Come Fly with Me in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (DVD))

Member Name: arnoldhenryrufus

Product:	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (DVD)
Date:	27/02/07 (867 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good family film, suitable for all ages young and old

Disadvantages: My hubby tells me it is an aquired taste

~~ Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ~~

It is back to my collection of musicals and here I review the classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. When I started to think about the movie, I asked myself what comes to mind when I think about it, is it the characters, the silly jokes, all the production numbers. No; it is the car and that fun song Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; I love you. Even now in my head I am singing away to that song. It will take me days to get it out of my head now, I know, I know I need to get a life, he, he.

~~ The Film ~~

You put your DVD in and start the film, but you are faced with a blank screen and just the sound of a car engine roaring into life, no; your DVD is not broken, this is all part of the film. We then get to see the life of the vintage racing car winning many races whilst the credits roll. As the credits come to an end so does the life of the racing car as it crashes.

We move on to the two children Jeremy and Jemima playing in the very same racing car which is rotting away outside Mr Coggin’s garage. He decides it is time to sell it for scrap, but the children really want the car, so Mr Coggins tells them that if they can find the 30 shillings to buy the car then can have it, they are given until the next day. Off home they run to ask their father to buy the car, but on the way they run in front of Truly in her car, causing her to abruptly stop. Angry that they are not in school she takes them home to confront their dad, Caractacus Potts an eccentric inventor.

It is here we get to meet Grandpa Potts who is an old soldier and sceptical about his sons inventions, but is possibly more eccentric than Caractacus. We hear some lovely songs and some great dance scenes; even a young Barbara Windsor gives an appearance as our hero Caractacus Potts gets the funds to buy that old banger of a race car. Weeks pass and Caractacus finally comes up for air with a fully restored and shiny classic car. He grabs the excited children and sets off with the children for a picnic at the seaside. A near collision with Truly Scrumptious gets them another passenger on their day out. Our car makes chitty noises and bangs, and her name is born.

The movie continues taking us on an adventure filled with drama, music, dancing, slapstick comedy and loads of laughter. It is fun to watch and very silly at times, it will make young and old laugh and enjoy the fun.

~~ Songs ~~

Overture - Chitty Classic in the background

You Two – A lovely endearing song that Potts sings to his two children, it is a very catchy number and easy to join in with.

Toot Sweet – A big production number with Potts and Truly taking the lead. Lots of singing and dancing as Potts tries to sell his idea to Lord Scrumptious.

Hushaby Mountain – This is a lovely lullaby which Potts sings to his children to get them to go to sleep.

Me Ol’ Bamboo - A very lively song and dance routine, with Potts trying to earn some money to buy the car. It took 23 takes to get this gruelling dance routine right, the problems were with the stick and them having to jump over it. When they finally got it right Dick Van Dyke had lost his hat, but by now they were really tired and so they decided to keep it as it was.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – The by now very famous song, performed by Potts and his children, when they name their newly restored car.

Truly Scrumptious – Sung by the children and also sung by Truly to the children, it is a very endearing song, which is again repeated later on in the film and sung by Potts.

Lovely Lonely Man – Truly sings this song whilst walking around the spectacular gardens at her home, singing all about Potts.

Posh! – Sung by Grandpa Potts and it is all about being Posh.

The Roses of Success – Grandpa and the ensemble singing about the roses of success in life, another comical song.

Chu-Chi Face – A very silly song by The Baron and Baroness Bomburst, Goldfinger like you’ve never seen him before.

Doll on a Music Box/Truly Scrumptious – A big lovely production number I really did enjoy this one; it has a lovely catchy tune and it is a pleasure to watch.

~~ The Cast ~~

Caractacus Potts – Played by Dick Van Dyke who is also famous for his role in Mary Poppins; bought his charismatic and madcap hilarity to the film, he really did fit the part of the eccentric inventor who was struggling to make his inventions work and bring up his two young children on his own.

