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Doctor Dolittle (1967)
review by Anthony D.
Rated R
Studio: Fox
Running Time: 151 minutes
Starring: Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony
Newley, Richard attenborough, Peter Bull, Muriel Landers,
William Dix, Geoffrey Holder, Portia Nelson, Norma Varden
and a score of cute and cuddly mammals, birds, reptiles as
well.
Screenplay by Leslie Bricusse
Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Retail Price: $29.98
Features: Theatrical Trailer
Specs: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English 4. Dolby
Digital, English Dolby 2.0, French Dolby 1.0, English, and
Spanish Subtitles, Chapter Search
To say that this musical version of Hugh Lofting's tales
for children bears no resemblance to the recent Eddie Murphy
comedy might possibly be the apex of understatement.
Released by 20th Century Fox, still high on the wave of "The
Sound of Music," this musical was considered to be Fox's
big-budget musical for the Christmas season of 1967. High
hopes were placed on "Doctor Dolittle's" being able to
tackle the box office with as much force as "My Fair Lady"
and "The Sound of Music" had; instead "Doctor Dolittle"wound
up as being Fox's Christmas turkey. What went wrong? More on
that, later. For now, let's concentrate on what is right
with "Doctor Dolittle."
The films begins with a charming animated credit sequence
before gliding into the charming English town of
Puddleby-on-the-Marsh in the fabulous year of 1845. Here a
humble fishmonger, Matthew Muggs (Anthony Newley),
entertains a young Tommy Stubbins (William Dix) with
fantastic tales of "My Friend the Doctor," while leading the
boy (and a wounded duck) to the country estate of one John
Dolittle, Doctor of Veterinary Science (Rex Harrison - a
long way from "My Fair Lady"). Dolittle sees to the duck,
and entertains his guests with tales of his decision to be
"A Vegetarian" and his uncanny ability to "Talk to the
Animals." These social skills with four-legged creatures, as
well as amphibians and fish, will come in handy on Dr.
Dolittle's quest for the legendary Great Pink Sea Snail; if
only he can earn the money to make a voyage to the South
Seas. Luckily for the audience, and for the good doctor, a
crate containing a creature never seen in the British Isles
arrives for Doctor Dolittle.
Dolittle promptly takes the creature, a two-headed llama,
called a Pushmi-Pullyu, who loves to dance off to the
circus. The pushmi-pullyu is a sensation, and John is able
to earn enough money to buy a used sailing vessel. But, one
of the circus' seals, Sophie, is desperate to see her
husband at the North Pole (which in 1845 had yet to be
discovered) so the good doctor breaks Sophie free and takes
her to Plymouth disguised as an old woman, and tosses her
off a cliff, after singing the moving love song "When I Look
in Your Eyes." Sophie merrily swims away, but Doctor
Dolittle is arrested for the "murder" of "his grandmother!"
At the trial, John is acquitted of the "murder," but is
sentenced to a stay at the nearest asylum because of his
"outrageous" claims of speaking the languages of animals.
But with friends like Matthew and Tom, as well as his
favorite animals, a successful jailbreak leads our intrepid
heros off to sea on "The Flounder," the boat purchased with
the circus earnings. The Flounder is also carrying a
stowaway, the lovely Emma Fairfax who harbours a secret
crush on the good doctor, but in turn is loved from afar by
Matthew. (This triangle is for the adults in the audience
who have by now grown tired of the antics of the animals.)
Finding the Great Pink Sea Snail's stomping ground is
decided by a particular scientific method know as "stick in
the pin," wherein one plunges a hit pin blindly into a map,
and wherever the pin happens to fall is the final
destination. Emma's hatpin sends the voyagers off toward
"The Floating Island," but a storm at sea puts hopes of
finding the island to rest as the ship is tossed and turned
and ripped to shreds. Leaving the sea-tossed voyagers to
their own devices (and in order to not give away any
endings), let's proceed to the DVD itself.
Considering that the material is thirty years old, the
print used for the anamorphic presentation is remarkably
crips and clean. Robert Surtees' photography is outstanding,
and deserved its Academy Award nomination. Castle Comb's
streets, docks and houses - - substituting for
Puddleby-on-the-Marsh - - exhibit a mere glimmer of
shimmering, but not nearly as much as on the previous
laserdisc version of "Doctor Dolittle." The images are sharp
and detailed, and the colors blaze through with a delightful
array of multi-hued eye-candy! Only on rare occasions do the
colors not ring true: in Chapter Nine, the fox-hunt coat of
General Bellowes is more orange than red, but that is indeed
a very minor quibble; only one chapter later we are treated
to a very verdant greenery beneath a lush blue sky while
Samantha Eggar, as Emma, is wearing a creamy yellow frock.
