L'errore del dio Chang

Turnabout is the story of a married couple who bickers more than anyone you've ever seen. Mr. Willows (John Hubbard) and Mrs. Willows (Carole Landis) lead separate lives, and come home to fight about it. Mr. Willows is a partner for an advertising company and Mrs. Willows gossips and plays bridge with the other partners' wives. But there is one thing they can agree upon; they would love to switch lives with each other. A mysterious statue in their bedroom grants their request, and off he goes in a dress and off she goes prancing around in a suit. To say that their acquaintances are surprised would be an understatement and hilarity ensues.

Also appearing are famous names like Adolphe Menjou, Mary Astor, Inez Courtney, and Marjorie Main.

Stories like this are always entertaining, and when comedies are made on the Hal Roach lot, you're bound for success. This little known gem holds plenty of laughs, but it also abounds with a lightheartedness that can cheer anyone up on a bad day.

This Hal Roach production from 1940 is a great comedy with outstanding actors and plenty of laughs. There is a sex change and body swapping between a husband and wife, the wife role is played by Carole Landis,(Sally Willows), "I Wake Up Screaming" and the husband is performed by John Hubbard, (Tim Willows). These two married couples have a statue of a Buddha which has magical powers and seems to be getting tired of this couple arguing about each other, so he offers this couple a chance to change their sex in order for the wife to perform her husbands duties at the office and the husband will perform the duties of the wife at home. In this household there is a great Dane dog and a bear cub running all around their dwellings. Sally Willows even climbs a flag pole in order to put up an Aeriel. William Gargan, (Joel Clare) and Mary Astor gave great supporting roles. Carole Landis gave a great performance through out the entire picture and was very young and beautiful in this film.

Watching Turnabout and knowing it was produced and directed by Hal Roach right after One Million BC which made stars of Victor Mature and Carole Landis, I'm wondering if Roach didn't want to do this film with both of stars from One Million BC. For whatever reason Mature didn't do this one, Roach co-starred Landis with John Hubbard who was also in the cast of One Million BC.

Known primarily for his short subjects, Roach occasionally did a feature film that bent a few rules of the Code. Possibly because he was not in with the major film studios, Roach had a whole lot more creative freedom and is Turnabout he made the most of it.

Landis and Hubbard are a young and constantly bickering couple. He's a partner in an advertising agency with William Gargan and Adolph Menjou. And her two best friends are Mary Astor and Joyce Compton, said wives of Menjou and Gargan.

After a day of quarreling both express a wish to live each other's lives and they express it before a statue of a Hindu deity named Ram which grants their wish. Whoosh, and they're in each other's attire and talking for the audience's amusement with each other's voices.

After that it's a succession of gender bending jokes and lines which come so fast it's a crying shame that Turnabout is not out on DVD or VHS. With those you have the luxury of rewinding and hearing it again to catch what you missed. And this is the kind of film where you can watch it over and over and still come up with a fresh laugh.

For a small studio Roach's reputation was such that he commanded a supporting cast that could and did equal a film from any of the major studios. Besides the names already mentioned Turnabout includes Marjorie Main, Verree Teasdale, Franklin Pangborn, Berton Churchill and Donald Meek.

The last includes the funniest sight gag in the film. Meek plays Hubbard's manservant and he's quite a sight trying to deal with a ferocious little dog that looks more like a bear cub. Absolutely hilarious and there's quite the story of how that dog came into the possession of Hubbard and Landis.

This film must have been in the inspiration for those Walt Disney Freaky Friday films and the Dudley Moore/Kirk Cameron film Like Father Like Son. But none of those could boast a cast like this.

This one is an absolute gem, just waiting to be rediscovered.

Carole Landis and John Hubbard play Sally and Tim Willows, a fairly bland married couple whose bickering accelerates to a point where they wish aloud that they could trade places…and whose wish is granted by a statue that sits on their bedroom shelf.

The opening scenes meander a bit, but we get to know Tim's eccentric business partners, their catty wives with whom Sally hangs out, and the Willows' domestic staff—all nicely played by a cast of veteran character actors led by Adolphe Menjou as one of Tim's partners.

It's when Sally and Tim switch bodies that the picture takes off—that is, when Sally takes on the personality and mannerisms of Tim, and vice versa. Landis and Hubbard are both hilarious; Landis is especially funny when she affects her husband's athletic swagger and broad gestures.

Donald Meek and Marjorie Main are typically entertaining as valet and cook; Mary Astor lends an edge as Menjou's wife. Franklin Pangborn has a funny bit as a Mr. Pingboom (not Mr. Pingpong, as he is called to his annoyance).

Other memorable moments include Landis (in her ultra-masculine persona) shinnying up a flagpole to install a radio aerial, and a rather surreal scene in which Menjou and William Gargan attempt to destroy a radio that just won't shut off. (They break it to pieces but it just keeps on playing.)

It's no classic but done in good spirits and occasionally hilarious.

A mystical bust of a turbaned god gives a bickering, unsatisfied married couple exactly what they want: they switch bodies...but unfortunately not voices, which means the husband--who is one-third of a partnership in a big city advertising firm--talks like a girl and prances around his office complete with pocketbook! Very early entry in the body-switching genre is much fresher than some of the similar comedies which followed years later; the film doesn't have an esteemed reputation, so it's difficult to imagine that it influenced other pictures, but surely this was the starting point (or close to it). There are some very fast, very funny lines, quick and efficient gags, bright performers--however the first thirty minutes (a straight satire on big business before the 'magical' troubles begin) is just fine all by itself. The body-switching ploy pretty much comes out of nowhere and sticks out as a gimmick, when actually the movie was progressing very well without it. **1/2 from ****