both types and the 1948 version of Vice Versa is just such a comedy. To see the great Roger Livesey cavorting as a young boy is alone worth the price of admission. It is arguably easier for a young person to act old than it is for an old person to act young, mimicry being easier than regression. To carry either role off is, however, no mean feat. Anthony Newley is brilliant as the young Dick Bultitude imitating his fathers sophisticated and worldly ways. It is also great fun to watch the young Petula Clark years before she became a famous pop star. If you want to watch both the 1988 version of this story starring Judge Reinhold as well as the 1948 version, I would strongly recommend you see the 1988 version first. You will enjoy the 1988 version. The 1948 version of Vice Versa is however the definitive one. After seeing it you will be spoiled for all others.

The unscrupulous Marmaduke (David Hutcheson) gives a stolen jewelled eye to Paul (Roger Livesey) as a gift. Paul summons his son, Dickie (Anthony Newley) for a chat before he is sent off to his new term at boarding school. However, the jewel has the power to allow a wish to come true for whoever holds it. Unwittingly, the stuffy Paul wishes to be young again and in turn, the mischievous Dickie wishes to be older. The rest of the film follows the antics of the now mature Dickie at school and the now immature Paul at home before they swap back at the end of the film and everything that has gone wrong becomes resolved. There is even a nice romantic surprise for Paul at the end.......

What sounds like a fun film is badly let down by OTT British silliness. While there are some funny moments, the truth is that there are far more unfunny moments that leave the viewer thinking "This is tedious". A case in question involves a long, drawn-out duel sequence combined with a court scene that lasts about half an hour and isn't at all funny. Not once did I laugh at the tiresome antics that were played out infront of me. My girlfriend fell asleep during this part after the film had shown early flashes of promise. This meant that she missed the film's only other funny moment after that, namely, when Dickie is travelling back on the train smoking a cigar and throws over some matches to a fellow passenger who asks for a light. The film needed far more of this kind of humour to make it good.

The main characters do well despite the silly script and the silly manner in which the story is sometimes acted. What a shame that the film is more boring than funny.