Tuesday, December 6, 2016

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


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.

Fascinatingly imaginative and bizarre musical produced with much finesse, but (literally) a child's nightmare obviously not suitable for the intended audience.

Halliwell*: "Badly scripted fantasy with gleaming sophisticated dream sequences which deserve a better frame. A real oddity to come from Hollywood at this time, even though Dr. Seuss's were and are bestsellers."

Maltin***: "Imaginative fantasy conceived by Dr. Seuss with clever songs by Seuss and Frederick Hollander. Major weakness: conventional "grown-up" leads played by then-popular performers Healy and Hayes."

 Psychotronic/Michael Weldon: "...one of the best surrealistic fantasies ever made."

No comments: