The bane of adolescent Bart Collins' existence is the piano lessons he is forced to take under the tutelage of Dr. Terwilliker, the only person he admits he detests because of his dictatorial nature. Bart feels Dr. Terwilliker has undue influence for these lessons on his widowed mother, Heloise Collins. The one person who sympathizes with Bart, although quietly on the sidelines, is the Collins' plumber, August Zabladowski.Seuss has made some strange books, which become strange movies. So far as I know this was never a book. But it is strange, and takes what is typically a cartoon format and brings it to life... with music, odd questions, dancing and some dark humor. It's like "Seven Brides From Seven Brothers" meets "Cat in the Hat", only darker.

Now this is something of a find, and of course I wonder if I had seen Dr. Seuss' The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T as a kid what I would make of it. I imagine I would embrace it even more than I do now; as it is, as a grown man, this is just incredibly wild, odd stuff, and not all of it works but it's certainly a unique achievement. It's like Seuss' Alice in Wonderland with little touches of Wizard of Oz (the whole "You were there, and you were there, and you" aspect, even for subtle things like bearded figures in photos on top of a piano), and it's certainly nothing if not unique.The easiest way to describe what it's about is that its a... musical about a fascist dictator only he is obsessed most of all with getting his piano army to play perfectly (the 5,000 fingers belonging eventually to the many children - probably not 5,000 total, it just sounds cool, but I digress). There's a little boy named Bart Collins (a decent child actor in Tommy Rettig) and he is in the real world kind of pressured/forced by his harsh piano teacher Dr. Terkwilliker to keep playing and playing, and his mother (Healy) does the same. But he falls asleep (or is it hypnosis of some kind, dun-dun-dun) and enters into a kind of nightmarish world where Dr. T is the ruler and he has minions and jailers and a whole system set up - but most of all a very, very long piano.Why is he obsessed with the piano? Eh, honestly, who cares after a certain point; he's one of those self-aware movie villains (or at least Seuss is clever enough in the writing of him) to know that it's just the fun of being villainous that's the thing. He's the sort of guy who has a musical number about people getting him dressed with his wide array of a wardrobe. Meanwhile there is the opposite side of Dr. T, the Nice Guy leading man Mr. Zabladowski (Peter Lynd Hayes, the only plumber I can think of with pomade in his hair all the time keeping it just perfect), and Bart needs to help him so that he won't be turned as a puppet by Dr. T (and as his mother has become in this world), or worse.This moves around with the sort of wild invention, manic and vivid set designs, and sense of continuous, rambunctious, over the top play that has made Dr. Seuss so beloved over the past century. I think you'll either go for it or you might not, depending on your quota of weird and odd images. Did I mention it's a musical? Or I should say it is but only about 25 minutes into the film. That's one of the flaws of the movie, where it has music to it but it doesn't show itself as being what it really wants to be until Mr. Zablowski and Bart share a song (a soft number, probably the least effective). Then again once it gets into it, and Seuss' creative lyrics start to spout off, it's a lot of fun.Some of the movie drags here and there - yes, even at 88 minutes - primarily with a sequence involving a bunch of green-skinned men who are jumping around and playing musical instruments (it feels like 5 minutes is spent on a xylophone alone). I should complain about the excessive musical numbers - even a black elevator operator in one scene gets a song (only black man I should note, which is strange unto itself but not uncommon for 1953) - but that's actually where the movie kind of shines and the singers do wonderfully (albeit not the actor actors I don't think, except for Hans Conreid who can do no wrong here).There are a lot of really creative ideas here, such as the device that sucks up all the air in a room and makes it sounds warped and silly, or little things like giant hands and arms that stick out of the wall and can open up doors. It's all so much that I'm tempted to say that it would have been a little easier to take - or just greater visually speaking - had it been an animated film, with its music easy enough to interweave. But with live action it's both a success and kind of a slog a couple of times as I mentioned, with the actors doing fine more or less except for Conreid who is, I should say again, spectacular here as he eats up the scenery but doesn't go so far as to take you out of the scene in its context. He's having the time of his life here, and Seuss created something unique in its time and place: a live-action children's musical with some subtle (or not so subtle) satire about dictatorships and oppression for kids.

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.

Young Bart Collins (Tommy Rettig) has only one enemy in the world. It is his piano teacher Professor Terwilliker (Hans Conried). The creator of the Terwilliker Method of learning the piano and well-known racketeer obviously has Bart's widowed mother (Mary Healy) buffaloed. Why else would she want Bart chained to the piano for the rest of his days? He can't even get sympathy from his friend Mr. Zbladowski (Peter Lind Hayes), the plumber.Out of Bart's fear and longing we are plunged into a nightmare that could only have come from the mind of the film's writer, Dr. Seuss. Fantastic and strange sets, incredible eye-filling use of Technicolor, plus fun and moving songs take us on a wild journey. A unique and totally winning movie experience.