Copyright 19 December 1967 by Apjac Productions, Inc. New York opening at Loew's State: 19 December 1967. U.S. release: December 1967. London opening at the Odeon, Marble Arch: 12 December 1967 (sic). Australian release: December 1967. Sydney opening at the Mayfair. 13,680 feet. 152 minutes.NOTES: Won Academy Awards for Best Song, "Talk to the Animals", and Best Special Visual Effects (only Abbott was nominated), defeating "Tobruk".Negative cost: $18 million. Print, advertising and distribution expenses: $10 million. Initial domestic gross rentals: $6,215,000. Worldwide gross rentals: a little over $10 million.COMMENT: Although Doctor Dolittle has a poor reputation (mostly because of the simple fact that it failed to recover its huge negative and Todd-AO print costs at the almighty box-office), it's a most entertaining and delightfully realized musical fantasy. Whether singing or acting, Rex Harrison handles the title role with consummate ease. And there are great supporting performances from Newley, Eggar, Bull and most memorably Attenborough. Assisted by marvelous sets (some built on real locations at Castle Combe, England, and Santa Lucia in the British West Indies) and entrancing visual effects, Fleischer's direction is sufficiently fluid to carry the film through 152 magical minutes.

After watching this movie yesterday, and, then reading all of the poor reviews and negative online information about it...I just cannot believe it!?!?This movie, to me, has a wonderful cast; storyline; music; animal choreography; scenery; props; settings; etc...everything there is to like about a movie, and nothing to dislike. Yet, it was a commercial and critical failure!?!? I realize that this movie went over-budget; had many mishaps while in production; took a bath at the box office and with its merchandise; but, I feel the end result was a great children's classic movie.Personally, I believe that it did so poorly was because this movie is a bit too complex for the young audience it was made to target; and, it is too silly for teens and adults. Also, musicals were on their way out at this time. In 1967, teens wanted to hear The Rolling Stones and The Beatles sing, not, Rex Harrison and Anthony Newly; whereas, most parents (adults in general) can understand someone talking to a horse or a cat, but, talking to a snail or a flea!?!?If this movie was made twenty or more years earlier (somewhere in between "The Wizard Of Oz" and "Carousel"), it would have received much better reviews and been a money-maker. It's the same as when "Pennies From Heaven" was made in 1981, it bombed, sadly...it was out-of-style and people just didn't get it. Then, again, "Fantasia" (1940) was even panned by many musicians claiming "it (robbed) the musical pieces of their integrity."Someone always has something bad to write or say about most anything, however, I happen to like musicals; plus, with this movie being a childhood favorite of mine, maybe I'm being a tad too positively-biased, but...I love it!

Back in 1967, ''Doctor Dolittle'' was intended as the BIG ONE from Twentieth Century-Fox. Thanks,in no small part to it's huge budget, it received much more than it's share of publicity, both pro and con. Long before it was released, a major merchandising campaign began, much like those used by the Disney Studio. Countless singles and albums were released with everyone from Barbra Streisand to Bobby Darin putting their own talents to work on the songs. Elaborate plans were made for the various premieres. So Far, So Good. Then, the film opened.And what went wrong?. Just about everything. Sadly, what might have made a tolerable 90 minute fantasy,had instead become a bloated,stodgy bore,which satisfied neither kids or adults. The original Hugh Lofting stories were all but thrown away for another attempt to grab the brass ring with a hit ''Roadshow Musical''. Though Fox wasn't alone in trying to foist an over-produced would-be spectacular on an increasingly fed up public (Think ''Camelot'' ''Half A Sixpence'' ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' as well as their own ''Star'') ''Dolittle'' is the one which nearly closed it's studio. And it's all to clear why. Even if the film had the requisite appeal for kids (which it did not) the idea of marketing a then-colossal $18 million dollar production to them, was plain suicide. Still, the movie has it's good points. Rex Harrison, (in the title role ) who, at one point, pulled out of the film, (and was briefly replaced by Christopher Plummer) does manage to be fairly ingratiating, though his character doesn't have much dimension. The songs, while no great shakes, do provide attractive background music. The photography is beautiful. But both Samantha Eggar and (Sir)Richard Attenbourough are wasted, Anthony Newley, as usual, mugs his way through his part-as, appropriately,''Matthew Mugg''. William Dix, the talented young co star of ''The Nanny'' is literally, just along for the ride. Where are they off to?. A voyage to find the ''Great Pink Sea Snail''. And that's about it for the ''plot''. Not surprisingly, the film was cut prior to it's national release, one of the casualties being a musical number. At the beginning of the film, there was even a hint of a possible Love Triangle between Harrison, Emma Fairfax (Eggar) and Newley which was also apparently cut. And, with it went the only (possibly) interesting conflict in the film.It was probably no surprise after a listless thirty minutes,that a film taking so long to get where it's going, ends up going nowhere. And, for this, audiences were expected to pay inflated ticket prices and reserve seats in advance. However, thanks to the early negative response, they were spared the expense.The same was definitely not true for Twentieth-century Fox.

This film's reputation is so bad that you may be tempted to watch it. If so, you'll find a few charms ("Talk to the Animals" and "When I Look Into Your Eyes" numbers, great production values and a very game Rex Harrison) and riches of embarrassments.It actually starts off fairly well with Anthony Newley introducing Dolittle and explaining how the doctor shifted from human patients to animals. But as it grids on, songs begin to sound similar, dropped in only when it's time for something different (rather than growing out of the plot and characters). The script has a few clever lines, but mostly unbelievable characters (in particular, Samantha Eggar's character is angry without motivation, whereas she could have provided some much needed romantic interest) and situations. (Yes, it's a fantasy, but fantasies can be convincing.) Amazingly, Rex Harrison puts a lot of effort into his part and many of his scenes do pay off ("When I Look Into Your Eyes" song; courtroom scene). The photography, sets, costumes and other production values are gorgeous and you can see the money up there on the screen. But by film's end, one is appalled by the huge investment of time, talent and money, which yield so little result.