SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

ShangLuda Admirable film.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

mike48128 Not a hit when first released, but now regarded as a fantasy masterpiece by the amazing George Pal. Featuring the (also) amazing Oscar-winning makeup of MGM's William Tuttle. Tony Randall does not entirely play all "7 Faces" of Dr. Lao alone, as the snake is either stop-motion animated or a puppet by George Pal. Also, "Pan" seems to take on the physical appearance of Barbara Eden's love-interest. The first 18 minutes are a bit slow, and have often been condensed, by content or speed, for network-cable viewing. It is not your imagination, the little Western town of Abalone appears brown and drab until Dr. Lao shows up with his magical one-man circus. Like Prof. Harold Hill in "The Music Man", Dr. Lao brings a zest-for-life and sense of wonder to a small and insignificant little town that an unscrupulous "town boss" is about to buy out "lock stock and barrel", as later "satirized" in the farce "Blazing Saddles" a decade later! Only he (and Dr. Lao) know that the railroad is coming through! "Dr. Lao" is a curiosity of a film, yet great fun and magical, for the most part. Slightly "preachy", with a moral,like most George Pal films.The "Loch Ness Monster" looks similar to the giant dragon in George Pal's "Brothers Grimm", and chases two bullying cowboys out of town. A real old fashioned Saturday matinée type of movie from the 60's. Now available from the Warner Archive collection only in a custom DVD-R format, which will run on most current (but not all) DVD & Blu-Ray players.

Uriah43 A Chinese magician by the name of "Dr. Lao" (played by Tony Randall) rides into the arid western town of Abalone to seek out the newspaper publisher "Ed Cunningham" (John Erickson) to have him announce that the circus is coming to town. And it's an unusual circus which features: Merlin, Pan (the God of Joy), Medusa, the Abominable Snowman, the Giant Serpent, and Appollonius of Tyana (all of whom are played by Tony Randall). During his visit, a town hall meeting is being held and the rich--but dishonest-- businessman "Clint Stark" (Arthur O'Connell) is telling the townspeople that the pipe delivering water to the town is crumbling apart and that it will cost $237,000 to repair. Knowing that they cannot possibly raise the money he offers to buy their land and homes from them. He then gives them a couple of days to make their decision. In the meantime everyone decides to visit the circus. When they do they discover things about themselves that they never knew before. Rather than spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it let me just say that this is a very enjoyable picture that the whole family will love. Not only does it showcase the versatility of Tony Randall but it also features the beautiful Barbara Eden as the widowed librarian "Angela Benedict" who is working hard to support a young son named "Mike Benedict" (Kevin Tate) and her mother-in-law, "Sarah Benedict" (Argentina Brunetti). She is also doing her best to resist the charms of Ed Cunningham. And while her performance is good it is Tony Randall in his many guises who actually steals this show. Be that as it may, this movie has a good cast, a good plot and was even nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Special Effects". Again, this is an excellent movie and it's definitely worth a look if you get the opportunity.

bob the moo The small western town of Abalone in Arizona is facing a tough future; the main pipe that carries water to the desert town is in need of urgent and very expensive repairs, repairs that the simple townsfolk may not be able to meet. The local bigwig Clint Stark is happy to help on his terms – which is to cheaply buy everyone out of their land so they might get out of their problem and move to another town. Many are willing to be bullied this way and only a small number want to find solutions to keep the town alive. Into the middle of this hopeless situation comes the enigmatic Dr Lao and his mysterious travelling circus.There is a certain weird cult appeal to this film and perhaps it is understandable that so many reviewers have found a certain amount of charm in that. For me I did get a certain novelty value from seeing these weird things, Tony Randall in multiple roles and the genre clash with the western but this was far from enough to carry a whole film. For me the novelty value wore off quick quickly and what was left was a film that rambles from one rather silly special-effects based scene to the next. I never really engaged with it and the best I could say of it in terms of interest was that I was held in a state of bemusement by the whole thing. The lessons of magic, kindness and love are all quite pat and obvious and don't save the day either.The main selling point is perhaps seeing Randall but this is not to say he is good. Indeed it is actually quite cringe-worthy to watch him doing his terribly dated Chinese impression among other so-so performances. It doesn't help him that the support cast are either wooden or just clichéd cowboy characters being all rowdy and speaking classic frontier gibberish. That they have to carry the majority of the plot (if not script) makes things worse.Don't get me wrong Dr Lao is worth a look simply because of how unusual it as a creation, however this doesn't translate into value as a film. Instead it flits between being silly, imaginative and wooden. The reason for the cult appeal is clear – but so is the lack of a wider, lasting appeal.

Scott-Antes Perhaps if Peter Sellers (George Pal's original choice for the lead here) had played Dr. Lao in this film, it would have done much better at the box office when released, and the film would be seen by more than a cult following today. Sellers would become the hotter 1960s box office draw, but Tony Randall does an outstanding job as Dr. Lao, and this movie is definitely worth anyone's viewing. The make-up work in this film is terrific, by any standard, and the special effects--especially for 1964--are terrific. *The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao* has something for everyone: fantasy, romance, comedy, drama, minimal violence--even a few minutes of Barbara Eden's sexual passion heating up. Again, for anyone who hasn't enjoyed watching it, it's definitely worth a look. For many who have already seen it, it's worth another.