7 FACES OF DR LAO (Dir: George Pal, 1964).

George Pal first came to prominence in the 1930s with his series of animated Puppetoons shorts. Switching to live action, first as producer and then director he was responsible for a series of special effects heavy sci-fi and fantasy films, including The War of the Worlds (Byron Haskin, 1953) and The Time Machine (Pal, 1960) which are now rightly deemed classics of their genres. His 5th and final feature as directed was 1964’s 7 Faces of Dr Lao, based upon Charles G Finney’s 1935 novel The Circus of Dr Lao.

Tony Randall stars as the titular Lao, an aged (7322 years!) Chinese gent and owner of a fantastical, magical travelling circus. When the circus stops at the dusty Arizona town of Abalone the townsfolk are taught some valuable life lessons from the highly unconventional exhibits include the mythical soothsayer Apollonius, Merlin the Magician, Pan the God of Love and the fabled Gorgon Medusa. All of whom are portrayed by Randall in a truly mesmerising performance. Aided by some outstanding make-up from William Tuttle who rightly won the Academy Award for his efforts.

Some would rightly question the casting of white American Tony Randall as the Chinese Lao. Yet while the performance does exhibit elements of racial stereotyping it is not malicious. Right or wrong, such casting was perfectly acceptable in the era the movie was made and it would be unfair to castigate it for being out of step with more enlightened viewpoints more than 50 years after release.

7 Faces of Dr Lao is an unusual movie; mixing elements of the western genre with gently moralistic Bradbury-esq fantasy, it is probably fair to say it is a little bit of an acquired taste. If you are a fan of Pal then this movie needs no recommendation. For others, a philosophical fantasy aimed at family audiences might be a hard sell. However, it’s status as one of Pal’s lesser known features is entirely unwarranted. The excellent performances, top quality make-up and effects and feverish, almost surrealist atmosphere of the movie make for a heady mix. In my opinion 7 Faces of Dr Lao is one of the finest fantasies ever committed to celluloid.

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THE THREE HEADS OF DORIAN GRAY!!!

This video is very informative, but I find it extremely creepy seeing lifelike replicas of Hurd Hatfield’s head on the table…it’s even scarier than the Ivan Albright painting itself!

Young Frankenstein is a loving send up of Universal horror movies of the 1930s.  While remaining faithful to some tropes such as the use of stitches, makeup designer William Tuttle played off of modern audiences’ knowledge of the Boris Karloff classic by replacing the familiar neck bolts with zippers. 

Tuttle’s illustrations convey his plans for the character’s makeup that are not obvious in the final film.  Although the film was shot in black and white, his rendering lets us see the pale green foundation he chose as the base for Peter Boyle’s monster.  Tuttle was an expert draftsman, and the actors depicted in his makeup design illustrations are easy to identify as they bear a great resemblance to their subjects.  Without resorting to caricature, Tuttle builds on Boyle’s physical features to great effect, playing up his bone structure so that his eyes and cheeks appear sunken and using rubber appliances on the actor’s forehead to give him a caveman-like appearance.  Contrasting with the square head monster of the played by Karloff, Boyle’s monster has a smooth, spherical dome.

Tuttle’s drawing for Young Frankenstein is one of more than 600 drawings included in the William Tuttle collection housed at the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library.  The collection documents almost his entire career and the collection inventory can be seen here.