7 Faces of Dr. Lao
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7 Faces of Dr. Lao is a 1964 film adaptation of the 1935 fantasy novel The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. It details the visit of a magical circus to a small town in the southwest United States, and the effects that visit has on the people of the town.
The novel was adapted by Charles Beaumont, directed by George Pál and starred Tony Randall in the title role. Randall also appears as Pan, Apollonius of Tyana ("I only read futures, I don't evaluate them!"), a borderline-senile Merlin and even Medusa and the Abominable Snowman. He also provides the voice for a stop-motion animation "Giant Serpent", but because the serpent looks like Randall's castmate Arthur O'Connell, the seventh "face" of the title could be said to be a make-up free "cameo" appearance Randall makes as a townsman in the audience of the circus finale, slowly shaking his head at the scene before him.
For his work on the film, makeup artist William Tuttle won an Honorary Academy Award for Oustanding Makeup Achievement.
The movie is currently available on DVD, from Warner Brothers.
Synopsis
The film is set in the small and isolated town of Abalone, Arizona sometime around the start of the 20th century. As the movie begins, an elderly Chinese man wearing a coolie hat rides into town on a "jackass". Mounted in front of him on the saddle is a goldfish bowl occupied by an single innocuous-looking fish. This visitor, Dr Lao, visits the local newspaper and places a full-page ad for his traveling circus, which will play in Abalone for two nights only. Although none of the other characters notice it yet, it is quickly made clear to the viewer that Lao possesses magical powers.
Though quiet, Abalone is not peaceful. A wealthy rancher and former idealist, Clint Stark, has gained inside information that a railroad is coming trough town, and he is trying to buy up the entire place while the land is still cheap. He is opposed in this scheme by Edward Cunningham, a still-idealistic new arrival to town who owns the newspaper where Lao places his advertisement. In addition to this crusade, Cunningham is also romantically pursuing the town's librarian, Angela Benedict, a repressed woman who is still grieving the death of her husband several years previously. As Lao puts up posters around town advertising his circus, he is assisted by Angela's young son Mike, who gives Lao the opportunity to expound on philosophy and the nature of wisdom, and who, while impressed, accepts without question that the mysterious wanderer is thousands of years old.
The circus springs up at the edge of town, and Cunningham conducts a fairly unilluminating interview with Lao, who is fishing in a dry creekbed. As Cunningham departs in puzzlement, Lao catches a fish on his baitless hook. Lao later assists a visiting Indian when Stark's two thuggish henchmen waylay the man in an alley, and repairs Cunningham's press when the duo destroy it.
Night falls, the circus opens its doors, and the townsfolk flock to see the wonders on display. Along with the main cast, the gawkers include the town's ineffectual mayor, a shrewish wife who runs roughshod over her Scandinavian-immigrant husband, and a self-absorbed matron who is desperately trying to hold onto her self-image of a young beauty. Lao uses his magic and his many faces to offer wisdom and guidance to these people; some of them take heed of his advice, while others, sadly, do not. Stark in particular has disquieting meetings with both Apollonius and the Giant Serpent, while Angela is aroused from her emotional repression by the pipes of Pan and Mike befriends the pathetic Merlin. After Medusa turns the disbelieving shrew to stone, Lao calls an end to the night's proceedings. (And Merlin undoes the damage.)
Mike later returns to the circus, visits Lao in his trailer, and tries to get a job, displaying his novice juggling and conjuring skills. Instead of a job, Lao offers some advice which Mike doesn't understand, and Lao claims to not understand either.
The next night Lao stages the grand finale of his show, which depicts how the mythical city of "Woldercan" was destroyed when it succumed to greed and temptation, as Abalone is now threatened. After the explosive climax of the show, the people of Abalone find themselves in a town meeting, voting on Stark's proposal. They reject it, and a redeemed Stark tells them about the coming railroad and the new opportunities it will bring all of them. A sudden duststorm breaks up the meeting, and as the townsfolk scatter to their homes, Angela opens up to Ed.
The only people not happy about the new situation are Stark's two henchmen, who get drunk and decide to trash Lao's circus. Unfortunately, one of the things they break is Lao's goldfish bowl, the inhabitant of which is revealed to be a sea serpent which immediately balloons to enormous size when exposed to the open air. (This is not the Giant Serpent who talks to Stark.) It chases the two thugs into the storm, before Mike alerts Dr. Lao, who conjures up a cloudburst to shrink the beast back down to "portable" size.
The next morning, the circus is gone, leaving only a ring in the desert spotted with Saguaro cacti. Mike chases after what he thinks is Lao and his donkey, but only finds three balls lying in the sand. He is able to juggle them, and Lao's voice reminds the viewer again what he told Mike in his trailer: the circus of Dr. Lao is life itself, and everything in it is a wonder.
Cast
Tony Randall . . .Dr Lao, the Visitor
Barbara Eden . . .Angela Benedict, the Librarian
John Ericson . . .Ed Cunningham, the Publisher
Arthur O'Connell . . .Clint Stark, the Tycoon
Kevin Tate . . .Mike Benedict, the Orphan
Noah Beery, Jr. . . .Sam, the Pressman
Eddie Little Sky . . .George G. George, the Indian
Royal Dano . . .Casey, the Henchman
Changes from the novel
While largely remaining true to the novel, there are a number of differences in detail and characterization in the film. The greatest change is the addition of a significant amount of additional story beyond the endpoint of the novel, which ended with the townspeople being emotionally (and perhaps physically) shattered by the morality play shown on the second night of the circus. The novel is also far more biting and cynical in its depiction of average Americans' inability to accept magic and wonder in their lives.
References in Other Media
A quote from the movie was used in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. In Joel Hodgson's last episode as the host (#512, Mitchell), his final message to the 'bots is engraved on a plaque that reads, "The world is a circus if you look at it the right way. Every time you pick up a handful of dust, and see not the dust but mystery, a marvel, there in your hand. Every time you stop and think, "I'm alive. And being alive is fantastic." Every time such a thing happens, you are part of the circus of Dr. Lao." The 'bots are justifiably confused.
An episode of the animated TV series Duckman featured Tony Randall using Lao-like magic to banish a clutch of evil tobacco executives. Randall was voiced by an impersonator; the show includes a sub-caption explicitly noting this fact, adding that the actor never returned the producers' phone calls.
Trivia
Randall had to have his head shaved for the title role. The studio publicity department arrived at the barber too late to photograph the process, so they had a make-up artist glue hair back on Randall's head and the barber once again removed it, this time for the cameras.
External links
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