Children's Sci-Fi or Fantasy film from either 1950's or 60's???

Here's a stab in the dark but there was a 1953 movie called The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. This really fits your description...about a music teacher and kids practicing piano.

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

Peter Lind Hayes (future TV star) was the music instructor. Also in this movie was actor Hans Conried (Uncle Tanoose from Danny Thomas' 'Make Room for Daddy').

The kids wore beanies...etc...and, as I recall, pullover sweaters, I recall. The boy, actor Tommy Rettig, who went out to play Lassie's master, was the young boy in this movie.

"Of course this is not really a movie for children. The structure of the movie is similar to "Wizard of Oz", beginning with a child which seems to be frustrated with the real life and then dreaming into another world, full of magicians, witches, fabulous adventures ... "

"A small boy plots to upset the grand performance by THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T. to be held in the sinister Terwilliker Institute.

The whimsical world of Dr. Seuss first saw expression in a Hollywood feature film in this fast-paced fantasy which examines a child's musical nightmare. Although it was a financial & critical disappointment when initially released, it has established itself comfortably as a nostalgic favorite for Baby Boomers who first discovered it decades ago.

"Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel, 1904-1991) wrote the original story, co-authored the script and penned the lyrics in his own inimitable style. The action plays itself out over vast, curvaceous sets which will immediately seem familiar to readers of his books, while the brightly colored costumes make the players look like characters from the good Doctor's stories come to life."

Here's the trailer for the movie:



BTW, Hans Conreid is the musical teacher, not Peter Lind Hayes. He played the plumber.

That movie scared the **** out of me as a kid.

Me, too. It went over to the positive side when I was in my teens.

Here's another one that skeert me.

My parents went out, and my brothers were supposed to be babysitting me, but they left the house too.

Leaving me to watch this at about 6 years old.

Frankly, I don't recall that one. Shame on your brothers for leaving you unattended at the tender age of 6.

However, along that same vein (no pun intended), there's the 1968 version of 'Night of the Living Dead'!

Yeah, they were pretty much assholes, the both of them.

Yikes, that movie looks truly horrifying. Thank god I wasn't alive until the 60's

Very impressive stab Ragman

Ever hear of rental videos? these movies will live on ...just like Zombies.

It's strange what little kids can be terrified by.

The scariest movie scene I ever saw was from The Atomic Kid, a really horrible comedy starring Mickey Rooney. The premise is that Rooney gets caught in an Atom Bomb test and the resultant radiation does he receives leads to all sorts of whacky incidents.

At some point early in the film, Rooney wanders into a "town" constructed for the test and he looks into the living room window of one of the fake houses and sees a family of mannequins.

For some reason the sight of those mannequins scared the everloving hell out of me and I ran from the room. I was probably 4 or 5 years old. From that day forward I was very afraid of dummies and mannequins. They still give me the creeps.

It, the Terror From Beyond Space (the original Alien) was another one that had me soiling my short pants.

Great special effects were not required to scare the shite of little kids.

Gives me chills just thinking about it. I'd rather have zombies.

The mere thought of Mickey Rooney terrifies me.

So does Andy Rooney.

Not Andy Gibb though, I'm fine with him.

This ties in with the recent additions to what they're finding about the Cleveland kidnapper guy - I read someone said he used to scare family with a black mannequin..