Daily Dialogue — August 17, 2015
The set-up:
DR. LAO: Mike, let me tell you something. The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it. The way the sun goes down when you’re tired, comes up when you want to be on the move — that’s real magic. The way a leaf grows, the song of the birds, the way the desert looks at night with the moon embracing it. Oh, my boy, that’s…that’s circus enough for anyone. Every time you watch a rainbow and feel wonder in your heart, every time you pick up a handful of dust and see not the dust but a mystery, a marvel there in your hand, every time you stop and think “I’m alive, and being alive is fantastic!” Every time such a thing happens, you’re a part of the circus of Dr. Lao.
MIKE: I don’t understand.
DR. LAO: Neither do I! (He leaps over Mike and begins to dance.)
And the payoff at the end of the film:
ANGELA: Michael! Mike, come back here!
ED: Mike, come back here!
MIKE: Dr. Lao! Dr. Lao! Wait for me!
ANGELA: Mike! Michael! Come back!
MIKE: Wait for me, Dr. Lao! Wait for me!
ANGELA: Come back, Mike!
MIKE: Wait for me, Dr. Lao!
ANGELA: I wonder where he came from?
ED: Or where he’s going?
STARK: Or if he was ever here at all?
Mike finds three golden balls and begins juggling them.
MIKE: I can do it! You see, Dr. Lao, I can do it! Look, Dr. Lao. Watch me. I can do it!
DR. LAO (V.O.): Mike, the whole world is a circus if you look at it the right way. Every time you pick up a handful of dust, and see not the dust, but a mystery, a marvel there in your hand, every time you stop and think “I’m alive, and being alive is fantastic” — every time such a thing happens, Mike, you are part of the circus of Dr. Lao.
— 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), screenplay by Charles Beaumont, novel by Charles G. Finney, uncredited — Ben Hecht
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Callback. Today’s suggestion by Will King.
Trivia: Although it is now regarded as a classic fantasy film, this was a box office disappointment when it was first released. It caused a four-year gap before George Pal had his next film in theatres. It also marked that last time that Pal would direct.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “Young Mike is the only character who truly believes in Dr. Lao, a mysterious Chinese circus proprietor who arrives in town one day and helps a crusading newspaper publisher defeat a corrupt businessman. It’s done not through bullets or protest or confrontation, but by simply exposing each character to who they really are inside through the various exhibits in his circus (all played by Tony Randall). In this moment Mike wishes to run away to join Dr. Lao’s circus, and Lao wisely talks him out of it. Again, at the end, Mike wishes to run away with Lao, failing to understand that it means abandoning his family, and once again, Lao recaps his wisdom, trying to ease Mike’s pain since he can’t accompany the circus.”
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