The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

The ten fingers of Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss concocted 1953's THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T, a mildly subversive, eye filling fantasy mostly composed of a young boy's nightmare as he slumps over a piano.  Bart hates taking lessons, especially as they are meted out by the stern Dr. Terwilliker.  His widowed mother seems to take Terwilliker's side.   Bart would rather grab his catcher's glove.   The family plumber, the kindly Mr. Zabladowski, is little help in the matter.

Bart's (Tommy Rettig) dream finds him at the Terwilliker Institute, a place that houses an endless piano that requires 500 boys to play it.  All against their will.  Dr. T is an autocrat, a dictator whose dream is to conduct the perfect piano concerto, and marry his hypnotized assistant, Bart's mother Heloise (May Healy).  Other, non piano playing musicians (how dare they!) are held in dungeons.  Bart and his rebelliousness lands him there too, unless he and Mr. Z (Peter Lind Hayes), employed to install the Institute's bathroom sinks, can somehow overthrow Terwilliker (a strangely Christopher Lloyd-like Hans Conried).

It is clear that THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR.T was highly influential on later films like WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH.  To say nothing of several Tim Burton pictures.  The set and product design here is impressive.  As is the use of color.  The film has several musical numbers, which range from "meh" to wide smiles.  Dr. Seuss penned the lyrics and this is especially obvious during Dr. T's "Dressing Song" late in the movie.  But his creativity doesn't create an entirely successful film, one I probably would've enjoyed more when I was an 8 year old piano lesson hating little brat.  I had no Dr. T, however, just my mother, who loved to write and play music.  I wanted to go out and play, like Bart, who may get his wish by film's end.

Dr. Seuss had penned a longer, darker screenplay for DR. T. Unfavorable screenings mandated cuts which rendered the film more suitable for general audiences.  The political intentions and allegories are still evident in the finished film, but one is curious about Geisel's original visions, one of which involved a rather grim fate for Terwilliker via his henchmen, who are connected by the same beard.