The actual plot of Turnabout doesn't start until about half an hour in, but you'll be so busy laughing you won't really mind. John Hubbard and Carole Landis star as a young married couple, and for the first part of the movie, they're shown bickering alongside their other bickering, married friends, Adolphe Menjou, Mary Astor, William Gargan, and Joyce Compton. In a bizarre plot twist, a statue of Buddha makes John and Carole swap bodies so they can understand each other better. Nowadays, gender-swapping films aren't shocking, but can you imagine how hilarious this must have been in 1940? During the entire time they're swapped, their lines are dubbed over, so Carole mouths to John's voice and vice versa. It's side-splittingly funny, as are everyone's reactions to the strangely-acting couple.
Poor Donald Meek, the butler who's extremely shocked by the change in his employers' behavior! While John sashays and prances around in a nightgown, Carole insists on talking to Donald while she's in the shower. "From here on, I may be a little different than you expect. I want to be sure that anything that goes on between us will be strictly confidential." Donald, thinking she means an affair, stammers and stutters and ekes out an agreement that nothing has or ever will go on between them, but if it does, he won't tell anyone. I'm a classic film aficionado and have made character actors like Donald Meek household names, but while the rest of modern-day audiences have no idea who he is, I was tickled to see him have a bigger part than usual, and given something to do!
Watch this inventive comedy. It's quick and manages to stand the test of time, for the most part. Everyone who's unhappily married, or everyone who's ever thought someone else had it easier will get a big kick out of it.
Poor Donald Meek, the butler who's extremely shocked by the change in his employers' behavior! While John sashays and prances around in a nightgown, Carole insists on talking to Donald while she's in the shower. "From here on, I may be a little different than you expect. I want to be sure that anything that goes on between us will be strictly confidential." Donald, thinking she means an affair, stammers and stutters and ekes out an agreement that nothing has or ever will go on between them, but if it does, he won't tell anyone. I'm a classic film aficionado and have made character actors like Donald Meek household names, but while the rest of modern-day audiences have no idea who he is, I was tickled to see him have a bigger part than usual, and given something to do!
Watch this inventive comedy. It's quick and manages to stand the test of time, for the most part. Everyone who's unhappily married, or everyone who's ever thought someone else had it easier will get a big kick out of it.