Does any one remember an old movie about a boy learning piano?

COOPER · #1 10-18-2007, 07:38 AM

I saw this movie when I was about 4-5 years old.

It's an old black and white movie from the 1940's maybe.

I think the boy was supposed to be practicing his piano lessons and then he fell a sleep and had a crazy dream.

AmazingGrace · #2 10-18-2007, 07:41 AM

again I say...

HUH?

What did you eat before bed coop?!?!

COOPER · #3 10-18-2007, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmazingGrace

again I say...

HUH?

What did you eat before bed coop?!?!

It's memory that comes back and it drives me nuts.

In the movie the boy is in a crazy surreal kingdom of a music mad man and he is trying to escape.

pelathais · #4 10-18-2007, 08:18 AM

No, no Coop... that "boy" is you. The "music mad man" is your 'future self' as an overbearing legalistic clothesline preacher wannabe. The "kingdom," well that could be anything; but the point is you've got to give up on the legalism, grow some facial hair and learn the piano for yourself.

Theresa · #5 10-18-2007, 08:29 AM

5000 fingers of Dr T?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045464/

Theresa · #6 10-18-2007, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Bart has only one enemy in the world: his piano teacher Dr. Terwilliker. Dr. T has a mad plan to force 500 young boys to practice at his magnificent piano 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Bart is the only hope to save these boys from being enslaved. Fantastic sets, screenplay, and even song lyrics were provided by Dr. Seuss. Features the only piano academy ever known to be equipped with cells and surrounded by an electric fence

.

Theresa · #7 10-18-2007, 08:35 AM

COOPER · #8 10-18-2007, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Theresa

Thats it! I remember that pic.

Thank you very much!!!!!

This was driving me nuts! It's like being healed from amnesia.

COOPER · #9 10-18-2007, 10:53 AM

Thank you Theresa!!!

Quote:

Plot
The plot revolves around young Bart Collins (Tommy Rettig), who lives with his widowed mother Heloise (Mary Healy). The major blight on Bart's existence is the hated piano lessons he is forced to endure under the tutelage of the autocratic Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried). Bart feels that his mother has fallen under Terwilliker's sinister influence, and gripes to visiting plumber August Zabladowski (Peter Lind Hayes), without much result. While grimly hammering away at his lessons, Bart dozes off and enters a fantastical musical dream, in much the same fashion as The Wizard of Oz.

In the dream, Bart is trapped at the surreal Terwilliker Institute, where the piano teacher is now a madman dictator who has locked up all non-piano-playing musicians in a dungeon and constructed a piano so large that it requires Bart and 499 other enslaved boys (the aforementioned 5,000 fingers) in order to play it. Bart's mother has been turned into Terwilliker's hypnotized assistant and bride-to-be, and Bart scrambles to save both her and himself. He tries to recruit Mr. Zabladowski, who has been hired to install all of the Institute's sinks ahead of a vital inspection; after much skepticism and foot-dragging, the plumber is convinced to help. ("We should always believe children. We should even believe their lies.") The two of them construct a noise-sucking machine which destroys the mega-piano's opening concert. The enslaved boys cheerfully run riot, and the "VERY atomic" noise-sucker blows up in spectacular fashion, bringing Bart out of his dream.

The movie ends on a hopeful note for Bart, when the real-life Mr. Zabladowski finally notices Heloise, and offers to drive her into town. Bart escapes from the piano, and triumphantly runs off to play.

StillStanding · #10 10-18-2007, 11:07 AM

I bet THAT hurt piano sales for a while!