Abalone is a small rural town in Arizona. One bright morning Dr. Lao (Tony Randall) rides into town on a golden donkey looking to put an advertisement in the local paper about his circus. Lao is the owner and master of ceremony of a small circus that promotes some unusual acts. At the local newspaper office, Lao meets the printer, Tim Mitchell (Noah Beery Jr.) and the owner of the paper, Ed Cunningham (John Ericson). Lao orders a full-page ad to run for two days.
While Lao is waiting to talk to Ed three men come into the office, Clint Stark (Arthur O’Connell), a local wealthy ranch owner, and his two henchmen, Carey (Royal Dano) and Lucas (John Doucette). Stark is buying up all the land in the area that he can get his hands on. The rancher is aware that the railroad plans on building a track through the area, and he wants to make a killing at selling the land back to the railroad. He deviously tries to keep this information from the town’s people. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants, including roughing up a few people and destroying property. Stark is not happy about an editorial Ed wrote about Stark’s shady dealings.
Several other people in town are cautious about Starks motives, including the local librarian, Angela Benedict (Barbara Eden). Angela is a widow living with her mother-in-law, Sarah (Argentina Brunetti) and young son, Mike (Kevin Tate). Ed is attracted to the young widow but Angela is afraid of falling in love again and so she refuses to let her guard down and accept someone new in her life. Angela’s son befriends Lao.
Lao sets up his circus outside of town. At first Patrons are enjoying themselves but soon some of them find that the exhibits expose them to their deepest fears and prejudices. Apollonius (Tony Randall) gives Mrs. Howard Cassin (Lee Patrick) some depressing news about her future. Pan (Tony Randall) brings out the passion in Angela that she withheld for years. Merlin the Magician (Tony Randall) performs magic that devolves into tricks that don’t work. The Giant Serpent gets into a discussion with Stark about how much they have in common. Many of the patrons are exposed to their true selves by the various circus exhibits. Lao’s circus turns into a metaphor for what will happen to the town if it goes along with Stark’s proposition.
“The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao” was released in 1964 and was directed by George Pal. It is an American Fantasy and part of the weird west subgenre. The film is based on the novel “The Circus of Dr. Lao” written in 1935 by Charles G. Finney. The movie has a portmanteau vibe to it.
Tony Randall is credited for playing seven characters in the film, the 7322-year-old Dr. Lao, the Abominable Snowman, Merlin the Magician, Apollonius of Tyana, Pan, The Giant Serpent and Medusa. In reality the Abominable Snowman is played by Peter Pal, the son of Director George Pal. Randall also has a cameo as a regular audience member during the circus performance. The Great Serpent is a stop motion creature that has Stark’s features, but the voice may be that of Tony Randall. The only other creature in the film is the Loch Ness Monster and is also a stop motion character. As far as the racism is concerned, the movie was made before political correctness was invented. At that time, no one thought twice about a white guy playing a Chinese guy. Randall himself goes from speaking broken English to various other accents as Lao. These variations change the dynamic of the film making it more of a satire than a racist trope.
The section of the movie that features Dr. Lao’s presentation of the city, that ended in disaster, during the second night of the circus is stock footage taken from Director Pal’s film “Atlantis: The Lost Continent” 1961.