Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Doctor Dolittle (1967)
Director: Richard Fleischer
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
20th Century-Fox's lavish musical version of the much-loved Hugh Lofting stories almost bankrupted the studio when audiences stayed away in droves. In retrospect, it's not hard to see why, since the antics of Harrison's kindly veterinarian, who's learned 498 animal languages, fail to find any compelling dramatic shape over the lengthy running time, while resistible right-hand man Newley and vacuous love interest Eggar aren't much help. True, the Bricusse songs (including 'If I Could Talk to the Animals') have their charms, and the pre-CGI spectacle of some 1,500 live animals often works its magic on very young viewers, but you're mainly left with sympathy for Fleischer and his crew, since the whole thing was evidently a nightmare to shoot. Especially when one of the parrots learned to mimic the director's 'Cut!'Author: TJ
Cast & crew
Director: Richard Fleischer
Producer: Arthur P Jacobs
Cast: Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley, Richard Attenborough, Peter Bull, Muriel Landers, William Dix, Geoffrey Holder full cast
Genre(s): Children's
Duration: 152 mins
Most popular on this site

Top Stories
Peter Morgan on 'Frost/Nixon'
Peter Morgan, whose writing credits include 'The Queen' and 'The Last King of Scotland', talks to Dave Calhoun about his latest script, 'Frost/Nixon'
Jason Statham on ‘Transporter 3’
Yes, fans of the budget action movie, strap yourself in and hold on tight because Jason Statham is back in the car-crashing, roundhouse-kicking, bracelet-exploding ‘Transporter 3’
Classic Film Club: 'The Man With The Golden Arm'
Each week Tom Huddleston watches a classic film he's never seen before. This week: Otto Preminger's 'The Man With the Golden Arm' (1955)
Spring film preview 2009
Take a peek at what the Time Out Film team are looking forward to in the new year with our spring film preview
'Terminator Salvation': preview
Tom Huddleston caught a sneak preview of footage from the forthcoming 'Terminator Salvation' movie







What do you think?
Post your review now