We've all had life-changing experiences, but probably not to the extent of Ferdinand W. DeMara (Tony Curtis), the colorful hoaxer who employed a photographic memory and good old-fashioned brass to reinvent himself as a ship's surgeon, a prison warden, an attorney, a Trappist monk, and a school teacher, among other poses. Seriocomic account of DeMara's real-life escapades co-stars Edmond O'Brien, Arthur O'Connell, Karl Malden, Raymond Massey.