Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (disambiguation).

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Original cinema release poster.
Directed by	Ken Hughes
Produced by	Albert R. Broccoli
Written by	Roald Dahl Ken Hughes
Based on	Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang by Ian Fleming
Starring	Dick Van Dyke Sally Ann Howes Adrian Hall Heather Ripley Lionel Jeffries Benny Hill
Music by	Songs: Richard M. Sherman (lyrics) Robert B. Sherman (lyrics) Score: Irwin Kostal
Cinematography	Christopher Challis
Editing by	John Shirley
Studio	Warfield Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	16 December 1968 (1968-12-16)
Running time	144 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$12 million
Box office	$7.5 million (US/ Canada rentals)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a 1968 British musical film loosely based on Ian Fleming's novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car. The film's script is by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes and its songs by the Sherman Brothers.

It stars Dick Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts and Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious. The film was directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Albert R. Broccoli (co-producer of the James Bond series of films, also based on Fleming's novels). John Stears supervised the special effects. Irwin Kostal supervised and conducted the music, while the musical numbers were staged by Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood.

Plot

Set in the 1910s, the story opens with a Grand Prix race, in which one of the cars swerves to avoid a dog, loses control, crashes, and catches fire, bringing its racing career to an end. The car ends up in an old garage, where two children, Jeremy and Jemima Potts, have grown fond of it, but are told by a frequent customer, a junkman, that he and his business intends to buy the car from the garage owner Mr. Coggins, for scrap; to crush it into one solid lump, then melt it down to a liquid and have the metal to sell. The two children, who live with their widowed father Caractacus Potts, an eccentric inventor and his equally peculiar parent, implore him to buy the car before the junkman does, but he is unable to, not having the money. While skipping school, they meet Truly Scrumptious, a beautiful upper-class woman with her own motorcar, who brings them home to report their truancy to their father. Truly shows interest in Caractacus' odd inventions, but he is affronted by her attempts to tell him that his children should be in school.

One day, while going over his bizarre inventions, many of which seem to be similar in function and form to modern appliances, such as vacuum cleaners and televisions, Caractacus discovers that one of the sweets he has invented can be played like a flute. He tries to sell the "Toot Sweet" to Truly's father Lord Scrumptious, a major confection manufacturer, but when the factory is overrun by dogs responding to the whistle, he is thrown out. Then he takes his automatic hair-cutting machine to a carnival to raise money, but it goes haywire. He eludes the wrath from his first (and only) customer named Cyril by joining a song-and-dance act, stealing the show and earning enough tips to pay for the car. Potts rebuilds the car, which he nicknames Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the noises its engine makes, and he and the children, accompanied by Truly, go for a picnic on the beach, where Truly becomes very fond of the Potts family and vice versa. Caractacus tells them a story about nasty Baron Bomburst, the tyrant ruler of fictional Vulgaria, who wants to steal Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and keep it all for himself:

In the story, the quartet and the car are stranded by high tide, but Chitty suddenly deploys huge flotation devices and they escape inland. The Baron sends two comical spies ashore to capture the car for him, but they briefly capture Lord Scrumptious by accident, and then kidnap Grandpa Potts, mistaking him for the inventor of Chitty. Caractacus, Truly, and the children see him being taken away by airship, and give chase. When they accidentally drive off a cliff, Chitty sprouts wings and propellers and begins to fly. They follow the airship to Vulgaria, where the Baroness Bomburst has ordered the imprisonment of all children, whom she abhors. Grandpa the "inventor" has been ordered by the baron to make another floating car, and is bluffing to avoid being tortured. The Potts party is hidden by the local toymaker, who now works only for the baron. Chitty is discovered and taken to the castle. But while Caractacus and the toymaker go in search of Grandpa and Truly goes in search of food, the children are captured by the Baron's Child Catcher.

The toymaker takes Truly and Caractacus to a grotto far beneath the castle where the townspeople have been hiding their children, and they concoct a scheme to free the children and the village from the baron. The toymaker sneaks them into the castle disguised as life-size dolls, gifts for the baron's birthday. Caractacus snares the Baron and the town's children swarm into the banquet hall overcoming the baron's palace guards and guests. In the ensuing chaos, the baron, baroness, and Child Catcher are all captured. The family is freed and fly back with Truly to England. Jeremy and Jemima finish the story themselves: "And Daddy and Truly were married!" which Truly seems to find appealing, but Caractacus is evasive, believing that the class distance between them is too great. When they arrive home, Caractacus is surprised to find his father and Lord Scrumptious (who it turns out are old army friends) playing a lively game of soldiers. Scrumptious surprises him further with an offer to buy the Toot Sweet as a canine confection and, realising that he is soon to become wealthy, rushes off to propose to Truly. As they drive off together in Chitty, the car takes to the air again, this time without wings.

