#7 Faces of Dr Lao

[driveintheaterofthemind]

The 7 Faces Of Dr. Lao

Art by Joseph Smith

MGM (1964)

[blackcatfilmprod]

Tonight Boys n Ghouls Film Review Podcast reviews 7 Faces of Dr Lao here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIb76zPLPV0&t=2740s via YouTube

[silveragelovechild]

Minerva Urecal as Mrs Lindquist and Tony Randall as the Medusa in “7 Faces of Dr. Lao” (1964).

The movie nicely foreshadows Mrs. Linquist’s encounter with the Medusa in an early scene when she used green fabric strips to curl her hair.

[atomic-chronoscaph]

The Loch Ness Monster - 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

[lobbycards]

The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, US lobby card #8. 1964

[collinsportmaine]

John Ericson as Pan from 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

[weirdlookindog]

Tony Randall in 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

[saikaberry]

Movies [2] 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)

★★★☆

[withoutorgans]

[arte-e-homoerotismo]

John Ericson as Pan in the film “7 Faces of Dr. Lao” (1964)

[contentabnormal]

This week on Content Abnormal, Frankentyner explains what happened last week on our show, and presents Danny Kaye in the Suspense thriller “I Never Met The Dead Man”!

[thealmightyemprex]

Oscar Nominated Genre Film for Effects

Wizard of Oz 1939

The Blue Bird 1940

Dr Cyclops 1940

Invisible Man Returns 1940

One Million BC 1940

Invisible Woman 1941

Jungle Book 1942

Invisible Agent 1942

A Thousand and One Nights 1945

Them 1954

Forbidden Planet 1956

Journey to the Center of the Earth 1959

Absent Minded Professor 1961

The Birds 1963

7 Faces of Dr Lao 1964

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth 1970

Close Encounter of the Third Kind 1977

The Black Hole 1979

Moonraker1979

Star Trek the Motion Picture 1979

Dragonslayer 1981

Blade Runner 1982

Poltergeist 1982

2010 The Year We Make Contact 1984

Ghostbusters 1984

Return to Oz 1985

Little Shop of Horrors 1986

Poltergeist II The Other Side 1986

Predator 1987

Willow 1988

To be Continued

@ariel-seagull-wings @filmcityworld1 @themousefromfantasyland @princesssarisa @countesspetofi @the-blue-fairie @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @minimumheadroom @amalthea9 @angelixgutz

[the-blue-fairie]

Tom Thumb (1958) - Fairy Tale Movie Challenge

(TW: discussions of racism/yellowface ahead.)

Since thealmightyemprex is doing a Fairy Tale Month, I'm at last doing my writeups for the Fairy Tale Movie Challenge. I shall start with Tom Thumb, which thealmightyemprex suggested, directed by George Pal.

Now, I associate George Pal with special effects extravaganzas of fantasy and sci-fi from the 50s and 60s, sometimes with a kitschy charm to them. He made Destination Moon, he made When Worlds Collide, he made the 50s War of the Worlds, he made the 60s Time Machine, he made the 7 Faces of Dr. Lao! This film fits right in among these (sometimes not for the best of reasons, but we'll get there.) They're all a similar kind of "wonder movie." They remind me of Harryhausen films, but sometimes with a more American Christian preachy vibe. But I consider his Time Machine and War of the Worlds classics and excellent films in themselves, not just as 50s special effects time capsules.

Tom Thumb (1958) tells the story of a woodcutter and his wife who are blessed by a wood spirit with three wishes. After squandering them in a comedic sequence, she takes pity on them and grants them their wish for a child, the diminutive Tom Thumb, played by Russ Tamblyn of Twin Peaks and The Haunting. It's based on the Grimms' "Thumbling" tale (and there ARE elements of it) but you get the sense it's... essentially Disney's Pinocchio, for better or worse, George Pal style. Tom is duped by a pair of shady schemers a la Honest John and Gideon, has to save his parents to make amends, etc.

Ironically, the opening of the film before the introduction of Tom is one of the strongest things about it. Bernard Miles (oh MY GOSH he was in 1956 Moby Dick! I know the Manxman in a small role in the film, but he gets that monologue about Moby Dick so it's cool! AND he was Joe Gargery for David Lean!) and Jessie Matthews have such a great comedic chemistry and they make roles that, in other hands, could be overly treacly, work and work well. The sausage-nose routine is classic "squandering three wishes" material and it's really fun.

