7 Faces of Dr. Lao | |
---|---|
Directed by | George Pal |
Screenplay by | |
Based on | The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney |
Produced by | George Pal |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Robert J. Bronner |
Edited by | George Tomasini |
Music by | Leigh Harline |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 100 min |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.25 million (US/ Canada) [1] |
7 Faces of Dr. Lao is a 1964 American Metrocolor Western fantasy-comedy film directed by George Pal (his final directorial effort) and starring Tony Randall. The film, an adaptation of the 1935 novel The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney adapted for the screen by Charles Beaumont, details the visit of a magical circus to a small town in the southwestern United States and its effects on the townspeople.
Dr. Lao rides a golden donkey (implied to be The Golden Ass of Apuleius) into the small town of Abalone, Arizona and visits Edward Cunningham's newspaper to place a large advertisement for his traveling circus, which will play for two nights only.
Though quiet, Abalone is not peaceful. Wealthy rancher Clinton Stark has inside information that a railroad is coming to town and plans to buy the entire town while the land is cheap. Stark arrives at the newspaper offices to confront Cunningham about a recent editorial in opposition to Stark's plan. Lao, waiting to place his ad, silently listens to the meeting.
Another of Stark's opponents is Angela Benedict, a widow librarian and schoolteacher. Cunningham displays affection for her, embarrassing her in a visit to the library to research Lao's background, but she suppresses her reciprocal feelings.
At a town hall meeting, Stark announces that the town's 16-mile-long water-supply pipe is decaying and that a replacement would be prohibitively expensive. He offers to buy the entire town. Arguing against the offer, Cunningham introduces George G. George, a Navajo Indian who lives nearby in a town whose residents depend on Abalone's existence. Stark reluctantly allows the townspeople to ponder their choice until the next Friday night.
The next day, Cunningham confronts Lao at the circus site, arguing that Lao's hometown vanished centuries earlier. The mysterious Lao deflects Cunningham's questions. Later, Angela's young son Mike learns that Lao is 7,321 years old. When the circus opens, Lao uses his many faces to offer his wisdom, including those of Pan (the god of joy), the Great Serpent, Medusa and the magician Merlin.
Mike visits Lao seeking a job, displaying his novice juggling and conjuring skills. Lao instead offers observations in the form of a poetic speech about the world, and life, as a circus.
It is learned that on the first night of the circus, Stark's henchmen destroyed the newspaper office. Angela is kept awake that night, plagued by the music that Pan played while no one else could hear it.
At dawn, the newspapermen are astonished to discover that their office has been fully restored with the press operating. Attributing it to Lao, they rush to produce a short edition of the paper, which Cunningham delivers to Stark in the morning. When he visits the circus site, Lao offers encouragement and calls on Cunningham to keep faith.
That evening, Lao stages his grand finale, a magic lantern show depicting the story of a once-happy kingdom of Woldercan, destroyed by the pettiness and greed of its inhabitants. The Abalone townspeople are at first delighted to see themselves represented in the vision, then chastened as it progresses toward the end of the mythical civilization in explosions and darkness. The townspeople find themselves again in the library in a town meeting. A vote is called on Stark's proposal, and to the surprise of Cunningham, Benedict and Stark, it is rejected unanimously. Stark tells everyone about the coming railroad and Angela confesses her love to Cunningham.
Stark's henchmen are confused by his apparent change of character and trash Lao's circus in a drunken spree, during which they break Dr. Lao's fishbowl. The fish inside it is revealed to be the Loch Ness Monster, which balloons to enormous size when exposed to the open air. After it chases the two thugs away, Dr. Lao conjures rain to wet the monster and shrink it to its original size.
Morning comes and the circus is gone, with only a red circle on the desert floor where the tent had been. At first Mike's reports of the previous night are disbelieved, but Stark finds the hat belonging to one of the henchmen. Mike chases a dust plume that seems to him to be the spirit of Dr. Lao. He stops to find three wooden balls, seemingly left for him, which he juggles expertly while summoning the spirit of Lao to observe.
Dr. Lao rides away as his advice from two nights earlier is repeated, reminding Mike that the circus of Dr. Lao is life itself, and that everything within it is a wonder.
Randall voices the Serpent, a stop-motion animated snake with the face of O'Connell. While Randall is also credited as the Abominable Snowman, bodybuilder Péter Pál (son of the film's director) was the uncredited body double. Randall also appears with his own face as a silent audience member.
The original novel was published in 1934. Film rights were bought by George Pal, who in April 1961 said that Charles Beaumont was writing a script. [2] "He has a kooky mind like mine," said Pal. [3]
In September 1961, Pal said that Laurence Harvey would star. [4] In December 1961, Terry-Thomas was linked to the project. [5] In June 1962, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced that Rod Taylor would star in the film. [6]
According to notes on the Leigh Harline soundtrack CD released by Film Score Monthly, Pal's first choice for the role of Dr. Lao was Peter Sellers, who was strongly interested. However, MGM had Tony Randall under contract and wanted to use him; he was $50,000 cheaper. [7] In June 1963, it was announced that Randall would play the lead. [8]
Filming began on July 15, 1963. [9]
The "Woldercan spectacular" that Dr. Lao presents as the grand finale of his circus contains much footage from an earlier George Pal production, 1961's Atlantis, the Lost Continent , as well as some footage of flowing lava from The Time Machine and stock footage of destruction from MGM's 1951 production of Quo Vadis . The crystal ball and large hourglass used by the Wicked Witch of the West in 1939's The Wizard of Oz can be seen in the film. In the scene in which Mike visits Lao at night, a two-headed tortoise can be seen that would later appear in several episodes of The Addams Family .