Truly Scrumptious – Sally Ann Howes plays the part of the daughter of the wealthy sweet manufacture Lord Scrumptious. Even though Sally has 20 years of acting experience under her belt at the time of the auditions for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, she was best known for her appearance in the stage musical My Fair Lady, which she took over from Julie Andrews in 1958.

Grandpa Potts – Played by Lionel Jeffries, he may have been playing Caractacus Potts’s father, but he was in fact seven months younger than Dick Van Dyke. He was an old soldier who was an eccentric, if not more so than his son, even if he did not agree with his inventions.

Jemima – played by Heather Ripley and Jeremy played by Adrian Hall.

Also stars James Robertson Justice as Lord Scrumptious (well known from the Doctor films of the 70’s), Gert Frobe as Baron Bomburst, Anna Quayle as Baroness Bomburst, Benny Hill as the Toymaker, Robert Helpmann as the child catcher and Stanley Unwin as the Chancellor.

The music and lyrics were done by the Sherman brothers Richard and Robert known for working a lot on Walt Disney films, actually this was the first non Disney film they did.

Choreography – Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood.

~~ Trivia ~~

The Bond Connection – I bet you are wondering how James Bond links into Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It links in more ways than one and all started after Ian Fleming’s death in 1964 when United Artists bought the film rights to all his work. When they went through his work they found a series of children’s stories called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang written by Fleming.

Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes wrote the screenplay; Roald Dahl had previously written the script for You Only Live Twice another Bond Connection.

Ken Adam who designed and built the wonderful Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Car was also the production designer on seven James Bond movies.

Even the stars themselves got in on the act with Desmond Llewellyn who has played Q in the Bond movies) played Mr Coggins, and finally Gert Frobe who played Goldfinger in the film of the same name, stars in this as the villainous Baron Von Bonburst.

Finally not to forget the Producer Cubby Broccoli who produced the James Bond movies.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang opened its World Premier at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London on 16th Dec 1968, at first it was not a raving success and initially made a loss, but it was one of those films that grew in popularity with time and increased sales further with the video and DVD releases. It also went live in 2002 as the stage musical opened in London.

Cartoonist and inventor Rowland Emmett made eight special devices for the film these included the breakfast making machine and the haircutting machine used in the film.

~~ DVD Extras ~~

Scene Selection – 1-32 scenes in blocks of 4 for you to hop around.

Subtitles – No different languages offered, but you do have a selection of 8 different subtitles in various languages.

~~ Special Features ~~

A Fantasmagorical Motorcar – This is a ten minute film with Pierre Picton, who used to be a clown that owned a car that fell to pieces. He was approached by Cubby Broccoli to help them with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He maintained the car during the production of the movie. He also doubled on a couple of driving sequences; after the film was finished Picton kept the car for promoting the film in the UK, later in 1973 he finally brought it off Cubby.

This short film was made in 2003 and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was still going strong and living out its retirement in Stratford-Upon-Avon, so if you are lucky you may see her on an occasional day out.

~~ Vintage Advertising Gallery ~~

Theatrical Trailer – There are two of these listed here, one in English and one in French; both exactly the same apart from the language difference. They both last approx 3.5 minutes.

5 Original T.V. Spots – There are 5 T.V adverts listed here 1-5 all showing a different 1 minute advert.

Sing-a-long – This is a great feature for you and the kids to enjoy; you can either just play the songs like a karaoke machine, where the words light up as you sing them, or you can turn this feature on and watch the movie and when the songs start you get the karaoke feature.

~~ And Finally ~~

I recommend this film; it is a great all round family film, which is as popular today as ever, especially with the stage show touring the country at the moment. It is a slapstick comedy and music at its best, I even like the child catcher as this gives your children a warning about not doing as you are told and taking sweeties from strangers; plus I am a sucker for happy endings.

Thank you for reading

Lyn x
(Arnoldhenryrufus)

Summary: A fun family musical comedy suiting both young and old