The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it. (Seven Faces of Dr. Lao [1963])

Name: hogsflesh

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Product:	Seven Faces of Dr. Lao [1963]
Date:	29.04.08 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of fun, pretty imaginative

Disadvantages: Probably too old-fashioned for a lot of people

A review of just the film.

This is one of those fun-for-all-the-family type fantasy films that proliferated in the 50s and 60s (it hails from 1964). It didn't do terribly well at the box office at the time, but deserves to be as well known today as any of the Harryhausen Sinbad movies. It was directed by George Pal, who made many films of this type, from Tom Thumb in the 50s to the immortal Doc Savage The Man of Bronze in the 70s.

Things aren't going well in a small town in the American West (this is probably set in the early 20th century). The town is poor, and a wealthy man is effectively forcing the townspeople to sell him their homes at a knock-down price. Only the hunky local newspaper editor, Ed, tries to stand up to him, without much success. But then a mysterious Chinaman and his circus arrive in town and everything goes a bit weird.

This is very much in the vein of It's A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol, in that supernatural entities teach people things about themselves while providing enough spectacle to keep the audience happy. It's nice to see a Western in which the mysterious stranger arrives and *doesn't* start killing people to solve their problems - imagine if Shane had been about a strange little magician and you've nailed this film's essence.

We get half an hour to establish the characters (lonely, attractive single mother who can't admit that she fancies the hero; uptight society woman with henpecked hubbie; villainous businessman and bullyboy helpers etc). Then, once we've established who we like and who we don't, they all go to the circus and get their heads well and truly messed with.

There's a distinctly dark edge to what goes on at that circus. The villain comes face-to-face with a talking snake that has his face and shares some uncomfortable home truths with him. Someone foolishly decides to stare at Medusa, and the great god Pan gives a lady a rude awakening. Creepiest of all is Apollonius of Tyana, a blind fortune teller with a distressingly honest approach to fortune telling ("When you die you will be buried and forgotten. That'll be five cents" kind of thing). Naturally enough, bad things happen to the bad people and (generally) good things to the good.

There are only seven performers at the circus, including Dr Lao, and they're all played by the same actor, American sitcom star Tony Randall (sometimes just as a voice). At first glance his performance as Dr Lao is appalling, the most offensive racist caricature you could possibly imagine, but it soon becomes obvious that how he talks depends on who he's talking to, and the 'velly solly' Chinee mannerisms are a disguise. He is very good as Lao, but he's even better as some of the other characters (who are somehow all Dr Lao as well, of course, hence the 'Seven Faces of...' title). His Merlin is an excellent doddery magician, his Apollonius genuinely unsettling. Pan is a bit silly, and as Medusa he looks like exactly what he is - a man in lipstick with a daft, snake-related wig - but as a showcase for his versatility this is great stuff. The rest of the cast, none of whom I'd heard of, are all more than capable of playing the parts they're given. No one apart from Randall stands out, but everyone is at least watchable.

This is quite light on the special effects. They're very charming for their time, but really aren't up to modern standards. So as ever, everything depends on how willing you are to indulge what was probably the best that could be achieved in that era and with the low budget this would have had. My view is that these are great - you don't criticise a child if their painting of a house doesn't actually look much like a real house, because a child is too young to do better. So it is with film. They didn't have Industrial Light and Magic in 1964, so I'm quite happy to enjoy the slightly ropey stop-motion Loch Ness Monster.

It's all shot in Technicolor. The music seems to consist of one theme, which can sound like archetypal Western music, exotic Chinese music, or fairground organ music, depending on how quickly it's played. The look and the music, combined with its slightly slow pace makes it perfect for watching on a Sunday afternoon when you're about eight (assuming they still show films like this on TV). I definitely saw it at least once on TV as a kid, because the first fortune teller scene really stays with me, but this isn't well known at all, which is a shame. I still enjoy a good kids' fantasy film, and usually enjoy the older ones more (mainly, I guess, because they're the ones I'd have seen as a kid). This is sort of like the missing link between the wacky comedy and dodgy racism of One Of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing, the creepier bits of A Christmas Carol, and the out-and-out celebration of mythology of the likes of Jason and the Argonauts. But all crammed into one circus tent, and about cowboys.

I really enjoyed seeing this again, although I'd guess it won't be for everyone. There's a DVD available (region 1 only) which will set you back about £8 on amazon.

Summary: An undeservedly obscure fantasy film