In January, 1965 MGM announced that Randall would return as Dr. Lao in a sequel, [10] but it did not materialize.
7 Faces of Dr. Lao garnered positive reception from multiple movie critics. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that five of six surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 83%. [11] Howard Thompson of The New York Times called the film "heavy, thick, pint-sized fantasy, laid on with an anvil." [12]
In 1974, Pal said 7 Faces of Dr. Lao was the only of his films to lose money at the box office, although it had since recouped its cost through television broadcast rights. [7]
William Tuttle received an honorary Academy Award for his makeup work. It was the first of only two honorary Oscars awarded for makeup; the other went to John Chambers in 1968 for Planet of the Apes . Randall's head was shaved, not only to play the bald Dr. Lao but also to facilitate the many costume and makeup changes. [13]
Jim Danforth's model animation of the Loch Ness Monster, the Giant Serpent and Medusa's snake hair were nominated for an Academy Award. [14]
7 Faces of Dr. Lao was originally released on a two-sided Region 1 DVD in 2000. [15]
Anthony Leonard Randall was an American actor. He is best known for portraying the role of Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play The Odd Couple by Neil Simon. In a career spanning six decades, Randall received six Golden Globe Award nominations and six Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning one Emmy.
James Gregory was an American character actor known for his deep, gravelly voice, and playing brash roles such as Schaffer in Al Capone (1959), the McCarthy-like Sen. John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), the audacious General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), and crusty Inspector Frank Luger in the television sitcom Barney Miller (1975–1982).
The Circus of Dr. Lao (1935) is a novel written by the American newspaperman and writer Charles G. Finney. It won one of the inaugural National Book Awards: the Most Original Book of 1935. Although the first edition was illustrated by Boris Artzybasheff, many later editions omit the illustrations.
William Julian Tuttle was an American make-up artist.
James Danforth is an American stop-motion animator, known for model-animation, matte painting, and for his work on When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970), a theme-sequel to Ray Harryhausen's One Million Years B.C. (1967). He later went on to work with Ray Harryhausen on the film Clash of the Titans (1981) to mainly do the animation of the winged horse Pegasus.
Atlantis, the Lost Continent is a 1961 American science fiction film in Metrocolor produced and directed by George Pal and starring Sal Ponti, Joyce Taylor, and John Dall. The film was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Michael Callan, sometimes known as Mickey Collins, was an American actor best known for originating the role of Riff in West Side Story on Broadway, and for his film roles for Columbia Pictures, notably Gidget Goes Hawaiian, The Interns and Cat Ballou.
The Power is a 1968 American tech noir, science fiction thriller film from MGM, produced by George Pal, directed by Byron Haskin, that stars George Hamilton and Suzanne Pleshette. It is based on the 1956 science fiction novel The Power by Frank M. Robinson.
When Worlds Collide is a 1951 American science fiction disaster film released by Paramount Pictures. It was produced by George Pal, directed by Rudolph Maté, and stars Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, Peter Hansen, and John Hoyt. The film is based on the 1933 science fiction novel of the same name, co-written by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie.
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is a 1962 American fantasy film directed by Henry Levin and George Pal. The latter was the producer and also in charge of the stop motion animation. The film was one of the highest-grossing films of 1962. It won one Oscar and was nominated for three additional Academy Awards. The cast included several prominent actors—including Laurence Harvey, Karlheinz Böhm, Jim Backus, Barbara Eden and Buddy Hackett.
Lover Come Back is a 1961 American Eastmancolor romantic comedy film released by Universal Pictures and directed by Delbert Mann. It stars Doris Day and Rock Hudson and is their second time working together. The supporting cast includes Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Ann B. Davis, and Donna Douglas.
Henry Levin began as a stage actor and director but was most notable as an American film director of over fifty feature films. His best known credits were Jolson Sings Again (1949), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) and Where the Boys Are (1960).
Sol C. Siegel was an American film producer. Two of the numerous films he produced, A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Sylvia is a 1965 American drama film directed by Gordon Douglas, written by Sydney Boehm, and starring George Maharis, Carroll Baker, and Peter Lawford. The film is based on the novel of the same name by E. V. Cunningham in 1960.
Gene Warren Sr. was born in Denver, Colorado, and won an Academy Award for the special effects on George Pal's The Time Machine in 1960. He also contributed to such projects as The Way of Peace (1947), Land of the Lost (1974), Man from Atlantis, and The Crow: City of Angels.
Return to Peyton Place is a 1961 American drama film in color by De Luxe and CinemaScope, produced by Jerry Wald, directed by José Ferrer, and starring Carol Lynley, Tuesday Weld, Jeff Chandler, Eleanor Parker, Mary Astor, and Robert Sterling. The screenplay by Ronald Alexander is based on the 1959 novel Return to Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox and is a sequel to their earlier film Peyton Place (1957).
Frank Reppy Wilcox was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films and television series, as well as Broadway plays.
Return from the Ashes is a 1965 British thriller film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Ingrid Thulin, Maximilian Schell, Samantha Eggar and Herbert Lom. It is based on a novel by French crime writer Hubert Monteilhet, adapted for film by prolific screenwriter Julius J. Epstein. The novel would also serve as the source material for the 2014 German film Phoenix, directed by Christian Petzold, though the latter film makes multiple changes to the book's elements and concerns itself solely with the plot to reclaim an inheritance.
Beauty and the Beast is a 1962 American romantic fantasy film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Joyce Taylor and Mark Damon. It is based on the 18th century fairy tale Beauty and the Beast written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont and features title creature make-up by the legendary Jack Pierce.
Utah Blaine is a 1957 American Western film directed by Fred F. Sears and starring Rory Calhoun. It was based on a novel by Louis L'Amour.