Cast

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang after landing in Vulgaria.

The cast includes:

• Dick Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts
• Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious
• Adrian Hall as Jeremy
• Heather Ripley as Jemima
• Lionel Jeffries as Grandpa Potts
• Gert Fröbe as Baron Bomburst
• Anna Quayle as Baroness Bomburst
• Benny Hill as the Toymaker
• James Robertson Justice as Lord Scrumptious
• Robert Helpmann as the Child Catcher
• Desmond Llewelyn as Mr. Coggins
• Alexander Doré as First Spy
• Bernard Spear as Second Spy
• Peter Arne as the Captain of Bomburst's Army
• Victor Maddern as the Customer Junkman
• Arthur Mullard as Cyril
• Barbara Windsor as Blonde at Fair

The part of Truly Scrumptious had originally been offered to Julie Andrews, to reunite her with Van Dyke after their success in Mary Poppins. Andrews rejected the role specifically because she considered the part too close to the Poppins mould.

Musical numbers

1. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
2. "Truly Scrumptious"
3. "Hushabye Mountain"
4. "Me Ol' Bamboo"
5. "Toot Sweets"
6. "The Roses of Success"
7. "Lovely Lonely Man"
8. "You Two"
9. "Chu-Chi Face"
10. "Posh!"
11. "Doll on a Music Box"
12. "Doll on a Music Box / Truly Scrumptious"
13. "Come to the Funfair"

"Doll on a Music Box" is sung near the end of the musical by Truly and is a musical counterpoint, also being sung simultaneously with Caractacus' rendition of the song "Truly Scrumptious". Two songs apparently intended for the film but ultimately relegated only to instrumental background music are "Come to the Funfair" and the "Vulgarian National Anthem"; they were published with lyrics in the sheet music along with the other film songs when the movie was released. The stage version restores these two as vocal numbers. The Sherman Brothers also were hired to write several new songs for the stage production including "Think Vulgar!" which was replaced in 2003 with "Act English", "Kiddy-Widdy-Winkies", "Teamwork" and "The Bombie Samba".

Production

The Caractacus Potts inventions in the film were created by Rowland Emett; by 1976, Time magazine, describing Emett's work, said no term other than "Fantasticator...could remotely convey the diverse genius of the perky, pink-cheeked Englishman whose pixilations, in cartoon, watercolor and clanking 3-D reality, range from the celebrated Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Railway to the demented thingamabobs that made the 1968 movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a minuscule classic."

At a 1973 auction in Florida, one of the Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang cars sold for $37,000. The original "hero" car, in a condition described as fully functional and road-going, was offered at auction on 15 May 2011 by a California-based auction house. The car sold for $805,000, less than the $1–2 million it was expected to reach.

Locations

• Scrumptious Sweet Co. factory (exterior) - Kempton Waterworks, Snakey Lane, Hanworth, Middlesex, England. This location now includes a steam museum open to the public.
• Scrumptious Mansion - Heatherden Hall at Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England.
• Windmill/Cottage - Cobstone Windmill in Ibstone, near Turville, Buckinghamshire, England.
• Duck Pond - Russell's Water, Oxfordshire, England.
• Beach - Cap Taillat in St. Tropez, France.
• Baron Bomburst's castle - Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany.
• Bridge where spies attempt to blow up Chitty - Iver Bridge, Iver, Buckinghamshire, England.
• Bridge where spies kidnap Lord Scrumptious - Ilmer Bridge, Ilmer, Buckinghamshire, England.
• Vulgarian village - Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany.
• Lighthouse and white cliffs Beachy Head, East Sussex, England.
• Rock spires in the ocean - The Needles stacks, Isle of Wight, England.
• Train scene - The Longmoor Military Railway.

