CheerupSilver
Very Cool!!!
Sameer Callahan
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Lidia Draper
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
earlytalkie
THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T is a movie that simply has to be experienced to be appreciated. Tommy Rettig is Bart, a normal little boy who emphatically does not want to be tied down to his piano lessons. His teacher is a grueling taskmaster whom the boy loathes. He drifts off into a nightmare prison world where he is being commanded to play. His Mother has been hypnotized into assisting Dr. T, and Bart tries to enlist the help of the friendly plumber, August, to free her. Heloise, the Mother and August are winningly played by real life husband and wife team Mary Healy and Peter Lind Hayes. Bart is played by Tommy Rettig, and Dr. T is played with flamboyant relish by marvelous Hans Conried, and he steals the show. This film was conceived by Dr. Seuss, and I must say there is nothing else ever filmed to compare it to. A huge flop when first released in 1953, the film today has a well-deserved cult following. The beautiful Technicolor pops off the screen in the blu ray version that I saw this on.
Kingkitsch
How director Roy Rowland ever managed to get this chaotic vision of the incomparable Dr. Seuss on the screen is a tale in itself. From the beginning, placing Seuss's maniac work in front of audiences made of "atomic" 1953 movie-goers was a tremendous gamble that didn't pay off. Staid suburbanites didn't get it, children were afraid of it, and the huge production costs to screen the film in "Wonderama" (utilizing three separate screens/projectors all at the same time years before Cinerama) sank the film which was already being savaged critically. "Fingers" is something unique. It perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the era in which it was made. All-American boy Bart Collins (played by the utterly elfin Tommy Rettig) is forced to endure piano lessons at the behest of one Dr. Terwilliker, his evil piano teacher (Hans Conried, chewing up ALL the scenery). "Real" boys don't do sissy music lessons, even though his widowed mother (Mary Healy) slaves to pay for Bart's lessons. The boy's only friend is the the manly plumber August Zablidowski (Peter Lind Hayes, the real life husband of Mary Healy) thinks the piano maestro is a crook, robbing the pocketbooks of American moms. Young Bart falls asleep at the keyboard, and dreams himself into a nightmare: the Terwilliker Institute for boys with "Happy Fingers" who will give voice to the gigantic piano designed to showcase the talents of 500 boys simultaneously. Hence, 5000 fingers.Dr.Seuss's nightmare world comes to startling life here on gigantic sets. Mazes that the child Bart must confront (his emerging libido), the rescue of his mother, now a slave to the swishy Dr., and a nuisance to the plumber who see nothing of what's going on around him. All the subconscious 50's psychological tropes are here: An evil, and obvious, homosexual will indoctrinate boys into a life of cultural pursuit no matter what it takes. The mother, who is the only female character seen during the film, has been taken in by the rhetoric of the Dr. and rejects both her son and a possible husband by force of hypnosis. Fey singing and dancing occur often in the film, culminating in the infamous "elevator" sequence in which a muscular man in a hood sings about the horrors of torture found on each floor. The dungeon orchestral ballet features the gayest green men ever seen on film, watch for the "xylophone" sequence in which bearded half-naked men make music on a keyboard wearing Technicolor pastel fuzzy mittens. This is followed by the show-stopping tongue twisting "Do-Mi-Do Day (The Dress Me Song)" in which fashion forward Dr. T gets his freak on, attended by valets in lavender tuxedos in a dressing room with columns that are nothing short of phallic.However, in terms of 1953, it's questionable that anyone "saw" the film as it appears today. Having seen this film dozens of times over the years, it feels as innocent as any post-war fantasy film could have. Still, the years since it first appeared have reshaped the context into something far more sinister than the dream of a young boy who just wants to play baseball and not be saddled with anything that might be cultural. A fascinating film that's gained a huge cult following over the past decades, it's up to the viewer to ultimately decide if the film's makers actually did what we think they did...or has the social implications of our time reshaped what we see on screen? For the true fans of this slice of early psychedelia, see it in it's original theatrical format if you ever get the chance. For many years in the late 70s, the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia mounted this eccentric film in it's original form including the three projectors and stereo sound on their wonderful Cinemascope screen. It was their annual Christmas offering...and tickets sold out yearly by Halloween. Seeing "Fingers" as it was meant to be experienced is something all fans of the film should hope for.
SnoopyStyle
Bart Collins is haunted by Dr. Terwilliker's piano lessons. Even in his dreams, he's haunted by Terwilliker who has built a fanciful piano that will have 500 children or 5000 fingers playing it. He must save his widowed mother Heloise Collins from under Terwilliker's spell. The only person who might be able to help is the Collins' plumber August Zabladowski.Written by Dr Seuss, this has all his original visual styles. It is imaginative, creative, and hypnotic. The style is definitely 50s even with songs of sounds of the era. The acting has that childlike broad feel that is so fitting for a movie that takes place almost entirely in a child's imagination. The best is Hans Conried as the evil Dr. Terwilliker. His unique voice adds depth to his performance.
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.