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The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

  • 19531953
  • UU
  • 1h 29m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Hans Conried, Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Healy, and Tommy Rettig in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
Trailer 1
Play trailer0:53
2 Videos
99+ Photos
  • Family
  • Fantasy
  • Music

A young boy dreams that he is in an imaginary world where, assisted by his family's plumber, he must save other piano-playing kids like himself from the dungeons of his dictatorial piano tea... Read allA young boy dreams that he is in an imaginary world where, assisted by his family's plumber, he must save other piano-playing kids like himself from the dungeons of his dictatorial piano teacher who also mind-controls his mother.A young boy dreams that he is in an imaginary world where, assisted by his family's plumber, he must save other piano-playing kids like himself from the dungeons of his dictatorial piano teacher who also mind-controls his mother.

IMDb RATING
6.7/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Roy Rowland
  • Writers
    • Dr. Seuss(screenplay)
    • Allan Scott(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Peter Lind Hayes
    • Mary Healy
    • Hans Conried
Top credits
  • Director
    • Roy Rowland
  • Writers
    • Dr. Seuss(screenplay)
    • Allan Scott(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Peter Lind Hayes
    • Mary Healy
    • Hans Conried
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 115User reviews
    • 49Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 1 nomination total

    Videos2

    The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.
    Trailer 0:53
    The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.
    The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
    Trailer 2:05
    The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

    Photos166

    Hans Conried in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
    Hans Conried in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
    Poster for (1983) rerelease, 30 x 45 Movie Poster
    Tommy Rettig in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
    Hans Conried and Tommy Rettig in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
    Hans Conried, Peter Lind Hayes, Mary Healy, and Tommy Rettig in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
    Hans Conried in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
    The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
    Hans Conried, Peter Lind Hayes, and Tommy Rettig in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
    Hans Conried in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
    Hans Conried in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
    The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Peter Lind Hayes
    Peter Lind Hayes
    • August Zabladowskias August Zabladowski
    Mary Healy
    Mary Healy
    • Heloise Collinsas Heloise Collins
    Hans Conried
    Hans Conried
    • Dr. Terwillikeras Dr. Terwilliker
    Tommy Rettig
    Tommy Rettig
    • Bartholomew Collinsas Bartholomew Collins
    Jack Heasley
    • Uncle Whitneyas Uncle Whitney
    • (as John Heasley)
    Robert Heasley
    • Uncle Judsonas Uncle Judson
    Noel Cravat
    • Sgt. Lunkas Sgt. Lunk
    George Chakiris
    George Chakiris
    • Danceras Dancer
    • (as George Kerris)
    Alan Aric
    • Elevator Operatoras Elevator Operator
    • (uncredited)
    Tony Butala
    • Playback vocalist for Tommy Rettigas Playback vocalist for Tommy Rettig
    • (uncredited)
    Kim Charney
    • Kim - Boy in Lineas Kim - Boy in Line
    • (uncredited)
    Luigi Faccuito
    • Dancer in Dungeon Balletas Dancer in Dungeon Ballet
    • (uncredited)
    Henry Kulky
    Henry Kulky
    • Stroogoas Stroogo
    • (uncredited)
    Diki Lerner
    • Dancer in Dungeon Balletas Dancer in Dungeon Ballet
    • (uncredited)
    Harry Wilson
    Harry Wilson
    • Guardas Guard
    • (uncredited)
    • …
    • Director
      • Roy Rowland
    • Writers
      • Dr. Seuss(screenplay) (story and conception)
      • Allan Scott(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit
    The bane of young Bart Collins' existence is the piano lessons he's forced to take under the tutelage of Dr. Terwilliker, the only person he detests because of his dictatorial nature. Bart feels that Dr. Terwilliker has undue influence on his widowed mother Heloise. Bart constantly daydreams of a place--the Terwilliker Institute--at which the evil madman is its overlord. The mad doctor's built a piano so immense that it needs 500 children to play it. —Huggo
    • surrealism
    • music teacher
    • dream world
    • cigar smoking
    • playing piano
    • 112 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Taglines
      • The new kind of entertainment that's got everything including the kitchen sink - and it's got 500 of those!
    • Genres
      • Family
      • Fantasy
      • Music
      • Romance
    • Certificate
      • U
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      When Bart and Mr. Zadlabowski are taken to the dungeon via elevator, there is no reference to a third floor dungeon by the Elevator Operator. The third stanza of the Elevator Operator's song was cut due to increasingly horrific lyrics referring to household appliances. The complete deleted stanza went as follows: "Third floor dungeon, household appliances/Spiked beds, electric chairs/Gas chambers, roasting pots/And scalping devices." (The reference to "gas chambers" was probably regarded as in bad taste since the film was made so soon after World War II and the Holocaust.)
    • Goofs
      As Bart descends from the top of the ladder, he casts a shadow against the sky.
    • Quotes

      Elevator operator: [Dungeon elevator song] First floor dungeon/Assorted simple tortures/Molten lead, chopping blocks and hot boiling oil/Second floor dungeon/Jewelry department/Leg chains, ankle chains, neck chains, wrist chains, thumbscrews and nooses of the very finest rope/Basement dungeon/EVERYBODY OUT!

    • Connections
      Edited into TNT 100% Weird (1992)
    • Soundtracks
      Dream Stuff
      Music by Friedrich Hollaender (as Frederick Hollander)

      Lyrics by Dr. Seuss

      Performed by Peter Lind Hayes Tommy Rettig (dubbed by Tony Butala)

    User reviews115

    Review
    Top review
    Fascinating, truly unique film - excellent new DVD
    I've been familiar with this relatively obscure film for quite a few years, and while I am not familiar with the various VHS versions of it, I have had the laserdisc version for at least a decade, or more. The new DVD release is amazingly superior to that edition in picture quality, in terms of definition, color and contrast. Even the darkest, shadowy portions of the picture are rendered in sharp detail in the DVD, whereas those areas in the laserdisc picture are just an indistinct, dark grey blur. The colors are stable and vibrant, as well. All this helps tremendously in presenting the vivid imagery of this film to best effect. If you have any regard for this film, you really should have this edition.

    I can't add much to the accolades already posted for this fascinating, and genuinely unique, work of pure imagination. I've never seen a bad review of it. I might only make another mention of the hilarious `dressing-up' song that Hans Conried performs near the end of the film. Much comment has been made about the items Dr. T calls for in the lyrics (`undulating undies,' `purple nylon girdle,' `peek-a-boo blouse,' etc.). However, it should be pointed out to those yet unfamiliar with this film that these items bear no relation to the outfit in which he is actually being dressed, which is a cartoonishly-exaggerated drum major uniform. I guess you couldn't do THAT in 1953, at least not in such a mainstream venue. Those sophisticated enough to get the joke will get it, though, and the rest will find it strange, but amusing. My point is that despite all the bizarre and subversive attributes people have seen and commented on in this film, it is very much of its time in style, and decidedly family-friendly viewing. Anyone with a fondness for `Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' should appreciate this, and I'm not sure it isn't superior to that film in style, wit, and pure imaginative pizzaz.
    helpful•9
    0
    • Bobs-9
    • May 4, 2001

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 26, 1953 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • The 5, 000 Fingers of Dr. T.
    • Filming locations
      • Hollywood, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Stanley Kramer Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $2,750,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 29 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1
      • 1.37 : 1

    Related news

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