''The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.'' is a 1953 American musical fantasy film about a boy who dreams himself into a fantasy world ruled by a diabolical piano teacher enslaving children to practice piano forever. It was the only

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

written by Theodor Seuss Geisel (

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' screenplay, and

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...

. It was directed by Roy Rowland, with many uncredited takes directed by producer Stanley Kramer. The film stars

Peter Lind Hayes Peter Lind Hayes (born Joseph Conrad Lind Jr.; June 25, 1915 – April 21, 1998) was an American vaudeville entertainer, songwriter, and film and television actor. Early life Hayes was born in San Francisco, the son of Joseph Conrad Lind Sr., a ...

, Mary Healy,

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's '' Dud ...

, and

Tommy Rettig Thomas Noel Rettig (December 10, 1941 – February 15, 1996) was an American child actor, computer software engineer, and author. He is remembered for portraying the character "Jeff Miller" in the first three seasons of CBS's ''Lassie'' te ...

Plot

Young Bart Collins (

) lives with his widowed mother Heloise ( Mary Healy). The bane of Bart's existence is the hated piano lessons he endures under the tutelage of the

autocratic Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except per ...

Dr. Terwilliker (

). Bart feels that his mother has fallen under Terwilliker's influence, and gripes to their

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, and for sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

, August Zabladowski (

), without result. While hammering at his lessons, Bart dozes off and enters a musical dream. In the dream, Bart is trapped at the surreal Terwilliker Institute, where the piano teacher is a madman dictator who has imprisoned non-piano-playing musicians. He built a piano so large that it requires Bart and 499 other boys (hence, 5,000 fingers) to play it. Bart's mother has become Terwilliker's hypnotized assistant and bride-to-be, and Bart must dodge the Institute's guards as he scrambles to save his mother and himself. He tries to recruit Mr. Zabladowski, who was hired to install the Institute's lavatories ahead of a vital inspection, but only after skepticism and foot-dragging is Zabladowski convinced to help. The two construct a noise-sucking contraption which ruins the mega-piano's opening concert. The enslaved boys run riot, and the "atomic" noise-sucker explodes in spectacular fashion, bringing Bart out from his dream. The movie ends on a hopeful note for Bart, when Mr. Zabladowski notices Heloise and offers to drive her to town in his jeep. Bart escapes from the piano and runs down the street to play, with his dog Sport joyfully capering at his heels.

Cast

as August Zabladowski * Mary Healy as Heloise Collins *

as Dr. Terwilliker *

as Bart Collins * John Heasley as Uncle Whitney * Robert Heasley as Uncle Judson * Noel Cravat as Sgt. Lunk

Uncredited (in order of appearance)

* Henry Kulky as Stroogo *

George Chakiris George Chakiris (born September 16, 1932) is an American actor. He is best known for his appearance in the 1961 film version of ''West Side Story'' as Bernardo Nunez, the leader of the Sharks gang, for which he won both the Academy Award for Be ...

as Dancer *

Tony Butala Anthony Francis Butala (born November 20, 1940) is an American singer.

as Boy pianist * Harry Wilson as Guard / doorman

Production

In the wake of the success of ''

Gerald McBoing-Boing ''Gerald McBoing-Boing'' is an animated short film about a little boy who speaks through sound effects instead of spoken words. It was produced by United Productions of America (UPA) and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950. ...

'', Geisel submitted a live-action storyline for ''The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.'' in 1951. Geisel followed it up with a 1200-page script, with "themes of world dominance and oppression coming out of World War II." Geisel relocated from

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

, California, to Los Angeles during filming to "enable him to be more involved in the production." His influence on set design and choreography is also evident in the film.

was enthusiastic about the role, saying in retrospect, "I had never had any such part before, never have since and probably never will again. We rehearsed for eight weeks before I was engaged to shoot for eight weeks, an extravagance that I as a

bit player In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British television, ...

had never known ... If it had been a success, with my prominent part in the title role, it would have changed my life." Prior to release, a "preview version" was received poorly by a test audience. This prompted heavy cuts from the studio and a week of reshoots included a new opening scene. Of the original 20 musical numbers filmed in their entirety, 9 were removed. The removed songs still survive with the complete musical soundtrack. Transcript of story from the program "Weekend Edition Saturday". The "preview version" featuring the removed footage is considered lost. Columbia Pictures released the film a second time in 1958 with the whole elevator scene cut, under the title ''Crazy Music''.

Musical score

The score was composed by

Frederick Hollander Friedrich Hollaender (in exile also Frederick Hollander; 18 October 189618 January 1976) was a German film composer and author. Life and career He was born in London to a Jewish family, where his father, operetta composer Victor Hollaender, w ...

with lyrics by Dr. Seuss. It earned an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

nomination for " Best Scoring of a Musical Picture". The singing voice of Tommy Rettig was dubbed by

Tony Butala Anthony Francis Butala (born November 20, 1940) is an American singer.

, the founder of

The Lettermen The Lettermen are an American male pop vocal trio. The Lettermen's trademark is close-harmony pop songs with light arrangements. The group started in 1959. They have had two Top 10 singles (both No. 7), 16 Top 10 singles on the Adult Contempor ...