Reception

Time began its review saying the film is a "picture for the ages—the ages between five and twelve" and ends noting that "At a time when violence and sex are the dual sellers at the box office, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang looks better than it is simply because it's not not all all bad bad"; the film's "eleven songs have all the rich melodic variety of an automobile horn. Persistent syncopation and some breathless choreography partly redeem it, but most of the film's sporadic success is due to Director Ken Hughes's fantasy scenes, which make up in imagination what they lack in technical facility." During her brief period as chief film critic for The New York Times, Renata Adler reviewed the film, saying: "in spite of the dreadful title, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ... is a fast, dense, friendly children's musical, with something of the joys of singing together on a team bus on the way to a game"; Adler called the screenplay "remarkably good" and the film's "preoccupation with sweets and machinery seems ideal for children"; she ends her review on the same note as Time: "There is nothing coy, or stodgy or too frightening about the film; and this year, when it has seemed highly doubtful that children ought to go to the movies at all, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang sees to it that none of the audience's terrific eagerness to have a good time is betrayed or lost."

Film critic Roger Ebert reviewed the film (Chicago Sun Times, December 24, 1968). He wrote: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang contains about the best two-hour children's movie you could hope for, with a marvelous magical auto and lots of adventure and a nutty old grandpa and a mean Baron and some funny dances and a couple of [scary] moments".

Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin considered the picture "one big Edsel, with totally forgettable score and some of the shoddiest special effects ever." In 2008, Entertainment Weekly called Helpmann's depiction of the Child Catcher one of the "50 Most Vile Movie Villains."

Box office

The film recorded a loss of $11 million during its initial theatrical run.

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack album, as was typical of soundtrack albums, presented mostly songs with very few instrumental tracks. The songs were also edited, with specially recorded intros and outros and most instrumental portions removed, both because of time limitations of the vinyl LP and the belief that listeners would not be interested in listening to long instrumental dance portions during the songs.

The soundtrack has been released on CD four times, the first two releases using the original LP masters rather than going back to the original music masters to compile a more complete soundtrack album with underscoring and complete versions of songs. The 1997 Rykodisc release included several quick bits of dialogue from the film between some of the tracks and has gone out of circulation. On 24 February 2004, a few short months after MGM released the movie on a 2-Disc Special Edition DVD, Varèse Sarabande reissued a newly remastered soundtrack album without the dialogue tracks, restoring it to its original 1968 LP format.

List of tracks:

1. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"^a
2. "Elephant"^b
3. "You Two"
4. "If I May"^b
5. "Toot Sweets"
6. "Hushabye Mountain"
7. "Come to the Funfair"^c
8. "Me Ol' Bamboo"
9. "Potts the Optimist"^b
10. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"^d
11. "Truly Scrumptious"

12. "All Engines"^b

13. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"^e
14. "Lovely Lonely Man"
15. "Posh!"
16. "Hushabye Mountain" (reprise)
17. "The Roses of Success"
18. "Hang On"^b
19. "Chu-Chi Face"
20. "Doll on a Music Box" / "Truly Scrumptious"
21. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (finale)
22. "A Happy Ending"^b
23. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (main title)

24. "Chitty Speaks"^b

^a Instrumental used for the film's "exit music".
^b Dialogue track, only included on the Rykodisc release.
^c Tune and background lyrics only, as entire song was cut from movie.
^d First vocal performance from the film.
^e Second vocal performance from the film.

In 2011, Kritzerland released the definitive soundtrack album, a 2 CD set featuring the Original Soundtrack Album plus bonus tracks, music from the Song and Picture Book Album on disc 1, and the Richard Sherman Demos, as well as six Playback Tracks (including a long version of international covers of the theme song). Inexplicably, this release was limited to only 1,000 units.

In April of 2013, Perseverance Records re-released the Kritzerland double CD set with expansive new liner notes by John Trujillo and a completely new designed booklet by Perseverance regular James Wingrove.

Home video releases

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was released numerous times in the VHS format. In 1998 the film saw its first DVD release. 2003 brought a two-disc "Special Edition" release. On 2 November 2010, 20th Century Fox released a two-disc Blu-ray and DVD combination set featuring the extras from the 2003 release as well as new features. The 1993 LaserDisc release by MGM/UA Home Video was the first home video release with the proper 2.20:1 Super Panavision 70 aspect ratio.

Novelization of film

Novelization of the film by John Burke, published by Pan Books

The film did not follow Fleming's novel closely. A separate novelization of the film was published at the time of the film's release. It basically followed the film's story but with some differences of tone and emphasis, e.g. it mentioned that Caractacus Potts had had difficulty coping after the death of his wife, and it made it clearer that the sequences including Baron Bomburst were extended fantasy sequences. It was written by John Burke.

External links

• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Internet Movie Database
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the TCM Movie Database
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at AllRovi
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Rotten Tomatoes