Vice Versa

In this whimsical farce, Ustinov's second effort at the helm, a far-fetched ploy is used to create an identity switch. In this case father and son, Livesey and Newley respectively, pull the old switch-a-roo when a magic stone is placed in front of the father and he wishes he could be a boy again. This comes immediately after Livesey had been berating the lad for his poor showing at school. The two live in their new roles retaining the perceptions of their original selves. This makes for some interesting moments and gives Ustinov a chance to make a number of witty jabs, the English school system being the butt of most of these. Despite its cleverness, and the morali...