Doctor Dolittle (film) - Wikipedia. Doctor Dolittle is a 1. American musical film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley and Richard Attenborough. It was adapted by Leslie Bricusse from the novel series by Hugh Lofting. Watch Self Helpless 4Shared.

Cast and crew credits, links to external reviews, user comments, plot summary and general information about the film.

It primarily fuses three of the books The Story of Doctor Dolittle, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, and Doctor Dolittle's Circus. The film had a notoriously protracted production with numerous setbacks along the way such as complications from poorly chosen shooting locations and the numerous technical difficulties inherent with the large number of animals required for the story. The film exceeded its original budget of $6 million by three times, and recouped $9 million upon release in 1. The film received mixed to negative critical reviews, but through the studio's intense lobbying, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and won awards for Best Original Song and Best Visual Effects. In early Victorian England, Matthew Mugg (Anthony Newley) takes his young friend Tommy Stubbins (William Dix) to visit eccentric Doctor John Dolittle (Rex Harrison) for a sick duck that Tommy had acquired from a local fisherman. Dolittle, a former physician, lives with an extended menagerie, including a chimpanzee named Chee- Chee (Cheeta), a dog named Jip, and a talking parrot named Polynesia (the uncredited voice of Ginny Tyler). Dolittle claims that he can talk to animals.

Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 The Story of Doctor Dolittle. Doctor Dolittle is a 1967 American musical film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley and Richard Attenborough. With Eddie Murphy, Ossie Davis, Oliver Platt, Peter Boyle. Dr. John Dolittle has the world in his hands: A beautiful wife at his side, two adorable daughters and a.

In a flashback, he explains that he kept so many animals in his home that they created havoc with his human patients, who took their medical needs elsewhere. His sister, who served as his housekeeper, demanded that he dispose of the animals or she would leave; he chose the animals. Polynesia taught him that different animal species can talk to each other, prompting Dolittle to study animal languages so that he could become an animal doctor. Watch 13Th District Online Free HD. While treating a horse, Dolittle's lack of human empathy offends the horse's owner, General Bellowes (Peter Bull). Bellowes' niece, Emma Fairfax (Samantha Eggar), chides Dolittle for his irresponsibility and rudeness to her uncle. Matthew falls in love with her at first sight.

After she has gone, Dolittle admits he also finds her attractive. A friend of Dolittle's sends him a rare Pushmi- pullyu, a creature that looks like a llama with a head on each end of its body. Dolittle takes the creature to a nearby circus, where the Pushmi- Pullyu becomes the star attraction. The doctor befriends a circus seal named Sophie who longs to return to her husband at the North Pole. Watch Looking For Richard Download Full more. Dolittle disguises her in women's clothing to convey her to the coast, and then throws her into the ocean. Fishermen mistake the seal for a woman, and have Doctor Dolittle arrested on a charge of murder.

General Bellowes is the magistrate in his case, but Dolittle proves he can converse with animals by talking with Bellowes' dog. Though Dolittle is acquitted, the vindictive judge sentences him to a lunatic asylum. Dolittle's animal friends rescue him, and he, Matthew, Tommy, Polynesia, Chee- Chee and Jip set sail in search of the legendary Great Pink Sea Snail. Emma stows away, seeking adventure. They randomly choose their destination: Sea- Star Island, a floating island currently in the Atlantic Ocean.

The ship is torn apart during a storm, but everyone washes ashore on Sea- Star Island. Emma and Dolittle admit they have grown to like each other.

The party is met by the island's natives, whom they mistake for hostile savages. The populace are in fact highly educated and cultured from reading books that have washed ashore from innumerable shipwrecks. Their leader is William Shakespeare the Tenth (Geoffrey Holder); his name reflects the tribe's tradition of naming children after favorite authors. William explains that they are wary of strangers coming to the island, and that the tropical island is currently endangered because it is drifting north into colder waters.

Mistrust leads the islanders to blame the doctor and his party. Dolittle persuades a whale to push the island south, but this causes a balancing rock to drop into a volcano, fulfilling a prophecy that dooms Dolittle and party to be burned at the stake. The whale also causes the island to rejoin the mainland, fulfilling another prophecy that dictates that the doctor and his friends be heralded as heroes, and they are freed.

While treating the animals on the island, Dolittle receives a surprise patient - the Great Pink Sea Snail, which has caught a severe cold. Dolittle discovers that the snail's shell is watertight and can carry passengers. Dolittle sends Matthew, Tommy, Emma, Polynesia, Chee- Chee, and Jip back to England with the snail.

Emma wishes to stay on the island with him, but the Doctor is adamant that a relationship would never work. She finally admits her love for the Doctor, and kisses him goodbye. Dolittle cannot go back because he is still a wanted man.

Furthermore, he wishes to investigate the natives' stories of another creature, the Giant Lunar Moth. After his friends leave, Dolittle realizes painfully that he has feelings for Emma. Sophie the seal arrives, accompanied by her husband. They bring a message: the animals of England have gone on strike to protest his sentence, and Bellowes has agreed to pardon him. Dolittle and the islanders construct a saddle for the Giant Lunar Moth, and Dolittle flies back to England.

Musical numbers[edit]"Overture""My Friend the Doctor" - Matthew"The Vegetarian" - Dolittle"Talk to the Animals" - Dolittle, Polynesia"If I Were a Man" - Emma"At the Crossroads" - Emma"I've Never Seen Anything Like It" - Blossom, Dolittle, Matthew"Beautiful Things" - Matthew"When I Look in Your Eyes" - Dolittle"Like Animals" - Dolittle"After Today" - Matthew"Fabulous Places" - Dolittle, Emma, Matthew, Tommy"Where Are the Words?" (deleted scene) - Matthew"I Think I Like You" - Dolittle, Emma"Doctor Dolittle" - Matthew, Tommy, the Island Children"Something in Your Smile" (deleted scene) - Dolittle"My Friend the Doctor" (reprise) - Company. In the original cut of the movie, Dr.

Dolittle and Emma did eventually begin a relationship. He sang Where Are the Words?, when he realised he was falling in love with her, but in a revised version, it's actually Matthew who falls for Emma and it is his recording of the song which is featured on the soundtrack album. Both versions were filmed and both actors recorded their respective versions, but the footage for both, as well as the vocal track by Rex Harrison have been lost to history. In both scenarioes, Something In Your Smile, is sung by Dolittle when he realizes he himself has fallen for Emma, however, although Harrison's vocal for the song survives, the footage does not. As a result, in an upcoming Special Anniversary Blu- ray deluxe box- set release, 2. Century Fox intends to play audio from both Newley's version of the former as well as Harrison's version of the latter against production stills taken at the time of shooting to give the viewer an idea of how the missing footage might have originally appeared.

The film's 1. 96. Mono as well as Stereo however the advertising campaign failed miserably. Being the last musical to be mixed for mono on a soundtrack album, copies of the original release, especially the monaural versions could be found in "bargain bins" for decades after the film's theatrical run. The album has never been re- released on LP since then and only received a CD re- release for its 3.

Anniversary; however, no extraneous material such as excised numbers (other than those described above) was included. Production[edit]2.

Century Fox had originally intended the film to reunite Rex Harrison with Lerner and Loewe, following the success of My Fair Lady, but Loewe had retired from writing musicals. Alan Jay Lerner was originally chosen to write the script, but was fired by producer Arthur P.

Jacobs on May 7, 1. Jacobs then tried to get the Sherman Brothers, but they were tied to Walt Disney.