Tony Randall got the opportunity to show vast range in this 1965 fantasy fable, playing seven distinct characters in such thorough makeup that he virtually disappears into the roles. The film follows the arrival of the mysterious Dr. Lao in a frontier town, where he proceeds to advertise and set up shop for his traveling circus. When the townfolk attend the show, they get more than they bargained for as they’re forced to face hard truths about their town and its leadership.
Buy 7 Faces of Dr. LaoThe story is based on a novel, which director George Pal used as a springboard for a dizzying array of eye-popping fantasy elements, including a talking puppet snake with a human face and a fearsome seven-headed stop-motion Loch Ness monster. Randall’s characters are also fantastic, including the snake, Pan, Merlin, Medusa, Apollonius, and Dr. Lao. It’s the kind of mind-bending weirdness that makes you wonder how it ever got greenlit by a mainstream studio, making its mere existence seem more like a fever dream than reality. And yet, a tale of morality gradually emerges from the oddities.
Lao’s primary purpose in the small town is to address the ramifications of the impending arrival of a railroad. A shady land developer has advance knowledge and intends to buy out the locals for pennies before the land becomes valuable. Lao and his traveling coterie of curiosities offer guidance to the townspeople and the developer through tactics such as fortune telling and Confucian wisdom, hoping to surreptitiously avert completion of the scam. Watch for Barbara Eden as a reserved, auburn-haired librarian, a polar opposite from her iconic work in I Dream of Jeannie starting just one year later.
The film is obviously problematic in these more sensitive times, primarily due to Randall in full Chinese caricature including wispy goatee, conical hat, wide nose, and slanted eyes. It gets worse when he speaks in stereotypically broken English, although the Lao character changes his accent entirely at times as part of his mystique, reverting to Randall’s clipped American accent as well as other nationalities. It also plays into stereotypes of Native Americans, carnival freaks, and simpleton hicks, allowing broad generalizations to take the place of any serious character development. Put another way, there’s no danger of this film ever being remade. The racist tropes mar an otherwise wildly original production filled with bizarre wonders.
The Blu-ray is presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio with DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound. No restoration information is provided, but the transfer is crisp and clear, with colors retaining the slightly subdued tints of the era. Bonus features are included, most importantly an archival 8-minute featurette called King of the Duplicators that takes viewers into William Tuttle’s makeup department for a look at his then-revolutionary process of making wax impressions of actors’ faces in order to accurately model the necessary effects to change their appearance. This sheds considerable light on his Oscar-winning makeup work in this film, and also includes glimpses of his wall of busts of other stars including Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, and Paul Newman. The disc also includes a late-era Tom and Jerry cartoon from the film’s timeframe, highly stylized by director Chuck Jones, as well as the original theatrical trailer.
