Doctor Dolittle (1967) - film review

In 1845, Dr John Dolittle decides to give up treating the human residents of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh, England, and instead devotes himself to the well-being of animals.  With the help of his parrot Polynesia, he has mastered 499 animal languages and makes frequent expeditions to far away places to extend his knowledge of the animal kingdom.  His next expedition will be to look for the great sea snail, but he hasn’t yet sufficient money to finance this venture.  Fortune smiles on him when a friend sends him a two-headed camel-like creature called a Pushmi-Pullyu.  By hiring this strange animal out to a circus, Dr Dolittle soon has the wherewithal for his next voyage.  But before he can set sail with his friends Matthew and Tommy, he is arrested for attempting to drown an old woman.  Dolittle tries to acquit himself, by explaining he was merely helping a lovelorn seal on her way to the North Pole for a rendezvous with her husband, but he merely convinces the local magistrate that he is insane.  Fortunately, the good doctor is rescued by his animal friends before he is committed to an asylum, and at last he can begin his search for the great sea snail.  It turns out to be quite an adventure...

Doctor Dolittle was an odd excursion for Richard Fleischer, a director who is more closely associated with moody thriller-dramas such as The Boston Strangler (1968) and 10 Rillington Place (1971) than whimsical adaptations of children’s stories.  Whilst Fleischer’s filmography does show a remarkable degree of variety (encompassing melodramas, sci-fi movies and war films), Doctor Dolittle still feels like the odd-man out and the film’s extremely troubled production was perhaps partly down to Fleischer’s unsuitability to direct it.  Poor planning and a series of logistical misfortunes sent the film way over budget, so that it ended up costing 18 million dollars, three times what had originally been allocated.  20th Century Fox’s attempts to recoup this massive expenditure by a ludicrously extravagant marketing campaign did not help matters and the film barely recovered half of its production cost.   The studio lobbied hard to get the film nominated at the 1968 Oscars, and pulled off the remarkable feat of getting nine nominations (including one for the Best Picture), although it only won two awards, for its special effects and songs.  On its initial release, Doctor Dolittle was widely reviled by the critics and its lukewarm reception at the box office effectively ended the career of its lead actor, Rex Harrison.  There is perhaps something in that old adage.  You should never perform with children or animals.

There can be no doubt that Doctor Dolittle is far from being Rex Harrison’s finest hour.  Harrison did not enjoy making the film and, reportedly, he spent much of his time being drunk and generally disruptive, apparently to settle a few scores with Fox.  At one point he was replaced by another actor (Christopher Plummer) when his tantrums became too much for the production team.  (Plummer had to be paid off in full when Harrison came back and agreed to take the job seriously.)  Anyone familiar with Hugh Lofting’s Dolittle books (compulsive reading for any child in the age-range 8-12) will struggle to find any connection between the author’s original creation - a portly but amiable animal doctor - and Harrison’s bland reprise of Professor Higgins from My Fair Lady (1964).  The supporting cast are not much better - Anthony Newley and Samantha Eggar both look as out of place in a children’s musical as two blind otters attending a series of lectures on advanced thermodynamics at Gothenburg University.  The one bright spot on the casting front is Richard Attenborough, who momentarily steals the show with his rendition of I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It, the film’s best number (by far).  Of the other songs the film has to offer us, only two - Talk to the Animals and My Friend the Doctor - sound as though they were not intended for the torture chamber.

At the time it was made, Doctor Dolittle was reasonably good family entertainment, way ahead of its time with some of its eco-messages (but way behind the time in its representation of female role models).  Today, it feels painfully dated by its half-hearted special effects, uninspired direction and ramshackle storyline.  The magic it once may have had has long since evaporated and whilst there are a few amusing moments (most provided by the well-trained and generally adorable animals) it is a plodding and cumbersome affair.  Two and half hours long, Doctor Dolittle is a chore to sit through and you are left with the impression that the film was intended not to entertain but to punish (presumably naughty boys who had been cruel to animals).  One hour’s exposure to the combined vocal onslaught of Rex Harrison and Anthony Newley is enough to make a reformed character of anyone.  You’ve never heard anything like it in your life...

© Steve Chandler 2011

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