Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video (both):

Audio:

Subtitles:

Extras:
None

• Audio commentary with film historians Glenn Kenny and Nick Pinkerton
• Fiction Factory documentary: Father Figure (2017, 18:32): a new interview with Steve Rowland, son of director Roy Rowland
• Karen Kramer introduction (2007, 2:11)
• Dr. T. on Screen (2007, 14:34): Cathy Lind Hayes, George Chakris and others talk about the film
• A Little Nightmare Music (2007, 11:45): an examination of the film's ground-breaking music score

• Crazy Music - Michael Feinstein and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (16:25)
• Joe Dante trailer commentary (2013, 2:33): a short critical appreciation
• Original theatrical trailer (0:53)
• Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography 
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by artist Peter Conheim, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and historic articles on the film
• UK Blu-ray and DVD premiere
• Limited Dual Format Edition of 5,000 copies

Bitrate:

Description: Young Bart Collins, lulled to sleep by the monotony of his piano lessons, dreams of a castle ruled by his piano teacher the eccentric Dr. Terwilliker. Dr. T is determined to prove that his Happy Fingers Method of teaching piano is the best method in the world. Having banished all other musical instruments to the dungeon, Dr. T lures 500 reluctant little boys to perform in a colossal concert on the grandest grand piano ever built. In his effort to escape, Bart comes in contact with some of the strangest characters imaginable. Siamese twins on roller skates, a human drum and the most memorable villain since the Grinch.

Filled with surreal landscapes and tongue-twisting rhymes for which Dr. Seuss is famous, this is a movie children and their parents will love to watch again and again. The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T is family entertainment at its best.

Filmed in Wonderama!

 

 

The Film:

Hollywood films just don't get any weirder than this underappreciated 1950s classic. This surrealistic children's film (cowritten by Ted Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss), features Tommy Rettig of TV's "Lassie" as Bart Collins, a young boy who would rather play baseball than take piano lessons with the eccentric and tyrannical Dr. Terwilliker (Conried).

Falling asleep at his piano, Bart dreams he's being chased by weird creatures with butterfly nets through a land of fog, cylinders, and odd-shaped mounds. Here he stumbles upon the castle of Dr. T, who runs a piano school for captive boys. The film's key image is the massive winding double-decker piano keyboard with 500 seats, one for each student. 500 boys, 5000 fingers--get it? Kept in the dungeon are pitiful creatures imprisoned as punishment for playing instruments other than the piano. The prisoners have built musical instruments out of odd materials and, in the film's most elaborate sequence, perform a strange ballet.

Excerpt from TVGuide located HERE

 

Ted Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, wrote and helped design this eccentric fantasy about a young boy named Bart (Tommy Rettig) who, like most young boys, doesn't enjoy his piano lessons with the mean-spirited Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried). He figures his time would be better spent playing baseball with his friends or helping his grown-up buddy Arthur Zabladowski (Peter Lind Hayes), a plumber. One night, while fast asleep, Bart has a long and remarkable dream in which he's trapped in the kingdom of the fearsome Dr. T, who has enslaved hundreds of little boys, forcing them to practice on the world's largest piano until they drop. With the help of a friendly plumber, Bart plans a revolt that will topple Dr. T's evil empire once and for all. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T also features several songs for which Geisel contributed lyrics.

Excerpt from MRQE located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T looks very pleasing on Blu-ray from Mill Creek Entertainment. The film is notable for its colors and the 1080P supports that aspect to a mild degree. It's only single-layered but has a high bitrate and the visuals offer some impressive textures and minor depth. The colors do give it some life that is not seen on SD.

Indicator give this a dual-layered transfer with a max'ed out bitrate and colors become significantly richer than on the Millcreek 1080P edition. The overall image is, authentically, darker, colors deepen, skin tones warm and grain becomes more textured. It's just a far superior video presentation.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

1) Millcreek - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

1) Millcreek - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

1) Millcreek - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An unfortunate weakness is a lossy Dolby audio transfer. It would have been a bona fide upgrade to have the film's music in uncompressed. The score by would have sounded much deeper, richer and livelier in lossless. There are no subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A' disc.

Indicator, instead, go with an uncompressed linear PCM mono track and it also dynamically advances upon the Millcreek and the entire presentation with rich chords and the bouncy, lively score by Friedrich Hollaender (Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Caught, Berlin Express, Background to Danger, The Verdict), and uncredited, Heinz Roemheld (The Invisible Man), and Hans J. Salter (The Wolfman) is a serious improvement upon the lossy Dolby of the Millcreek. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles on the Indicator and their Blu-ray disc is region FREE playable worldwide.

Extras :

 

Millcreek - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

 

Indicator - Region FREE - Blu-ray

 

BOTTOM LINE:
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is deliciously outrageous and strange experience with wild, colorful, sequences. It's really a lot of fun. There are some black marks with the release - most notably the lack of lossless audio. There are no extras or subtitle options. The Blu-ray has a big positive in the reasonable price. Fans, with or without kids, should consider indulging - value is still here despite the limitations.

 

Gary Tooze

June 14th, 2016

July 12th, 2017

 

Coming to a Standard Blu-ray edition from Indicator in July 2021: or buy directly from Indicator:

 

 

Indicator (Powerhouse) initial slate of Blu-rays
Spine #001	Spine #002	Spine #003	Spine #004	Spine #005	Spine #006

Spine #008	Spine #010	Spine #012	Spine #013	Spine #019	Spine #020