Sunday, October 2, 2016

Come One, Come All to the Circus!

This is my entry in the Dual Roles Blogathon, hosted by Christina Wehner and Silver Screenings




A quick glance at the roundup for this "Dual Roles" blogathon shows numerous entries for actors who are playing two separate roles.  In "Dr. Strangelove", Peter Sellers takes on a mere three roles.  To this I say "Bah!  Pikers!"

Ladies and gentlemen!  Come one, come all to the Circus of Dr. Lao.  Here you will see Dr. Lao himself.

Tony Randall
You will also see the monstrous, but beguiling Medusa!

Tony Randall
The enchanting God of Joy, Pan!

Tony Randall
The fantastic wizard of antiquity, Merlin!

Tony Randall
 A mysterious seer of the future, Appolonius!

Tony Randall
An Abominable Snowman!

Tony Randall
And a talking serpent!


Animated serpent, but voiced by Tony Randall



Yes, that's right, folks! Tony Randall puts them all to shame by taking on 7 (count 'em, 7!) roles in The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao.  

(Now, nitpickers will say that, in retrospect, Tony Randall was not actually the Abominable Snowman, although he was credited as it.  I'll concede that it's true.  George Pal's son, Peter, was the un-credited one in the snowman costume.  But, in that case,  I will add that Randall also appeared in the audience of the circus, looking pretty unimpressed with the proceedings.  So now we again have 7, so there!  :-D)

Tony Randall


The movie was directed by George Pal, and is a loving rendition of a great fantasy novel written in 1935 by Charles G. Finney.  Charles Beaumont, a veteran screenwriter whose name should be familiar to fans of the Rod Serling show The Twilight Zone, adapted the novel for the screen.






The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

This film opens with a Chinese peasant, Dr. Lao (Tony Randall), riding in to the town of Abalone with his only apparent possessions being a long stemmed pipe, a jackass and a fish bowl with a fish in it.  He rides into town, immediately going to the local paper to advertise his circus.  Dr. Lao is. among other things, a magician, and we get a sample early on as he waves his hand to stop the noisy presses of the paper in order to get the attention of the printer, Sam (Noah Beery, Jr.).  He wants to talk with the man in charge, Ed Cunningham (John Ericson), but the printer claims he is busy.






Enter the proposed villain of the picture.  Clint Stark (Arthur O'Connell).  Stark berates Ed, good-naturedly admittedly, for printing editorials calling into question Stark's motives for buying up wholesale portions of the town.  Ed suspects Stark has ulterior motives although he does not know what they are.  After Stark leaves Lao proposes buying a full page ad in Ed's newspaper advertising his Circus.




Ed has a crush on the local librarian, Angela Benedict (Barbara Eden), a widow with a son, Mike (Kevin Tate).  Angela spurns his advances with gusto, although her mother-in-law, with whom she still lives, Sarah (Argentina Brunetti) approves of him and thinks her widowed daughter-in-law should give in and accept his advances.




A town hall meeting is called in which the efforts of Stark to buy the town are addressed, but just before a final vote is called to accept his offer, Ed manages to postpone the vote.  He is still trying to find out Stark's motives.  Meantime Dr. Lao's Circus opens.  By the way, if you are unable to accept that such a large circus could be transported on the back of donkey, you are too literal-minded, and are probably in the wrong theater.




The towns patrons of the circus are addressed individually and see exactly what they seem to need to see.  Angela is enchanted by the pipes playing of the god Pan, who transforms, in her mind, from the god as played by Tony Randall into Ed as played by John Ericson.  A haughty woman who thinks more of herself than she really is, Mrs. Cassan (Lee Patrick) is brought down to Earth by the blunt but truthful predictions of the seer, Appolonius (Tony Randall).  A snotty little kid is given his comeuppance by the aged wizard Merlin (Tony Randall). A shrewish woman ( is turned to stone by the Medusa (Tony Randall), despite her insistence that its all a hoax.   And Stark meets a talking serpent (an animated creature that looks like stark, but is voiced by Tony Randall).













Throughout all of this is Dr. Lao who entertains as the ringmaster, not only using the pidgin English that personifies the Chinese in movies of the era, but also in a pretty decent Irish accent, and in straightforward American English on one occasion to Mike.  You might think all of this is a stereotype, and some will undoubtedly be offended by the portrayals, but I see it in the context of the fantasy of the overall film.  Randall as Dr. Lao exposes the faults of each of the citizens, all of which makes them change into better people by the end of the movie.  Even Stark.





I hope I have intrigued you enough to want to watch this movie on your own.  I avoided any spoilers, because unlike many of the movies I reviewed in recent months, I think this one may be obscure enough that many of you may not have seen it.  trust me, it is a very entertaining fable, and the book is really good too, if you manage to find a copy.

Well, folks, the circus is closing.  Be sure to stock up on cotton candy and pretzels before you leave the theater.

Quiggy

10 comments:

  1. Not only have I not seen this, I hadn't even heard of it! Tony Randall in SEVEN roles?! Awesome! Tony is someone who doesn't seem to get a love of fan love these days, so hurrah for bringing him to the blogathon. :)

    This film sounds like a lot of fun. Except for the clowns and bears in ridiculous costumes, what's not to love about a circus. (I laughed when you said if a person can't believe a circus can be transported via donkey, they they are in the wrong theatre.) What I really like about this film is the idea of the characters transforming and becoming better people.

    Thanks for joining the Dual Roles fun!

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    1. You don't like clowns? Well, you might want to avoid by entry for the At the Circus blogathon..."Killer Klowns from Outer Space...:-D Thanks for reading.

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  2. You have definitely intrigued me! Is this the film the library bought for you? Sounds so worth it! I wonder if I could get my library to do so, as well. :)

    Looking at all those different pictures of Tony Randall...he must have had a blast! I was especially struck by his Medusa.

    So very glad you could participate!

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    1. This is the one the library bought. As I mentioned in the early stages of searching for it, I saw it with my grandparents on TV on, I think, NBC. That's the one that comes to mind; "NBC Saturday Night at the Movies", back before cable and even HBO when your only access to theater movies on TV was one of the big three stations.

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  3. I feel as tho I have seen this! But I really feel like I need to track it down to watch it again.

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  4. This movie frightened me as a youngster. I didn't really understand what was going on. Recent viewings (that's right, once you start getting into it you can't leave it alone) have intrigued and impressed me greatly. A true hidden gem that you have spotlighted perfectly. I hope you have garnered this film many new fans.

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    1. Except for the fish monster I'm not sure what could be deemed frightening. The flying monkeys in The wizard of Oz scared me more than this movie... :-) Thanks for reading.

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  5. This was the first movie I ever saw on TCM, and it was an enjoyable experience with my whole family watching together. It was some years later that I found out who Tony Randall was - and how impressive his seven roles were.
    Don't forget to read my contribution to the blogathon! :)
    Cheers!
    Le

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    1. Its been a long busy weekend, but i'll get to it. Thanks.

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