Doctor Dolittle (1967)

When Doctor Dolittle premiered in 1967, it aspired to be the next great Hollywood musical extravaganza in the tradition of My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music. With Rex Harrison reprising his unique brand of speak-singing charm, lavish production values, and exotic locales, 20th Century Fox mounted a grand, ambitious adaptation of Hugh Lofting’s beloved children’s books. However, despite its visual splendour and memorable songs, the film was marred by production issues, tonal unevenness, and a lukewarm reception that has defined its legacy as a noble misfire rather than a musical masterpiece.

Plot Summary

Set in Victorian England, the film follows Dr. John Dolittle (Rex Harrison), an eccentric physician who abandons human patients in favour of learning to communicate with animals. With the help of his loyal parrot Polynesia, Dolittle learns the languages of hundreds of species and opens his home to a menagerie of animals.

When local townsfolk accuse him of madness and criminal behaviour, Dolittle is imprisoned, only to be rescued by a ragtag team of friends: Matthew Mugg (Anthony Newley), a kindly Irishman; Tommy Stubbins (William Dix), a young boy who becomes Dolittle’s apprentice; and Emma Fairfax (Samantha Eggar), a high-society woman who becomes a romantic interest.

From there, the film becomes a globe-trotting fantasy, with Dolittle searching for the mythical Great Pink Sea Snail. The journey leads them to floating islands, shipwrecks, and a climactic encounter with the massive snail, embodying the film’s whimsical heart.

Performances

Rex Harrison, fresh off his Oscar-winning role as Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, brings his signature blend of wit, disdain, and reluctant warmth to the role of Dr. Dolittle. His talk-sing style—while not universally beloved—is serviceable for the character’s intellectual and aloof demeanour. However, Harrison’s performance has been criticized as overly arch and emotionally distant, which can be jarring in a film meant to be tender and magical. His lack of chemistry with Samantha Eggar weakens the romantic subplot.

Anthony Newley as Matthew Mugg provides the film’s most heartfelt performance, balancing comic charm with sincerity. His musical numbers, such as “I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It,” are engaging, and he helps ground the story emotionally.

Samantha Eggar, while graceful and poised, is underutilized. Her character seems included more to fulfil the romantic expectation of 1960s musicals than to contribute meaningfully to the plot. Richard Attenborough, however, is a delight as the carnival huckster Albert Blossom, injecting much-needed levity into the film’s second act.

Musical Score and Songs

The music by Leslie Bricusse is perhaps Doctor Dolittle’s most enduring legacy. The score ranges from playful to poignant, with several standout numbers, including:

“Talk to the Animals”, the Oscar-winning signature tune, which encapsulates the film’s whimsical premise. While simple in melody, it became a cultural touchstone.

“My Friend the Doctor”, a charming number sung by Anthony Newley, is one of the film’s early highlights.

“I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It” and “When I Look in Your Eyes” show Bricusse’s melodic flexibility, with varying degrees of memorability.

However, despite a few strong tunes, the overall musical structure feels overstuffed and poorly paced. Some numbers drag on or feel redundant, particularly in a film that runs a hefty 2 hours and 30 minutes. The score lacks the thematic cohesion or narrative propulsion of better musicals from the same era.

Direction and Cinematography

Director Richard Fleischer, more comfortable in action (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and crime genres, struggled with the whimsical tone needed for a family musical. His direction is competent but lacks the magical spark necessary for the material. The pacing is particularly problematic, with the first act meandering and the plot taking too long to set its fantastical journey in motion.

Visually, however, Doctor Dolittle is stunning. Shot by cinematographer Robert Surtees, the film boasts lush English countryside, impressive set designs, and vibrant colours. The scenes involving the Great Pink Sea Snail and other exotic animals (especially the two-headed Pushmi-Pullyu) demonstrate a level of production ambition rarely matched in family films of the period.

The film’s art direction, costuming, and set pieces are opulent, contributing to the film’s status as a major studio musical with prestige intentions.

Production Troubles

Doctor Dolittle became infamous for its troubled production, which significantly impacted its reputation. Rex Harrison reportedly clashed with co-stars, directors, and animal trainers. The logistics of filming with hundreds of live animals proved chaotic, and Harrison’s refusal to record songs ahead of time delayed production and forced numerous reshoots.

The film was also notoriously expensive, costing over $17 million—a huge sum for the time. Fox, still recovering from Cleopatra's budgetary excesses, pushed Doctor Dolittle as an Oscar contender with an aggressive marketing campaign. It earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two (Best Visual Effects and Best Original Song), but the critical reception was mixed to negative, with reviewers noting its bloated runtime and lack of emotional engagement.

Themes and Interpretation

At its core, Doctor Dolittle celebrates communication, compassion, and respect for nature, themes that resonate with children and adults alike. The idea that animals have their own languages, cultures, and inner lives was ahead of its time and fits neatly into the emerging environmental consciousness of the late 1960s.

Yet the film’s imperial undertones—with a white British man sailing to faraway lands to “discover” fantastical creatures—feel outdated and awkward today. There is a colonial air to some of Dolittle’s adventures that doesn’t age well, particularly in the way non-European locales are depicted.

Legacy and Reception

While the film was a commercial disappointment in its initial release, Doctor Dolittle gained a following through TV broadcasts and home video, particularly among children enchanted by the animals and music. Its reputation has grown as a curio—a flawed but ambitious attempt at creating a magical musical epic.

The character of Doctor Dolittle has since been revisited multiple times, most notably in the comedic Eddie Murphy versions of the late 1990s and the ill-fated 2020 reboot with Robert Downey Jr. Yet none have attempted the same level of operatic grandeur as the 1967 original.

Conclusion

Doctor Dolittle (1967) is a classic case of grand ambition exceeding emotional execution. It is an exquisitely mounted, occasionally delightful, but uneven musical that never quite recaptures the magic it so desperately seeks. While it has flashes of charm and a handful of memorable songs, the film’s excessive length, tonal inconsistency, and distant central performance hold it back from achieving greatness.

Still, for viewers interested in the golden age of Hollywood musicals, Doctor Dolittle remains a fascinating, if flawed, cinematic spectacle.

A visually rich but narratively sluggish musical fantasy—worth watching for its songs and scale, if not for its storytelling cohesion.