Taking the cellophane off of my Stanley Kramer Film Collection box set was something that I waited too long to do. I bought it because of, one, GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER, and two it was one sale pretty cheap. I’m not trying to discredit the man because he was a major figure in filmmaking and one of the best producers/directors, but his movies were never something I wanted to pop in to watch. After throwing away the cellophane I was going to watch THE WILD ONE, but I decided against it put in the only one in the set I haven’t seen, THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T, a children’s movie and symbolic-fantasy produced by Stanley Kramer and written by Theodore Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss. After watching…let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed.
This surreal film is a comedy/musical/horror movie about a young boy, Bart Collins (played by LASSIE’s Tommy Rettig) who’s Hitleresque and wonderfully flamboyant piano Dr. Terwilliker, played by the brilliant voice-actor Hans Conreid (PETER PAN’s Captain Hook), forces him to practice the piano constantly. Bart soon falls asleep at the piano entering a nightmare world where Dr. T intends to force 500 children to play on a massive piano, of his construct, 24-7/365. The horrible Dr. T enslaves Bart’s mother and Bart intends to rescue her, and himself. He enlists the help of Mr. August Zabladowski, the Collins’ plumber.
The nightmare world created by Dr. Seuss, who both wrote and designed the sets and costumes, deserves merit. The twisty and curvy designs mixed with bright colors, courtesy of Technicolor, give THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T an incredible brilliance. In one scene a scared Bart if running from a group of bright blue guards and finds escape of an impossibly high red ladder that leads to nowhere. He finds the ground by jumping and using his shirt as a parachute. Impossible feats such as this are common in this movie. The costumes are equally bizarre yet beautiful. First of all is Bart’s beanie, a blue skullcap with an erect yellow hand poking out of the top above the words “Happy Fingers.” Dr. Terwilicker’s costumes are wonderful mixture of fabrics and brightly colored robes. I am not one to comment on the clothing and costuming of a picture, but this film deserves this mention.
An unforgettable scene takes place in Dr. T’s dungeon for players of every instrument except pianos. In this surreal scene, hundreds of dancers with Seussical instruments dance ballet and play very avant-garde jazz. The men are all painted green and wearing rags and playing impossible instrument. One instrument is a set of antlers on a man’s head that holds dozens of bells that ring when the man is strangled. Another instrument looks like a communal bong with six men playing it like bagpipes. Most of the appeal of this scene comes from the choreography of the ballet great Eugene Loring. This brings to question the music. Being a musical, most scenes have a song. Unfortunately the songs, written and composed by Frederick Hollander, are the weakest part of the film. Most of them are very forgettable and typical, aside from the great instrumental in the dungeon.
The effects of this film make it even more significant. Released in 1953 one could claim the inspiration, in terms of style, it might have had on directors like Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. There are many elements of THE 5,000 FINGERS in Burtons’s CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY as well as in BARON VON MUNCHAUSEN (Gilliam). One could also argue the inspiration it might have had on a musical such as CHICAGO with its outlandish set design costumes. The character of Sideshow Bob in the SIMPSON’s television show is based loosely on Conreid’s Dr. Terwilicker.
THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T is a wonderful musical that carefully uses fantasy and surrealist style to construct the dream world of young Bart Collins so well. While flawed this film is still a marvel of film with some powerfully creative minds behind its creation. Stanley Kramer’s involvement alone deserves it a watch, and paired with Dr. Seuss’s imagination it makes this film a can’t miss. I'm glad I opened that darn box set now.
Watch it, experience it, love it.
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