7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

Director:

George Pal

Writers:

Charles G. Finney (novel)
Charles Beaumont (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 March 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Mystery | Western

Tagline:

All Tony - All Terrific!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Circus | Chinese | Library | Magician | Fortune Teller

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Tony Randall	...	Dr. Lao / Merlin / Pan / Abominable Snowman / Medusa / Giant Serpent / Apollonius of Tyana / 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

Also Known As:

Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (USA) (alternative spelling)
The Secret World of Dr. Lao

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Norway:12 | West Germany:6 (f) | Australia:G | USA:Unrated

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Tony Randall appears in the audience at the second circus show.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: 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).

Quotes:

Dr. Lao: [Dr. Lao's Welcome speech] This is the circus of Dr. Lao./ We show you things that you don't know./We've spared no pains and spared no dough,/ but we wanted to give you one helluva show.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Seven Seductions (1981)

Soundtrack:

Toccata and Fugue in D minor

Special thanks to "Tony and Me" & Jack Klugman

I'll start off by letting you know,I'm not going to re-hash the story in my review. Everyone's pretty much covered it,so I'll just hit what were the highlights for me. First of all,I grew up with "The Odd Couple" reruns in the early 1980s,on channel 5 here in Phoenix,AZ. I loved what Tony & Jack did together. So I was sad when I heard about Tony's passing and was compelled to read Mr. Klugman's book "Tony and Me".

In the book,Jack recommends seeing,"The 7 faces Of Dr. Lao",calling it "a rare gem". He is certainly correct. I had never even heard of or seen this movie anywhere,anytime or anyplace in my life,which I find odd. Anyhow,I think what sets a person up to watch this movie is you think it's going to be another typical "western". (It couldn't be anyway,it's set in the early 1900's).

With Lao's riding in on a horse with a goldfish bowl in the saddle,you know it's going to be a strange trip. I was glad to see that Tony Randall got to speak in normal English and not just as the stereotyped Chinaman. For a movie filmed in 1963,it has great ideas and daring scenes.

Scenes like the one with Barbra Eden and "Pan" the God of Joy. As someone stated,for this era,it's a pretty racy scene. Especially since in most films long ago,you rarely saw a woman demonstrate her "desires" like that. Other scenes are Merlin the Wizard,who ends up letting down his audience but then again they were being impossible with him,so maybe he did it on purpose? Who knows.

The scene with our resident villain and serpent who resembles him is a great character assassination on the part of said serpent. The whole scene is hilarious but true. Some people think too highly of themselves. That fact is later set in stone when he gets his fortune read by Appollonius.

Although depressing and very surprising,Appollonius' brutal honesty in reading futures is what makes the two scenes with that character compelling. He's not catering to their egos or whims,he's "cursed' to tell the absolute truth. I love how Tony R. submerges himself into these characters!

The "Medusa" scene probably would have scared me if I were a kid but it's still a bit of an uncomfortable thought,being turned to stone. (At least Medusa shut up that loud mouthed woman!) Seeing Mr. Randall in that make up...sort of like Boy George 20 years before-hand. The second night of Dr. Lao's circus,with the overhead "visualiztion" is great too. I love how the scene goes black and they all wake up in the town hall. Ready to vote to sell or save their town.

Granted,the special effects in the film are a product of their time but since it's fantasy,it really doesn't take anything away from the film. In fact,when the sea-serpent attacks,it's no less exciting for not being "computer animated".

I mostly just like the honesty of the characters. These aren't your average movie characters. They are very much like real people of that era. After watching this,I can't believe it wasn't even considered for a "Best Picture" Oscar. "My Fair Lady" a better film? I think not.

Find "Lao" wherever you can,I guarantee,it'll be worth it.

P.S. Argentina Brunetti who played Sarah Benedict passed away Dec. 20,2005,just days before I checked this movie out from the library,the week after Christmas.