4 Star

A Cad, An Eye, and Misadventure.

Vice Versa is the third screen adaption of the 1882 novel Vice Versa by F. Anstey (The Tinted Venus (1885), Punch magazine). Adapted and directed by Peter Ustinov (Spartacus, Blackbeard’s Ghost, Death on the Nile) who shows off his eloquence in this script, as the talent get their teeth into this comedy. It is great to see the older version of this very popular story of switching bodies, now on Blu-ray, courtesy of Network.

It is 1916 and Dick Bultitude (Anthony Newley, Oliver Twist, The Cockleshell Heroes) has just married his childhood sweetheart Dulcie Grimstone (Petula Clark, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Runaway Bus), and Paul Bultitude (Roger Livesey, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Master of Ballantrae) is just seeing off the last of the guests as he stands in his doorway. His butler Bowler (Ernest Jay, Don’t Take It to Heart!, The History of Mr. Polly) spots the camera and Paul turns and addresses us as if we are reporters, he starts to tell his embarrassing story that he has kept quiet for twenty years. Let the story begin.

Our story starts with Paul’s brother-in-law Marmaduke Paradine (David Hutcheson, School for Secrets, The Elusive Pimpernel) a cad of the highest order, a man wanted all across the Western hemisphere, and that is why he is in India claiming to be the Honourable Louis Montfalcon. He is at the Temple of the laughing Hyena along with his friend Ambrose (Hugh Dempster, Scrooge, Babes in Bagdad), and driver of their elephant Bindabun Doss (John Glyn-Jones, Man in the Moon). They are in India to shoot a tiger, but when Louis hears that the idol’s right eye is worth a fortune, he decides to relieve the idol of its eye. As he does the left eye winks, thus cursing the thief with bad luck.

Paradine soon realizes that hyena’s, even if not worth worshipping, were worth respect.

Ambrose and Louis find their first bit of bad luck as their transport has departed, and they must walk back to the village. Ambrose is not going to make it back to the village as a tiger roars.

Paradine makes it back to the UK, and manages to avoid the authorities, and by luck would have it Bowler doesn’t recognize him as he waits in Paul’s study. He has the eye, ‘The Garuda Stone’ and he must pass it on to rid himself of this run of bad luck.

At this time, the young Dick is about to go back to school run by the force of nature Dr. Grimstone (James Robertson Justice, The Guns of Navarone, Doctor in Distress) who believes Dick is a malcontent, and he is not wrong as when he stands holding the Garuda Stone he wishes that he was older, and have all the privileges that go with maturity. Let the hilarity begin, as Dick turns into his father and Vice Versa. The pompous Paul must go to school while Dick fancies the maid Alice (Patricia Raine, It Happened in Soho, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman), whilst trying to stave off the advances of con woman Florence ‘Fanny’ Verlane (Kay Walsh, All at Sea, A Study in Terror), a woman Paradine knows very well.

Great to see these classic films restored and on Blu-ray, Vice Versa is a great vehicle for the English language, as Ustinov was a logophile, and James Robertson Justice knew how to deliver them. Great family fun.

Vice Versa is available on Blu-ray from Network on Air