# The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao
**The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao** is a 1964 American fantasy film produced and directed by George Pal for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in which a mysterious elderly Chinese showman brings his magical circus to an Arizona frontier town and confronts its residents with their own fears and desires. [Tony Randall](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-randall) plays Dr. Lao and the fantastic performers of his circus, under makeups created by William Tuttle, who received a special Honorary Academy Award for the work.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/7_faces_of_dr_lao) • [2](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/7_Faces_of_Dr_Lao?hl=en&id=ERVaBzEzzUs) The screenplay by Charles Beaumont adapts Charles G. Finney's 1935 novel *The Circus of Dr. Lao*.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/7_faces_of_dr_lao)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | March 18, 1964 (theatrical); distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_faces_of_dr_lao) |
| Director/producer | George Pal, for George Pal Productions and MGM[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_faces_of_dr_lao) |
| Source | *The Circus of Dr. Lao* (1935) by Charles G. Finney; screenplay by Charles Beaumont, with uncredited work by Ben Hecht[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/7_faces_of_dr_lao) • [4](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review) |
| Randall's roles | Dr. Lao, Apollonius of Tyana, Pan, the Giant Serpent, Merlin the Magician, and Medusa[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057812/faq/) |
| Makeup award | William Tuttle received a special Honorary Academy Award for the makeup[2](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/7_Faces_of_Dr_Lao?hl=en&id=ERVaBzEzzUs) |
| Runtime | 1 hour 40 minutes (listed as 99 minutes by some sources, 100 by others)[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_faces_of_dr_lao) • [6](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23361-7-FACESOFDRLAO?cp=1&pos=2&sid=df36b112-5f52-4778-a354-24650b7988bb&sr=0.17481296) |
| Reception | 88% Tomatometer from 8 critics; 78% Popcornmeter from 2,500+ audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_faces_of_dr_lao) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Dr. Lao, a self-described 7,322-year-old Chinese man, rides into the small western town of Abalone, Arizona, on a donkey and places a full-page newspaper advertisement announcing a two-night appearance of his circus.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057812/faq/) • [4](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review) The town is in the middle of a land dispute: the rancher Clint Stark ([Arthur O'Connell](https://www.edgepedia.org/arthur-oconnell)) is buying up property cheaply in the expectation that the railroad will come through, and the only obstacle is the newspaper editor Ed Cunningham (John Ericson).[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_faces_of_dr_lao) • [4](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review) Cunningham is attracted to Angela Benedict ([Barbara Eden](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbara-eden)), a widowed librarian and mother of the boy Mike.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_faces_of_dr_lao)
The whole town attends the circus, where each of Dr. Lao's disguised characters delivers a moral lesson to particular visitors.[7](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/7-faces-of-dr-lao/) As the blind seer Apollonius, he holds up a mirror and bluntly tells the hopeful widow Mrs. Cassan (Lee Patrick) that she faces no second husband and no children, only unhappiness; as Medusa he turns a quarrelsome woman to stone; as Pan, the god of joy, he makes it possible for Ed and Angela to become romantic; as Merlin, his magic is dismissed by the audience as parlor tricks; and as a giant sea serpent bearing his own face, he frightens Stark into recognizing the error of his ways.[7](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/7-faces-of-dr-lao/) When Stark's drunken henchmen wreck the circus tent, Mike witnesses the damage and alerts Dr. Lao, who uses a rain-making machine to shrink the escaped monster.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057812/faq/) The circus departs the next day, the town having repented its unscrupulous citizen, and Dr. Lao rides off, leaving Mike with the closing message that "the whole world is a circus if you look at it the right way."[2](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/7_Faces_of_Dr_Lao?hl=en&id=ERVaBzEzzUs) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057812/faq/)
## The seven faces
The seven title characters consist of Dr. Lao plus the six members of his circus: the Abominable Snowman; [Apollonius of Tyana](https://www.edgepedia.org/apollonius-of-tyana), a fortune-teller who cannot see; Pan, the goatlike god of mirth; the disembodied voice of an enormous serpent; Merlin the Magician; and Medusa, whose hair is made of snakes.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057812/faq/) Randall also appears briefly as an audience member at the second show, so [Google Play](https://www.edgepedia.org/google-play)'s description counts eight characters in all.[2](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/7_Faces_of_Dr_Lao?hl=en&id=ERVaBzEzzUs)
