7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

A mysterious circus comes to a western town bearing wonders and characters that entertain the inhabitants and teach valuable lessons.

Director:

George Pal

Writers:

Charles Beaumont (screenplay), Charles G. Finney (based on the novel "The Circus of Dr. Lao" by),

Stars:

Tony Randall, Barbara Eden, Arthur O'Connell

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tony Randall	...	Dr. Lao / The Abominable Snowman / Merlin the Magician / Apollonius of Tyana / Pan / The Giant Serpent / Medusa / Audience Member
Barbara Eden	...	Angela Benedict
Arthur O'Connell	...	Clint Stark
John Ericson	...	Ed Cunningham / Transformed Pan
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Tim Mitchell
Lee Patrick	...	Mrs. Howard Cassin
Minerva Urecal	...	Kate Lindquist
John Qualen	...	Luther Lindquist
Frank Kreig	...	Peter Ramsey
Peggy Rea	...	Mrs. Peter Ramsey
Eddie Little Sky	...	George C. George
Royal Dano	...	Carey
Argentina Brunetti	...	Sarah Benedict
John Doucette	...	Lucas
Dal McKennon	...	Lean Cowboy

Storyline

An old Chinese gentleman rides into the town of Abalone, Arizona and changes it forever, as the citizens see themselves reflected in the mirror of Lao's mysterious circus of mythical beasts.

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Plot Keywords:

circus | chinese | pan | merlin the magician | librarian | 

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Taglines:

Which face will the wily doctor reveal to you?

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Genres:

Fantasy | Mystery | Western

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 August 1964 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

The Circus of Dr. Lao

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

George Pal Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "Fall of the City" spectacular that Dr. Lao presents as the grand finale of his circus contains much footage from an earlier George Pal production, "Atlantis, The Lost Continent" (1961)

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Goofs

During the opening festivities for Dr. Lao's circus, the Yeti is shown as organ grinder for three musical-box figures, one of which is Fred Flintstone playing the drums - a cartoon character who wasn't created until nearly half a century after the film takes place (and, incidentally, a type of drum set-up not popularized until the early 1940's).

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Quotes

Mike: How old are you?
Dr. Lao: I believe I will tell you. I am seven thousand, three hundred and twenty-two years old... this October.

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Connections

Referenced in What's My Line?: Episode dated 16 August 1964 (1964)

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Soundtracks

"Sumer is icumen in"
(uncredited)
Traditional 13th century English round

User Reviews

Very entertaining fantasy-comedy

To me, this was a combination fantasy, comedy and story with a moral (or rather, several) that genuinely worked for the most part, which is a tricky thing. I'm sure there's been criticism (even before it became COMPLETELY popular to do this) about having a non-Chinese actor play the part (just as there's been with "Kung Fu", a show that strangely resembles this story). But Tony Randall, and his make-up, were so good, that there hardly seems reason for it. (Even the thick accent the character used part of the time was really another one of his disguises, not even meant to be his real voice.) So, whether it's called "political correctness", or something else, criticizing this movie (or Kung Fu itself) for THAT reason seems really off the point. One scene (though I'm sure it's been gone into here) that temporarily takes it out of the "family film" category is the "Pan" scene with Barbara Eden, which shows how "hot" a scene can be, in the middle of a completely different kind of story. But one thing that doesn't always seem to be mentioned is that Pan is played by TWO actors, first by Randall himself, and then by John Ericson, because the whole scene is about her "suppressed" feelings for the Ericson character. If there's one part that's a fly in the ointment to me (and unfortunately, it's a pretty big part), it's the "Atlantis" story that Dr. Lao shows as a kind of movie at the circus. Compared to all the other little "lessons" in the story, I think this one was pretty heavy-handed. And there was the kind of depressing scene between the Lee Patrick character and "Apollonius", but it doesn't stand out in the same way. At least that scene had the great line, "I only read futures, I don't evaluate them."