bkoganbing The Five Thousand Fingers Of Doctor T I supposed is dedicated to all the untalented kids who were forced to take music lessons back in the day. So very few possessed any musical gifts, so many like Tommy Rettig in this film preferred to be playing baseball.Rettig who at the insistence of his mom Mary Healy is taking piano lessons from the tyrannical Dr. Terwilliger or Doctor T as he's known. He's played by Hans Conreid who is given a once in a lifetime leading role in a film where he can just ham it up like all get out. There's more pork product on the hoof in Conreid's performance than in all those hogs Gary Cooper tried to corral in The Story Of Dr. Wassell. Rettig dozes off and finds himself in a fantasy world where he is sort of test kid for the biggest piano in the world. Soon there will be 499 more little boys forced to take piano lessons and will be playing a grand concerto composed by Conreid and it will be 5000 fingers on those keys. His mother is in a trance under Conreid's spell and he's got a Snidely Whiplash like gleam. The only one Rettig can trust is the plumber Peter Lind Hayes.I kind of like the idea of the plumber. Even a paradise like Conreid rules has to have working plumbing. In this case, the place springs a terrible leak.The story is written by Theodore Geisel better known as Dr. Seuss. The sets might have been designed by Salvador Dali. The costumes that Conreid wore made what Liberace wore seem like rags.Supposedly Dr. Seuss had something more ambitious in mind, but Columbia Pictures edited it down considerably in those blacklist years. In fairness to Harry Cohn and Columbia Pictures they were making a kid's film not a message picture.Despite Mr. Geisel's objections the film does hold up well after over half a century and family audiences can still enjoy it.

benjaminburt A film for adults that's by children, you see: A romp and a rile that'll fill you with glee! A film of a dream running wild on the loose, All from the mind of the great Dr. Seuss.A tale of a boy and his frights and his fears, And they may be many, despite his few years: Concerns for his mother, he wishes no ill of her, He trembles and quakes at his Dr. Terwilliker.The good Dr. T plays piano, you see, And teaches young boys to play "just like me," He detest violins and honking trombones, Bassoons, tambourines, and loud saxophones.To his pupil, Bart Collins, he seems quite a villain, He has cast a spell on Bart's mom, Mrs. Collins. He worries she loves him, but turning now sees Emerge from the kitchen Mr. Zabladowski.The handsome young plumber! A gentleman, he! And Bart wouldn't mind being a Zabladowski. And now with this thought, Bart began to doze off, And drifted to dreamland, with this in his thoughts.He was whisked away to a far-away place - A magic, musical, Seuss-ical space. He fell to a place of ill repute, Trapped in Terwilliker's dread Institute.Dr. T had constructed a massive piano, Made to be played by his 500 pupils. 10 fingers per pupil, and so you can see, The 5,000 fingers of Dr. T.Mr. Zabladowski works as a plumber, Installing 500 sinks is quite a bummer. Young Bart persuades him to check on Ms. Collins, Stating that she's been hypnotized by the villain.The plumber's distracted by a Dr. T song, And told to go back and finish his job. Afterwards Dr. T orders his killing, And Bart had been there and heard the whole thing.The two of them both try and fail to flee; They're thrown in the dungeon of old Dr. T. They make a bizarre noise-sucking machine, And to play the piano, Bart is retrieved.When 500 pupils sit down to play, Bart's machine sucks all the music away. Dismayed, old Terwilliker has quite a fit, But soon sees the problem, and seeks to correct it.Bart and the doctor meet face-to-face, And Bart puts Terwilliker right in his place. He threatens the Dr. with his contraption, (Because it's atomic), Bart now has traction.Dr. Terwilliker pleads for life, And agrees to give up his institute and wife. The kids all cheer and mash the piano, But suddenly, the noise-sucker starts to explode!Bart Collins wakes up, home once again, But things as they were seem to have changed. Bart suggests Mother and Zabladowski go out, They leave together and Bart jumps about.All in all, can't you see that this film is not made For those little children to be entertained? This movie's for grown-ups, to make them all see How tough the life of a young kid can be.From the one who understood, that old Dr. Seuss, He spun a tall tale of a kid on the loose, And taken as-is, the film is real good. Why not go and watch it when you're in the Seuss mood?

Syl This film was the first script by a then unknown Dr. Seuss. It's not surprising to see his influence on children's literature. Tommy Rettig played Bart Collins, a young boy who couldn't stand piano lessons. When he dreams of a nightmare about his piano teacher, Dr. T for Tutwiler I think, he believes that his piano teacher has a plan to enslave 500 boys to sit and play the piano on a grand scale. The visual images are unforgettable. Who could forget Bart's mother, Mrs. Collins, played by the late Mary Healy and reunited on screen with her husband Peter Lind Hayes. Healy and Hayes were a real life couple who performed on screen and on stage as well. Peter Lind Hayes played the plumber, August Szabatowski, who comes to Bart's rescue. When Bart learns of Dr. T's plans, he sets to foil it. The film's art direction is first rate. The film score deserved it's Oscar nomination. Hans Conreid played Dr. T with delight and pleasure despite his evil plan to turn his piano school. The film could be a delight for both children and adults. It's probably dated by today's standards.

tomgillespie2002 Bart Collins (Tommy Rettig) hates playing the piano. His egotistical piano teacher Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried) insists he perfects his art for an upcoming performance that will prove Terwilliker the greatest teacher. Bart drifts off into a sleep, where he dreams of an alternative world where he is imprisoned in Terwilliker's castle, who also has Bart's mother Heloise (Mary Healy) under his control in a trance-like state. Terwilliker forces Bart to practice on his giant piano where he plans to capture 500 children to perform all at once. The only person that Bart can turn to is plumber August Zabladowski (Peter Lind Hayes), who Terwilliker plans to execute once he has finished his sink installations.Children's author and illustrator Dr. Seuss is a national treasure in his native U.S., yet here in the UK, his work is less known and loved. Works like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat have been made popular by recent Jim Carrey and Mike Myers movie vehicles, but I went into this film not really knowing what to expect, with this being Dr. Seuss' sole movie writing credit. Dr. T. plays out like The Wizard of Oz (1939) with less colour, campness, and much more imagination. The songs that Seuss wrote for the film are instantly forgettable, so the film works less as a musical, and better as a rather strange and twisted children's fantasy.The sets are the film's main strength. From the start, which has Bart fleeing from a group of men with different coloured nets in a barren, futuristic and industrial landscape, to Terwilliker's gigantic piano hall, the film is rich with imagination. I can only assume the set designers were influenced by German expressionism, as it immediately brought Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920) to mind, all jagged angles and exaggerated features. Dr. T is occasionally ridiculous, but the film's heart and playfulness make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and features a surprisingly annoying-light central performance by young Rettig.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com