**Who played the Snowman.** Publicity claimed that Randall played all seven title characters, but in fact Pal's son Péter portrays the Abominable Snowman, a role with little screen time.[4](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review) The Science Fiction Encyclopedia calls Tuttle the film's real hero, judging his makeups for Randall in the leading role and the six shapes "astonishingly good for its pre-CGI time," and notes that the prosthetics were kept light enough to let Randall's characterizations show through.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/7_faces_of_dr_lao) • [4](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review)
## Production
The film was produced and directed by George Pal, the Hungarian-born animator and producer known for *The Time Machine* (1960) and *[The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-wonderful-world-of-the-brothers-grimm)* (1962), and it was his final directorial effort.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_faces_of_dr_lao) • [8](https://royalbooks.cdn.bibliopolis.com/images/upload/catalog-81.pdf) Charles Beaumont wrote the screenplay while in the early stages of the illness that ended his career, and [Ben Hecht](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-hecht) worked on the script uncredited.[4](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review) Robert Bronner was the cinematographer, George Tomasini the editor, and Leigh Harline the composer; the special visual effects were credited to a team of five, including Wah Chang and Jim Danforth.[7](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/7-faces-of-dr-lao/) • [9](https://eofftv.com/7-faces-of-dr-lao-1964/) The giant serpent is mostly a hand puppet, augmented by a few seconds of stop-motion animation, the technique for which Pal was known.[4](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review) • [8](https://royalbooks.cdn.bibliopolis.com/images/upload/catalog-81.pdf)
## Relationship to the novel
The film bears little resemblance to Finney's novel, which is a series of loosely connected vignettes about the circus's visit to Abalone and is darker and more cynical in tone.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057812/faq/) The entire Stark land-buying subplot and the clash with the newspapermen are inventions of the film.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057812/faq/) The Science Fiction Encyclopedia observes that the preachiness and sentimentality latent in the novel threaten to swamp the film, whose moralizing it calls trite.[1](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/7_faces_of_dr_lao) Pal's warm-hearted approach was at odds with the novel's cynicism, which the Blu-ray reviewer Stuart Galbraith IV argues muddies Finney's themes.[4](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review)
## Reception and legacy
Critical response has been mixed but generally favorable. Rotten Tomatoes records an 88% Tomatometer from 8 reviews and a 78% Popcornmeter from more than 2,500 audience ratings.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_faces_of_dr_lao) Reviewers have praised Randall's performance, Tuttle's makeup, and Harline's main-title theme, while criticizing the town subplots, the broad playing, and the sentimentality.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_faces_of_dr_lao) • [4](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review) Dennis Schwartz gave the film a B, calling the production superb but the script verbose and the moralizing grating.[7](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/7-faces-of-dr-lao/)
**Casting controversy.** Randall, a white actor, plays the Chinese Dr. Lao, occasionally in pidgin English, and the performance has been widely discussed as a late example of yellowface; critics have noted that the film's commentary on code switching, in which Lao suddenly speaks perfect English after playing to expectations of broken English, is among its more sophisticated touches.[10](https://comicon.com/2026/07/01/warner-archives-7-faces-of-dr-lao-reviewed/) • [7](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/7-faces-of-dr-lao/) The Australian Centre for the Moving Image carries a content notification flagging that some cataloged works, including this one, reflect outdated and potentially offensive views.[11](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/81439--the-seven-faces-of-dr-lao/)
A 2026 Warner Archive Blu-ray, scanned at 4K from the original camera negative, was reviewed as a marked improvement over all previous home video versions, with the reviewer upgrading his assessment of the film's lighting, cinematography, and Randall's performance.[4](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review)
## References
1. [7 Faces of Dr Lao, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/7_faces_of_dr_lao)
2. [7 Faces of Dr. Lao, Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/7_Faces_of_Dr_Lao?hl=en&id=ERVaBzEzzUs)
3. [7 Faces of Dr. Lao, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_faces_of_dr_lao)
4. [7 Faces of Dr. Lao (Blu-ray Review), The Digital Bits](https://thedigitalbits.com/reviews/item/7-faces-of-dr-lao-blu-ray-review)
5. [7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) FAQ, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057812/faq/)
6. [7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/23361-7-FACESOFDRLAO?cp=1&pos=2&sid=df36b112-5f52-4778-a354-24650b7988bb&sr=0.17481296)
7. [7 FACES OF DR. LAO, Dennis Schwartz Reviews](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/7-faces-of-dr-lao/)
8. [Royal Books auction catalog: draft script for Seven Faces of Dr. Lao](https://royalbooks.cdn.bibliopolis.com/images/upload/catalog-81.pdf)
9. [7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), EOFFTV](https://eofftv.com/7-faces-of-dr-lao-1964/)
10. [Warner Archive's '7 Faces Of Dr. Lao' Reviewed, Comicon](https://comicon.com/2026/07/01/warner-archives-7-faces-of-dr-lao-reviewed/)
11. [The Seven Faces of Dr Lao, ACMI collection](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/81439--the-seven-faces-of-dr-lao/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license