Charles G. Finney's book "The Circus of Dr. Lao" becomes a near tour de force for Tony Randall, here playing a succession of roles and obviously enjoying himself immensely. A western town full of rowdies is perplexed by a visit from a traveling circus show, where magic is the order of the day. George Pal production looks terrific (especially in widescreen) and the costumes, special effects, and make-up tricks are each first-rate. However, there's not much going on at the center of the story--and we don't feel much for the mysterious Dr. Lao (nothing is at stake for him, he's too chattily self-assured). The supporting cast is mainly around to fill up seats in the theater, though Barbara Eden looks very attractive and there are some great western character actors on-board, including Douglas Fowley and Dal McKennon. The art direction and production design are very handsome and almost save the show. As for Randall, he's intentionally over-the-top, full of energy and enthusiasm; as an actor, Randall never got the proper chance to show off like this again, and he relishes the opportunity. ** from ****

The year was 1964 when a very special circus came to town. The movie was called " The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. " As an audience member I was forever impressed and enthralled by the sheer genius of the story originally written by Charles J. Finney. Super talented Tony Randall gives a commanding and truly fantastic performance playing an ancient Chineese Faiker named Dr. Lao. In this magical role, he also plays Merlin / Pan / Abominable Snowman / Medusa / Giant Serpent and Apollonius of Tyana. Ariving in a Southerwestern town, he set out to bring the good citizens of Abalone hope and encouragement. Arthur O'Connell plays Clinton Stark, a rich greedy businessman out to steal the town for himself. John Doucette and Royal Dano play his hired hands out to bully the town-folks. Surprisingly, they prove excellent contributing actors. John Ericson is the city Editor who with Noah Beery Jr, are out to defend the populous with their newspaper. Barbara Eden plays Angela Benedict, mother to fatherless Mike, her son, who learns 'the whole world is a circus, if you look at it the right way'. Yet, it's the mythical characters of the film which add a believable quality to this exceptional movie. Added is the inner fable tale called 'The Fall of Waldercan.' Any fan of the director George Pal, can easily recognize 'Atlantis ' within this truly Classic movie. *****

Yet another among my cinematic guilty pleasures. The best recommendation is for you to sit down with one or more kids and know nothing about what's in store, at least plot-wise. That's how I was introduced to the good doctor and why I need to return to his Circus every so often.I've always liked George Pal's touch, and much of his work rightfully endures. For the kids, seek The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and tom thumb (and perhaps Houdini and The Great Rupert). For the adults, seek the original War of the Worlds and The Time Machine (and perhaps The Power). For both, seek this film and the Puppetoons; with the latter, if Jasper offends, he does so unintentionally, while John Henry and the Inky-Poo will more than offset.Along these lines you may take offense at the good doctor's acting out a stereotype. Look again. The whole point of this film is that looks can deceive, or at least merit another look.The source novel is just plain weird and won't help before or after. Charles Beaumont's screenplay adaptation displays more than a little of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, with good reason.With one exception Tony Randall in makeup remains Tony Randall—in Oscar-winning makeup. Watch for the briefest cameo of him without. You'll also recognize a slew of character actors from elsewhere, including some classic Westerns.Judging from their work, Wardrobe, Makeup and the FX crew must've been a lot of fun to be around.Leigh Harline's musical score lingers, with bagpipes yet.The scene between Barbara Eden and Pan is—incandescent.You'll be moved by the scene between Apollonius and Mrs Cassan. It's only a minute or so in duration, sans mattes, strings, thunderclaps or laser show, as it plumbs the realm of the Fantastic with nothing more than insight. Just enter the tent

The small western town of Abalone in Arizona is facing a tough future; the main pipe that carries water to the desert town is in need of urgent and very expensive repairs, repairs that the simple townsfolk may not be able to meet. The local bigwig Clint Stark is happy to help on his terms – which is to cheaply buy everyone out of their land so they might get out of their problem and move to another town. Many are willing to be bullied this way and only a small number want to find solutions to keep the town alive. Into the middle of this hopeless situation comes the enigmatic Dr Lao and his mysterious travelling circus.There is a certain weird cult appeal to this film and perhaps it is understandable that so many reviewers have found a certain amount of charm in that. For me I did get a certain novelty value from seeing these weird things, Tony Randall in multiple roles and the genre clash with the western but this was far from enough to carry a whole film. For me the novelty value wore off quick quickly and what was left was a film that rambles from one rather silly special-effects based scene to the next. I never really engaged with it and the best I could say of it in terms of interest was that I was held in a state of bemusement by the whole thing. The lessons of magic, kindness and love are all quite pat and obvious and don't save the day either.The main selling point is perhaps seeing Randall but this is not to say he is good. Indeed it is actually quite cringe-worthy to watch him doing his terribly dated Chinese impression among other so-so performances. It doesn't help him that the support cast are either wooden or just clichéd cowboy characters being all rowdy and speaking classic frontier gibberish. That they have to carry the majority of the plot (if not script) makes things worse.Don't get me wrong Dr Lao is worth a look simply because of how unusual it as a creation, however this doesn't translate into value as a film. Instead it flits between being silly, imaginative and wooden. The reason for the cult appeal is clear – but so is the lack of a wider, lasting appeal.