Seeing as the latest Harry Potter film is burning up the box office, I thought I’d take a look back at scenes from notable fantasy films this weekend.
I haven’t seen “The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao” in many years, but it’s easily one of the best fantasy films of the 20th century. Directed by George Pal, best known for his versions of “War of the Worlds” and “The Time Machine” and adapted from a novel by Charles Finney by Charles Beaumont, one of the three main outstanding writers on “The Twilight Zone” television series, it’s one of the few examples where the casting of a non-Asian in an Asian role seems to offend no one. I think it’s the combination of the depth and humanity of Tony Randall’s performance, the fact that he plays a number of characters of different ethnicities, and the way the film toys with Asian racial stereotypes that’s given it something of a pass.
Anyhow, this scene (sorry, no efx, though the film has some pretty brilliant ones, including some cool stop-motion work from Jim Danforth) with young Noah Beery, Jr. is as close to expressing the Tao as anything you’re likely to see from Hollywood.
