THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T is the only live-action film written by Dr. Seuss
SUMMER ON THE HUDSON — MOVIES UNDER THE STARS: THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T (Roy Rowland, 1953)
Riverside Park South, Pier 1 at West 70th St.
Wednesday, July 24, free, 8:30
www.nycgovparks.org
Advertised as “the first Wonderama,” The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is also the first — and only — film written directly for the screen by Ted Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss. Geisel famously disowned it upon its release, declaring it a “debaculous fiasco” and refusing to discuss it in his memoir. But the Technicolor fantasy is actually far from a fiasco, although it is surreal, bizarre, and very, very strange. Tommy Rettig (Lassie) stars as Bartholomew Collins, a young boy who hates taking piano lessons from the awful Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried, who played Uncle Tonoose on Make Room for Daddy and voiced such animated villains as Captain Hook and Snidely Whiplash). In his dreams, Bart finds himself trapped at the Terwilliker Institute, an evil place where Dr. T has hypnotized Bart’s widowed mother, Heloise (Mary Healy), into being his assistant and eventual bride, and where the Collins’s friendly plumber, August Zabladowski (Peter Lind Hayes, who was married to Healy in real life), is installing sinks in cells to be occupied by five hundred kids who are being forced to perform by Dr. T on an enormous winding piano that has 480,000 keys. Meanwhile, musicians who play other instruments are imprisoned in the dungeon, leading to one of the film’s best production numbers. Lost in a German Expressionist-type world, designed by Rudolph Sternad (Judgment at Nuremburg), filled with long shadows, tilted buildings, and evil lurking around every corner, Bart tries desperately to save his mother, the plumber, and himself — and once again be part of a “normal” family. Geisel came up with the story and wrote the screenplay with Allan Scott (So Proudly We Hail); Geisel also wrote the lyrics, with music by Frederick Hollander. However, most of the songs ended up on the cutting-room floor, with only six appearing in the film, which might actually be a good thing, because the musical numbers, save for “Dungeon Shlim Shlam,” are the weakest part of the movie (even if it got nominated for an Oscar for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture). Directed by Roy Rowland with a strong hand from producer Stanley Kramer, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T also features some ingenious set pieces and engaging contraptions among its overall weirdness. The film is screening July 24 as part of the “Summer on the Hudson: Movies under the Stars” series in Riverside Park; for a day-by-day listing of free summer movie screenings in New York City, go here.