. The pre-recorded piano parts were performed uncredited by veteran Hollywood studio session pianist Ray Turner (1903-1971), who was known to the public for his own recordings, and for his piano performance on the popular 1948 children's album ''

Sparky's Magic Piano ''Sparky's Magic Piano'' is the second in a series of children’s audio stories featuring Sparky, an original character created for Capitol Records in 1947. (Sparky also appeared in comic books as a sidekick to Capitol’s other famous creation, ...

''.

Musical numbers

Theatrical cut: # "Opening Credits / Butterfly Ballet" — Dream Sequence # "Ten Happy Fingers" # "Piano Concerto (Ten Happy Fingers variation)" # "Dream Stuff" # "Hypnotic Duel" # "Get Together Weather" # "Because We're Kids" # "Dungeon Ballet" # "We Are Victorious" # "Dressing Song / Do-Mi-Do Duds" # "End Credits"See the review of the 2007 CD: Original "preview" version: # "Overture/Main Title" # "Ten Happy Fingers" # "Piano Concerto (Ten Happy Fingers variation)" # "Oh! We Are the Guards" # "Many Questions" # "My Favorite Note" # "Dungeon Ballet" # "Grindstone" # "I Will Not Get Involved" # "Dream Stuff" # "I Won't Go to Bed/Massage Opera" # "You Opened My Eyes" # "Hypnotic Duel" # "Because We're Kids" # "Money" # "Freckle on a Pygmy" # "Butterfly Ballet" # "We Are Victorious" # "Dressing Song / Do-Mi-Do Duds" # "End Credits"

Reception

At the Hollywood premiere, patrons walked out after 15 minutes, and box-office receipts were disappointing. At the time it was released, the film received negative reviews from critics.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

called the film "strange and confused" and said:

this
ilm Ilm or ILM may refer to: Acronyms * Identity Lifecycle Manager, a Microsoft Server Product * '' I Love Money,'' a TV show on VH1 * Independent Loading Mechanism, a mounting system for CPU sockets * Industrial Light & Magic, an American motion ...
is not only abstruse in its symbols and in its vast elaboration of reveries but salso dismally lacking in the humor or the enchantment such an item should contain.

Geisel regarded the film as a "debaculous fiasco" and omitted mention of it in his official biography. He even stated after the film "Hollywood is not suited for me and I am not suited for it". The film may have fared better over the years; , it has a 82% positive

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

rating.

21st century

The home media releases of the film have spawned many new reviews. In 2001,

Glenn Erickson Glenn Erickson is an American film editor and film critic. A graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, he started in the film industry in 1975 as an editor of low-budget films and later worked in minor technical crew capacitie ...

wrote that the film was "another flop that has since gained the reputation of an artsy classic - a real cult film. It's colorful, energetic, and indeed can boast fine work by a cadre of talented Hollywoodians. But it's not very good." Later critics were more enthusiastic. In 2002,

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

said the film "has charm, a riotous imagination, and some very weird dream-like sets by production designer

Rudolph Sternad Rudolph Sternad (October 6, 1906 – April 23, 1963) was an American art director and production designer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. He was a frequent collaborator of producer-director Sta ...

and art director Cary Odell"; it's "surreal, disturbing, strong meat for young stomachs." In 2005, Violet Glaze of the ''

Baltimore City Paper ''Baltimore City Paper'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, founded in 1977 by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch. The most recent owner was the Baltimore Sun Media Group, which purchased the paper in 2014 from ...

'' called the film "refreshingly tart and defiant for a children's film, its space-age-by-way-of- Caligari world parks right on the delicious side of creepy. Bring the kids, especially the smart ones." In 2008, Dennis Schwartz wrote that it was "probably the best children's fantasy film ever made by Hollywood—even if it's rambling."

Home media

The film was released by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video in 1991. It was then re-released in 1995, as part of the Columbia Tristar family collection. It became available on DVD in 2001 by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment. It featured the

short, Gerald McBoing-Boing’s Symphony, as a bonus feature. Sony then re-released the DVD in 2008 as part of the Stanley Kramer collection. Finally, it was released as a region 1 Blu-Ray and DVD in 2016 by Mill Creek Entertainment, under licence from Sony.AV media ''The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.'' DVD (region A/1) (Mill Creek Entertainment) oclc no. 956955388

Soundtrack

The music that was composed for the film, including material that was not used in the extant copies of the film itself, was released as a set of 3 CDs in 2010.AV media CD ''Dr. Seuss's The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.'': original motion picture soundtrack oclc no. 704281266 ''

Film Score Monthly ''Film Score Monthly'' is an online magazine (and former print magazine) founded by editor-in-chief and executive producer Lukas Kendall in June 1990 in music, 1990 as ''The Soundtrack Correspondence List''. It is dedicated to the art of Film sco ...

'' (November 2010) In 2007, a soundtrack CD (ACMEM126CD) was released by Él Records in association with Cherry Red Records.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:5000 Fingers of Dr. T., The 1953 films 1950s musical fantasy films American musical fantasy films Films with screenplays by Dr. Seuss 1950s English-language films Columbia Pictures films Films about dreams Films directed by Roy Rowland Films produced by Stanley Kramer Films scored by Friedrich Hollaender Films scored by Morris Stoloff 1950s American films