The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

I would have much rather grown up with this on TV at Thanksgiving than The Wizard of Oz. Dr. Seuss goes all German expressionist musical nightmare (it is literally a little boy's nightmare) and now the lost cut of this will rate up there as the Holy Grail of lost film as far as I'm concerned. I would have gladly choked down that dry dishcloth flavored turkey just to kill time before getting to see this again. Screw Charlie Brown- this, this is the stuff. This is what our childhood should have been made of.

Wonderful, whimsical, and whackyexactly what you'd expect of a Dr Suess movie

"Dr T" has traditionally been released in terrible transfers from poor prints. The LaserDisc was abominable, so dark and muddy as to be nearly unwatchable. The transfers have gotten better, the DVD in a Stanley Kramer collection being a big improvement. This Blu-ray is the best by far."Vibrant" is the word. The colors pop off the screen, especially the bright blue of the Happy Fingers hat, and Mary Healy's beautiful gowns. And then there are Dr T's costumes, especially (but not limited to) the "Doh Me Doh" outfit.Except for grain in large areas of the same color, the razor-sharp and detailed image is exactly what you'd expect from three-strip Technicolor, Even image density "breathing" in Technicolor prints is present.The film remains an appalling and ill-considered mess. No one bothered to explain to Ted Geisel that "less is more". Dialog is often unfocused and rambling. Too many scenes run on endlessly, to no particular point. On the positive side, it appears Danny Kaye turned down the role of Dr Terwilliker. This provides the delicious pleasure of watching Dr T played by the actor who was less than a decade away from voicing Snidely Whiplash. You can't get better casting than that. Tommy Rettig is, of course, the first actor to play Lassie's master on TV.As for the film, the old crack about Wagner applies: "There are moments, but oh, those half hours...". The moments include disturbingly erotic scenes of Dr T's torture chambers (including Henry Kulky's flat top & hairy chest), and (the film's high point). Dr T's "Doh Me Doh" song with its marvelous nonsense lyrics. Not far behind is the Terwilliker Institute "fight song" in which his minions proclaim just how evil and villainous they are.It's unlikely you'll ever watch all the way through more than once. But the best moments are worth sharing with friends. Amazon's budget asking price is more than reasonable. If you enjoy the odd and off-kilter, you will not be disappointed.

My brother and I LOVE this movie and I was so excited when it finally came out on DVD!If you're a Dr. Seuss fan, or love vintage movies, give this one a chance! It stars the impeccable Hans Conried (Disney's Peter Pan as the voice of Captain Hook) in Dr. Seuss's one and ONLY live action original film.A young boy in the 1950s loathes his piano lessons AND his piano teacher, Dr. Terwilliker. He can't understand why his widowed mother insists he keep taking them, and is convinced she is under the spell of the frightening "Dr. T". What ensues is the hilarious and dark daydreams of the very imaginative young lad, and a fun, musical filled adventure as only Dr. Seuss could create!Featuring brilliant songs such as "The Dressing Song (Do Mi Do Duds)", "Ten Happy Fingers", "Dream Stuff", "The Kids Song" and "Get Together Weather", written by Frederick Hollander and Dr. Seuss, it was nominated for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.Sadly, this delightfully weird jewel never was a success at the box office, even after two attempts to release it in theatres. Audiences at the time weren't prepared for the colorful, seussical fantasy, and it was, at the time, a flop. Hans Conried had said, "The picture was badly cut in fear of the reappraisal after it was made, even if it was evident to those knowledgeable but inartistic heads of studio that it might have been an artistic triumph rather than a financial one. But in an attempt to make it one, they cut over 11 musical numbers and re-shot for one whole week. I had never had any such part before, never have since and probably never will again." Happily, however, it has since gained the love of the artistic masses! With ratings on Rotten Tomatoes of around 80%, the fans keep coming!I hope, you'll be the next one to enjoy the genius of "The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T", Dr. Seuss' forgotten masterpiece.

“The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T” is a weird one, a fantasy film for kids that’s possibly more suitable for adults, the youngsters maybe deterred by its dark theme, shadowy sets, and abundance of musical sequences. Headlined by husband and wife teaming Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy, the film’s real leads are child star Tommy Rettig and Hans Conried, the latter giving a bravo performance as the evil Dr. Terwilliker who, after hypnotizing the boy’s mother, continues his plan to have 500 boys play a gigantic piano while ridding the world of all other instruments by locking their players away in a dark dungeon.Possessing inventive imagery in massive surroundings, this is film fantasy in a class of its own. It was also a major flop when released in 1953, despite having impressive production credits headed up by Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) who conceived, and co-scripted, the story, his only actual film involvement; music by German immigrant Frederick Hollander, one-time songwriter for Marlene Dietrich, and Morris Stoloff as its musical director; and produced by Stanley Kramer. Overlooked for many years, its ‘re-discovery” in France led on to cult appreciation.The superlative BluRay transfer makes the set’s dazzling colours even more dazzling and comes with really worthy Special Features, headed up by entertainer and musicologist Michael Feinstein’s well researched insight into the film’s music, with further background revealed in the accompanying 56 page booklet.

Childhood Memories brought about by this release.I remember watching this on tv in black & white years ago, I was a youngster then and im 72 now!The sets are reminiscent of Dali. To see it in colour and on Bluray is a real treat.Its not widescreen as it wasnt made in widescreen, although its emblazoned on the cover as being in Wonderscope !!!Not sure exactly what Wonderscope was but it wasn’t CinemaScope and the film is 4x3 on my tv. The quality isnt bad for a film made in the early 50’s The colours jump out at you on a Deep Colour ULTRA HD tv ...makes you wonder what a Bluray 4k release would have to offer ?Story as I remember it. I even remembered one of the songs (Little Kids) ... Extras really good and the booklet is excellent, over all a very good release, long time coming to the UK but its here at last. A bit pricey for a Bluray but then again 4k has lifted the expected price range of Blurays quite a lot.

Super 1950s early Wide Screen Musical from Stanley Kramer tells the story of a young boys nightmare being forced to play the piano in a creepy castle. Great musical numbers including a fantastic orchestral ballet. Slightly scary for younger viewers but still a fun film for all ages.

Quirky, surreal 50's comedy/musical. Aimed at kids, but still great fun for adults. A little dated, but well worth a watch! been looking for it for years since seeing it on tv, and so pleased to have found a copy!

It was really hard to find a copy of this film, one of my firm favourites, that wasn't blue ray as my dvd player won't play those. But being a new multi-region player it did play this one which is region 2. It's a surreal cult film and I love it.