Announced by Twilight Time on Facebook, Arthur P. Jacobs' musical adaptation of DOCTOR DOLITTLE will finally come to Blu-ray here in the U.S. in a new 4K scan (don't know the details) and digital restoration. Hopefully, it'll include an isolated track of the background score which has never been released on either LP or CD.
The movie is, of course, notorious for being a huge financial failure in its day and for helping to almost sink 20th Century-Fox at the same time when that studio was releasing some of its most iconic films, such as BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, M*A*S*H, PATTON and the film producer Arthur Jacobs will be best remembered for, PLANET OF THE APES.
The TT Blu-ray of DOCTOR DOLITTLE is supposed to come out in November 2017.
I love the irate father's imdb "review" which says he wont let his daughter watch the film because Doc is a vegetarian. Cant have that propaganda being spread to our young'in.
Hooray! I'll look forward to it anyway. I'd be great if they could find footage from the two cut numbers ("Where Are the Words" and "Something In Your Smile"), or have a decent audio commentary (Leslie Bricusse is still alive isn't he -- and you know he has LOTS of stories of working with "Tyrannosaurus Rex"). Love it or hate it, the picture does have its place in history.
Think I saw this once on television when I was six or seven years old. I grew up an animal lover yet have no recollection of the film.
Me too, although I recall the images of the giant snail he travels within and the two-headed llama. There's a very poignant love song spoken to a seal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAbCNtk8sOM
Think I saw this once on television when I was six or seven years old. I grew up an animal lover yet have no recollection of the film.
Me too, although I recall the images of the giant snail he travels within and the two-headed llama. There's a very poignant love song spoken to a seal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAbCNtk8sOM
All I remember was the giant snail. I guess that was the most publicist image from the film.
Think I saw this once on television when I was six or seven years old. I grew up an animal lover yet have no recollection of the film.
Probably because it bored you, you lost interest and changed the channel. It is a long, ponderous movie, woefully ill-conceived and over-produced, but that what I like thinking about when I watch it -- wasn't there anyone who realized how bad this was when they were making it?
It's not the worst musical of its era. It's got some good songs and the photography and production are top-notch, but it's like CAMELOT -- great material, but it wears lead boots -- and hardly anyone can sing. When Richard Attenborough in a fat suit has probably the liveliest number, you know something is wrong. It's just a boring, dull affair, and I think a large part of it is that it's supposed to be a movie aimed at children, but then they tacked on this May to December unrequited love affair between Rex Harrison and Samatha Eggar that belongs in another movie, and, of course, then there's Anthony Newley, who probably never belonged in any movie. His character is kind of downright creepy, as in, don't leave him alone to babysit the kids kind of creepy.
Watching DOCTOR DOLITTLE is like watching a slow train wreck of a movie, but it's kind of fascinating to watch. I didn't see it when it came out, I had no interest. It wasn't until the early seventies, after I bought the LP out of a discount bin -- and only because the back cover of the gatefold jacket had a short bio of producer Arthur Jacobs and mentioned PLANET OF THE APES as his next movie -- that I discovered the songs and then wanted to see the movie. I think it premiered on ABC as a two-night telecast in 1972, which is when I saw it and didn't think much of it.
But one song in the film has always stuck with me for the satire of its lyrics and for a sentiment that I very much agree with. It should be the anthem of the animal rights movement.
Think I saw this once on television when I was six or seven years old. I grew up an animal lover yet have no recollection of the film.
Probably because it bored you, you lost interest and changed the channel. It is a long, ponderous movie, woefully ill-conceived and over-produced, but that what I like thinking about when I watch it -- wasn't there anyone who realized how bad this was when they were making it?
That's my recollection. It just bored me. Nothing really hooked me though I had a fascination for fantasy and nature.
I saw it on television as well, and don't remember anything about it either. (Same goes for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", and I re-watched THAT just a few years ago --- and I still don't remember anything about it!)
I saw it on television as well, and don't remember anything about it either. (Same goes for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", and I re-watched THAT just a few years ago --- and I still don't remember anything about it!)
Yeah, I have no recollection of Chitty either. The Sherman Brothers were consistently good, but I didn't even like the songs. I recently sold my copy of the score released by Kritzerland.
