The Maestro: A Symphony of Terror

In Italy during the the Great War, the carpenter Geppetto loses his son Carlo during an inadvertent aerial bomb. Geppetto honors his memory by planting a pine cone near his grave and spends the next twenty years mourning his loss. An anthropomorphic cricket named Sebastian takes up residence in the resulting pine tree. Geppetto subsequently cuts down the tree in a fit of drunken rage in order to make a new son out of its wood. He passes out drunk, leaving the puppet unfinished, and a bluish Wood Sprite brings it to life, christening him Pinocchio. The Sprite meets Sebastian and promises to grant him a wish, which he intends to use in order to become famous, in exchange for acting as Pinocchio's guide. Geppetto later discovers that Pinocchio is alive and locks him in a closet while he goes to church, but Pinocchio follows him and frightens the villagers. The next day, he sends Pinocchio to school, but the puppet is intercepted by the former aristocrat-turned-showman Count Volpe and his performing monkey Spazzatura. Volpe convices Pinocchio to join his circus and gets him to sign a contract. After Geppetto arrives to bring Pinocchio home, he and Volpe have a tug-of-war that results in Pinocchio being thrown to the road where he is hit by a car. Pinocchio is sent to the afterlife where he meets Death, the sister of the Wood Sprite. She explains to Pinocchio that he is immortal and that he will return to the mortal realm once an hourglass has flowed, cautioning that the time he spends in the afterlife will increase each time he returns. Returning to the mortal realm, Pinocchio decides to join Volpe's circus, both to earn cash for Geppetto and to avoid being drafted into the Royal Italian Army by the strict Podestà. When Sebastian and Geppetto search for him at sea, they are swallowed by a giant Dogfish. During one of his performances, Pinocchio sings a toilet-humour ladened parody of a previous patriotic song to Prime Minister Benito Mussolini as revenge for Volpe's abuse and is shot, dying once more. He is again revived, but is taken by the Podestà to a training camp where other small boys train themselves to fight in the war. Pinocchio befriends the Podestà's son, Candlewick, who is scared of disappointing his father and being seen as weak. On Pinocchio's advice, Candlewick stands up to his father but the training camp gets bombed, killing the Podestà. Pinocchio manages to escape and is captured by Volpe, wanting revenge against the puppet for humiliating him earlier, but Spazzatura intervenes and they are sent over a cliff, with Volpe meeting his demise. When Pinocchio rescues Spazzatura, they are swallowed by the Dogfish, where they soon reunite with Geppetto and Sebastian. Pinocchio tells some lies to make his nose grow in order to make a bridge leading out of the Dogfish's blowhole. Just as they escape, the Dogfish tries to eat them again, forcing Pinocchio to sacrifice himself by detonating a naval mine. Upon meeting Death again, he demands to be sent back early so that he can save Gepetto from drowning, despite the fact that this will result in his death. After rescuing Gepetto, Pinocchio dies, prompting Sebastian to use his wish to make Pinocchio come back. However, as Death told Pinocchio, he manages to outlive all of his loved ones as Geppetto, Sebastian and Spazzatura are shown to have died and Pinocchio decides to travel off to parts unknown for new life adventures until the day his time is up.