The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953) - Roy Rowland

Bart is a young boy who, like most young boys, doesn't enjoy taking piano lessons with his tough teacher, Dr. Terwilliker.  Bart would much rather play sports outside with his friends but his mother insists that he stay with piano.  One night, while asleep, Bart has a long, crazy dream in which he is trapped in the horrifying kingdom of Dr. T, whose hellbent on enslaving hundreds of little boys in an effort to force them all to practice on the world's largest piano.  Based off of a Dr. Seuss' story, Roy Rowland's The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is a charming and wildly inventive childrens movie that effectively brings Dr. Suess' unique vision to the big screen in a way which I'm pretty sure has never been duplicated.  I couldn't help but sit in awe, admiring the gigantic, colorful set pieces which truly bring this film to life.  5,000 Fingers uses what appears to a variety of matte backgrounds and enormous sets to great effect especially given the propensity for CGI these days.  The color pallete is vivid and varied, using almost every color in the rainbow to create this world which certainly feels right off the pages of a Dr. Seuss book.  As for the story, it's certainly something which most children can relate too.  I mean, who actually enjoyed piano lessons as a child?  The whole story is a wild adventure driven by the imagination of Bart, who uses his wild-imagination to justify who why his piano teacher is so hard on him.  By today's standards, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T may be a little scary to young children, but I certainly would not hesitate sharing this film with a little one.  My biggest critique of the film is that the musical numbers overall were quite lackluster, ultimately feeling unnecessary and distracting to the story.  I honestly have no idea if this was something in Seuss' book but I suspect it was something added into the story, especially given this point in cinema's penchant for musicals.  What may be the greatest attribute of The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is the timelessness of the concept, capturing the wondrous imagination of children.
7.5/10 

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