7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) on Netflix
NR19641h 40mComedyFamilyFantasyWestern
Dr. Lao rides a golden donkey into Abalone, Arizona, advertising a circus that will play for two nights only. Rancher Clint Stark wants to buy the town; publisher Ed Cunningham opposes him.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.1/106,005 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Trailer
Plot summary
Dr. Lao arrives in Abalone, Arizona, riding a golden donkey, and places an advertisement at Ed Cunningham's newspaper for a traveling circus that will play for two nights only. Abalone is quiet but not peaceful: wealthy rancher Clint Stark knows a railroad is coming and wants to buy the whole town cheaply, and Cunningham's editorials oppose that plan. Angela Benedict, a widowed librarian and schoolteacher, is another of Stark's opponents. At a town hall meeting Stark reports that the town's sixteen-mile water pipe is decaying and offers to buy Abalone, so the townspeople are given until Friday to decide. Cunningham confronts Lao at the circus site and learns his accented speech is deliberate. When the circus opens, Lao appears in many faces, among them Pan, Medusa and Merlin.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- George Pal's first choice to play Dr. Lao was Peter Sellers, who was strongly interested, but MGM had Tony Randall under contract and wanted him instead because he was $50,000 cheaper; Randall was announced for the lead in June 1963.
- Makeup artist William Tuttle received an honorary Academy Award for his work on the film, the first of only two honorary Oscars ever awarded for makeup; the other went to John Chambers in 1968 for Planet of the Apes.
- Tony Randall had his head shaved both to play the bald Dr. Lao and to speed up the many costume and makeup changes.
- The grand finale's "Woldercan spectacular" reuses footage from George Pal's own 1961 film Atlantis, the Lost Continent, lava shots from The Time Machine and destruction footage from MGM's 1951 Quo Vadis, and the Wicked Witch's crystal ball and hourglass from The Wizard of Oz also appear in the film.
- In 1974 George Pal said 7 Faces of Dr. Lao was the only one of his films to lose money at the box office, although it had since recouped its cost through television broadcast rights.