After Tom is introduced, things get a little shakier. It's not that Russ Tamblyn is bad. He's extraordinarily acrobatic and that makes the long dance among the toys a great watch, even if the pacing drags. But since it feels like the film is going for a Disney Pinocchio innocent child vibe to his characterization, he feels too old for the part. I still like him, though! It's just that line delivery can feel clunky in a way that reflects the worst of George Pal-isms.

AND ON THE SUBJECT OF THE WORST OF GEORGE PAL-ISMS, I made a gloomy quip about the use of yellowface in Dr. Lao just seconds before THIS GUY shows up.

Now, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao was interesting because, although Lao was played by Tony Randall in yellowface and that's awful, at least the character of Dr. Lao wasn't written to be the standard 60s-70s Chinese caricature. Lao was actually able to push back/shoot barbs back at racist white folks in the film. That makes him interesting. Yes, he's still one of those "mystical Chinese characters," but as Arthur Dong pointed out on the Criterion Channel, Lao has more depth and sympathy than most portrayals of the period.

Also, each townsperson's encounter with a different "face" of Dr. Lao is gorgeously written and endlessly interesting.

BUT THIS GUY? He's a toy that serves a bit as Tom's "super-dooper-magical-Chinese-man" to paraphrase Spike Lee. He doesn't have the depth of a character like Lao because he's either Tom's imagination or, if not that, doesn't have a character outside of entertaining/supporting our white lead. Also, his name is the worst thing I've seen since I saw the way that a certain character was credited in the 1925 Larry Semon Wizard of Oz.

Also, they never show the toy in the foreground here up close while looking at it head-on (the one who in this shot has its back facing the camera) but...

...is that a g*lliwog toy? Because if so, yikes.

The romance between Alan Young's mortal character, Woody, and The Forest Queen is a mixed bag. I found Woody initially bland and irritating, but he grew on me. Whereas I found Queenie so interesting, and possessed of such radiant charisma thanks to June Thorburn's performance, that I felt she could do much better than him. I warmed up to their relationship as the film went on, though. They're sweet.

The show-stealers, however, are Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers as the villains (also, if we wanted to talk about Hollywood yellowface and stereotyping, we could teach a whole class on certain Sellers roles and... whatever Blake Edwards' whole deal was, ooof), especially Terry-Thomas. That man is hilarious. They're doing what they do best, stealing gold and stealing the movie!

Also, the coin-counting routine gave me big "Gandalf tricks the trolls in The Hobbit" vibes and I love that.

Overall, Tom Thumb (1958) gave me what I expected, good and bad - a very late-50s, very George Pal diversion that is not among Pal's best, but which has some fun moments and a lot of charm... as well as some Yikes moments that I was at least bracing myself for, knowing the period and other Pal projects.

@thealmightyemprex @ariel-seagull-wings @princesssarisa @themousefromfantasyland @theancientvaleofsoulmaking

[silveragelovechild]

“Tomorrow will be like today and the day after tomorrow will be like the day before yesterday. I see your remaining days as a tedious collection of hours full of useless vanities. You will think no new thoughts. And you will forget what little you have known. Older you will become but not wiser…. When you die you will be buried and forgotten. And that is all… and for all the good or evil, creation or destruction your living might have accomplished, you might as well never have lived at all…”

Apollonius of Tyana (Tony Randall) to Mrs. Cassan (Lee Patrick) in “7 Faces of Dr. Lao” 1964

[finnismyoriginalsin]

10 Favourite Movies

Tagged by @iamstartraveller776 ❤️😊

1. Legend

2. Weird Science

3. The Breakfast Club

4. Labyrinth

5. The Goonies

6. Willow

7. The Three Amigos

8. Hocus Pocus

9. Matilda

10. 7 faces of Dr. Lao

Bonus:

Freaks (which I saw in middle school BEFORE it became a cult classic). Actually could apply that to any of these movies lol

And apparently there's a limit to gifs now.

Tagging whoever wants to do it! ☺️

[lobbycards]

The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, US lobby card #2. 1964