“28 Days Later” to “The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao”
28 Days Later (2002) This got a lot of goats because the marketing people tried to sell it as a Night of the Living Dead-type cannibal ghoul movie, and that’s just not what this is. What it is, is an end of the world movie and the things people resort to so they can maintain their notion of civilization. It also makes a nifty commentary on the dangers of rage and, ironically, how sometimes you have to channel it to make it through. (KCL)
The 300 Spartans (1962) Recently a major film came and disappeared entitled 300 it may have done some good. People are revisiting this Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker, Richard Egan color bio-epic filmed on location. No CGI existed then! The biblical/gladiator genre` had their day, but this was one heck of a swell swan song. (KWR)
400 Blows (1959) François Truffaut’s intensely emotional story of misunderstood youth crime. Marvelously acted. Whatever happened to Antoine Doinel? (KT)
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) The only live-action film devised by Dr. Seuss has all of his distinctive touches the surreal sets (including a single piano for 500 students), costumes (those hand hats) and songs all add up to one of the best mostly-ignored fantasy films thats come out of Hollywood. Hans Conried is perfection as the Dr. T. (GS)
The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) I never missed this when it was on television when I was a kid and I don’t know how old I was before I finally twigged that Tony Randall was all 7 faces. But it still holds all the charm that it used to, thanks in large part to Charles Beaumont taking a little of the wry out of Charles Finney’s novel. If filmed as written, it wouldn’t be for the timid; come to that, this version has its moments! And for the record, that’s not Marjorie Main, but Minerva Urecal who gets “stoned” with the Medusa… (KCL)
Originally published in Raspberry World – Volume 2, Issue 1 (June/July 2007)