'Dolittle' Delights Capacity Audience

"Dr. Dolittle," a charming musical adventure about a general practitioner turned veterinarian who speaks to animals, opened Wednesday night to a delighted capacity audience at the newly redesigned Utah Theatre.

The 70mm Todd-AO production premiered in Salt Lake City as a benefit for the Primary Children's Hospital and will begin regular performances Thursday.

The film was inspired by the widely read "Dolittle" novels, 12 in all, written by the late Hugh J. Jofting from stories which originated as letters to his children during World War I.

Title Role

Starring Rex Harrison in the title role, with Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newly and Richard Attenborough, the basic premise of the story is that Doctor John Dolittle, having lost interest in his human patients, is taught the language of animals (more than 400 dialects) from "Alliguiorse" to "Zebran" by his multi-lingual parrot, Polymala, who alone among his "clientele" can speak English.

It is this unique ability which leads Dolittle and his friends into a world of exotic journeys and events which are accepted as the natural order of things.

In a delightful blend of color and songs - "Talk To The Animals" won an Academy Award - the audience follows Dr. Dolittle's escapades as he seeks out the legendary Great Pink Sea Snail on Star Island.

To raise funds for the search, the doctor offers the services of a pushmi-pullyu (an extraordinary llama-like animal with a head at both ends) to a circus.

Because of an incidental plot involving a despondent seal, Dolittle is tangled in a wild confusion of mistaken identities, accused of murdering a woman (the seal), and jailed.

The doctor's subsequent escape from jail and his voyage on the unconventional ship "Flounder," make for hilarity and the kind of family movie fun so rare on the film circuit.

Captured

Once on Sea Star Island, Dolittle and his party are captured by natives and condemned to the death of "a thousand screams." In the story's conclusion, the doctor treats afflicted animals on the island, cajoles a great blue whale into pushing the floating mass into the warmer latitudes, discovers the Great Pink Sea Snail - and announces his next adventure will be a trip to the moon aboard a giant lunar moth.

Premiere ceremonies included a ribbon-cutting prior to the film, opening the new main floor theater. The Penthouse Theatre will be completed next month and open with "Rosemary's Baby."