Jul 18, 2025
A Fox Film portrait of make-up artist William J. Tuttle drawing a picture of Janet Gaynor (early 1930s)
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A Fox Film portrait of make-up artist William J. Tuttle drawing a picture of Janet Gaynor (early 1930s)
Nick Cravat as The Gremlin in The Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare At 20,000 Feet"
Watercolors on paper, 8.5" x 11", 2025
By Josh Ryals
Hollywood: The Oral History by Jeanine Basinger, Sam Wasson
The Time Machine (1960)
Synthwave Remix of Sasha Nein’s intro cutscene music! (It’s become a meme between me, my gf, and her lil bro)
It’s December 19th, so it’s time for another page from my annual “Advent” calendar of sorts. This is Number 19 in a series of bits of holiday nonsense that I’ve put together over the years.
Andy Hardy Comes Home (Howard W. Koch, 1958).
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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Jingle Bones Movie Time