I saw it on television as well, and don't remember anything about it either. (Same goes for "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", and I re-watched THAT just a few years ago --- and I still don't remember anything about it!)
TV does not do justice to these 70mm epics. Good or bad they have to be seen on the big screen to be appreciated and remembered. Both DoLITTLE and CHITTY, if anything, were gorgeous to look at on the giant screen.
The image of Rex on the giraffe does not appear in the general release version of the film. Hopefully the sequence can be restored.
Actually, it does. Originally it was part of an opening prologue in the Roadshow preview, where Dolittle is seen treating a crocodile that has a toothache. The preview was such a disaster, where many complained the movie was too long, that the pre-title scene was cut, but a few seconds of footage of Dolittle riding the giraffe away from the pool where he treated the crocodile does survive in the general release version, late in the movie when the doctor is searching the floating island for the Great Pink Sea Snail.
The scene with the crocodile was shot at the "Rock Pool" on the Fox Ranch, with tropical foliage transplanted all around and a tall waterfall cascading down the rocky cliff in the background, created by several fire hoses hidden atop the cliff. The costly set was later reused by producer Arthur Jacobs in his next production as the place where Charlton Heston and his companion astronauts take a needed skinny dip in PLANET OF THE APES. Today, the pool is still there, part of Malibu Creek State Park, and a popular swimming hole.
I saw DR. DOLITTLE as a roadshow in its initial release, albeit in Pittsburgh. I don't recall any pre-credits sequence.
The Dr. Dolittle books were part of my childhood in the 1950's, although, once I tired of the gimmick that he talks to animals, I lost interest in the rest of the books in the series.
I'd heard of all the production problems, but was willing to see it anyway.
Actually, the score is the best aspect to this bloated mess. That giant snail and moth just look mechanical. The hints at romance are only that. Also, even then the black chieftain of an island tribe quoting Shakespeare was an embarrassing racial stereotype.
That lovely score recording, though, makes this seem much better than it is, similar to certain Broadway flops, whose score recordings make people who haven't seen them think they were better than they actually were.
I played the LP often, and still enjoy the music. Too bad the released CD was not expanded. That lovely song, "At the Crossroads," has a moving intro that has yet to see a legit release. And the overture/entr'acte/exit music should be included.
So watch it if you dare, and enjoy that wonderful score, if nothing else.
For those that are interested, the original souvenir program is occasionally available on E-Bay.
The pre-main title sequence was cut after a disasterous preview which also saw other cuts and dropped numbers before the Roadshow release actually started.
I've been dipping into a couple of books about this film (which I've only seen once on the telly, & can't remember a thing about it) The Studio by John Gregory Dunne, where he stayed at 20th Century Fox for a number of months in the sixties & had complete access, went to all the meetings, & Fox were making films like Doctor Dolittle, Star! The Boston Strangler, Planet Of The Apes & a few more, it's very funny, the Fox exects. come over as idiots, no wonder that a writer was never allowed to do that again for any studio. And director Richard Fleischer's auto-biography Just Tell Me When To Cry.
It looks like Rex Harrison was a nightmare on that film. Even though Rex had signed a contract, he kept blowing hot & cold & walking away from the film, so Fox signed up Christopher Plummer to play Dolittle, Rex heard about this & agreed to do the film, so Fox had to pay off Plummer (the easiest $300,000 he ever earned!), then Rex heard that Fox had agreed to hire Sammy Davis Jr. to play an African called Bumpo, & he said he'd walk if that happened, & insisted they hire Sidney Poitier for the roll, but the budget had gotten too big, so Sidney was out (lucky for Fox, his agent was still arguing about the contract, which hadn't been signed yet, so it didn't cost them anything). And then there was Rex Harrison's imagined conspiracy against him by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley (Bricusse usual writing partner), Bricusse wrote the script & the songs (without Newley) & Newley only acted in it. And so on... I think it's one of those films where the stories behind it is a lot more interesting than the film itself.
...& when Fox removed the prologue, gone was the shot of Harrison riding the Giraffe, but that picture was on all the posters & publicity, the shot had to be in the film, so it's slotted it on his way to Africa (or something, I dunno), he's wearing different clothing than in the scenes before & after.