This transfer displays very little grain nor nary a trace of
artifacting. All in all, quite a beautiful film to look at.
Being a film musical, naturally the sound is as good as I
had expected it to be. "Doctor Dolittle" is presented in
Dolby Digital 4.0 surround, with the surround basically
limited to an extension of the orchestrations. The front
soundstage however, is quite active with directionalized
dialogue and sound effects. For the most part, the dialogue
is clean, although mostly ADR-produced. Dialogue is quite
intelligible as are the songs' lyrics. A cautionary note to
those viewers with pets though, the animal sounds are for
the most part genuine, and when poor Gub-Gub the Pig squeals
in Chapter Six, my dog comes running, so viewers may expect
similar response from their pets. Quite a pleasant aural
experience from an older library title, certainly not up to
today's intricate sound designs.
This not being one of Fox's Five-Star-Collections titles,
there is nothing but an acceptable trailer.
Well, here comes the sad news for musical film fans: This
is NOT the original version of "Doctor Dolittle" that played
theatres in 1967. Certain cuts were made in the film's long
running time after initial box office results. These cuts
are still with us on the DVD. Missing in action are the
Prologue where we had previously seen Doctor Dolittle
traveling through the jungle to find a crocodile with a
toothache, and the subsequent extraction of that tooth. An
interior edit has been made in the song "Beautiful Things"
(Chapter Fourteen) and Emma and Matthew perform the song
completely outside of the circus tent, whereas in the
initial release, they moved under the big top. Emma and
Matthew fell victim to the next editor's snipping; Matthew's
love song to the sleeping Emma aboard The Flounder "Where
are the Words?" has been deleted despite its presence in the
Overture and Exit Music. Another song heard in the Overture
and Exit Music is one of the greater losses, Leslie
Bricusse's magnificent "Something in Your Smile," used quite
a bit by cabaret performers, and sung by a letter-writing
Doctor Dolittle has been left to molder somewhere in the
vaults of 20th Century Fox. (Incidentally, these cuts are
NOT represented on the Original Soundtrack recording,
available from
Amazon.com).
This said, "Doctor Dolittle" is by no means a classic
film, but has its gaggle of supporters. It makes for a nice
evening of family-fared viewing, although younger children
will lose interest quickly once the adult actors are center
stage. The animal effects are not computer generated, so
adolescent viewers will have very little frame-of-reference
for the proceedings. Patient adults will find a wealth of
things to like about "Doctor Dolittle," although the
editor's scissors could have made several judicious cuts
earlier in the film - - too much back story is given when
musical numbers would have moved the film along at a brisker
pace. Director Richard Fleischer, son of animation great Max
Fleischer, would go on to better projects, most notably, the
science fiction classic "Soylent Green," but 20th Century
Fox would continue to produce over-budgeted musical films
that failed (Hello! Dolly, STAR!) Before a little film
called "Star Wars" would generate enough monies to take 20th
Century Fox into the 21st Century.
All three leads are in good form here, Newley with his
Streisandesque mannerisms, Harrison still relying on
"talk-singing" to get through the songs, and the dubbed
Samantha Eggar who looks lovely in the period costumes, and
has enough spunk and fire in her portrayal of Emma to put
Mary Richards to shame. Leslie Bricusse's song score,
including the Oscar-winning "Talk to the Animals" is greater
than his screenplay, and it is indeed sad to be missing two
complete songs as well as a portion of another.
I have to commend FOX for making "Doctor Dolittle"
available to a new generation of home viewing audiences,
considering that the film is more well known for it's
lackluster box-office than its undeniable assets. Now, if
they'd only release those other "classics" that nearly
killed the studio: Valley of the Dolls, Cleopatra (it's in
the works), At Long Last Love, Hello,Dolly!, Star! as well
as those that saved them: Star Wars (need I say more?)
 (3/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (4/5)
 (3.5/5)
 (1/5)
(3.5/5, NOT an average)
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