Not particularly talented as director (his efforts there lack pace and visual style) he made up for his deficiencies with a soaring imagination.....
And as we've pointed out in other posts, Pal worked his cinematic miracles ("War Of The Worlds", "The Time Machine", "When Worlds Collide") with impoverished budgets........
'7 Faces Of Dr.Lao' may be as close to a personal statement as you'll ever find in a Pal film.....a gentle-hearted fable in which an immortal, Chinese circus magician teaches moral lessons to a Western town filled with vain, greedy, foolish citizens........all of them on the verge of selling their homes and property over to a manipulative, bullying land baron.
Dr. Lao, played in a bravura display of theatrical versatility by Tony Randall. imparts nuggets of wisdom to the townsfolk while he appears as all his circus's attractions......the Abominable Snowman, Merlin The Magician, the Greek God Pan, a talking serpent, a blind seer, and even Medusa, complete with hair snakes.
The life altering lessons doled out by Lao in his multiple identities play out in the same way Rod Serling cleverly implanted his opinions in his 'Twilight Zone' episodes........but you don't mind that you're being preached to when there's so much fun stuff to gaze at goggle-eyed.......Medusa turning the town harridan into stone, Pan driving the town's prim schoolmarm into a literal hot 'n bothered frenzy, and the villainous land baron seeing his own face on the wisecracking serpent......
After all these mini-morality tales unfold, Pal rewards you with some simple, plain old fashioned fairy-tale fun......when the land baron's scuzzy minions open fire on Dr. Lao's goldfish, not realizing it's the Loch Ness Monster in disguise.......
A word of caution here, especially to Asian viewers who come across this film.......its 1964 origins become apparent in Randall's schizophrenic performance as Dr. Lao.....he swings back and forth from sounding cultured and erudite to that godawful low comedy oriental shtick that Mickey Rooney inflicted on "Breakfast At Tiffanty's" Don't say we didn't warn you.....
As for BQ, whenever we unearth a 60's time capsule like this one, we consider the era it came from. '7 Faces Of Dr Lao' serves at the epitome of George Pal's artistry.......flights of fantasy combined with a love of ancient myths, held up as mirrors to our own souls.
Clumsy and clunky at times, it still finds a way to charm........and Tony Randall's clearly having the time of his life playing an actor's dream role, with great help from MGM's makeup master William Tuttle. And tip of the musical hat to Leigh Harline for his catchy theme. 3 stars (***)
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