DVD : Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [1968]

Rating: - 'High, Low, Anywhere We Go, In Chitty Chitty We Depend'
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [1968] 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' is my second favourite after 'The Wizard Of Oz'. 'Chitty' stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, James Robertson Justice and Robert Helpmann. Though this release onto DVD is the Full Screen version of this film i personally prefere it due to the fact this is a wonderful transfere to Disc, with it's lovely deep colours and so beautifully restored it looks like a modern film. Dick Van Dyke is superb as the children's father who rescues a vintage racing car from a junk yard and gets the car working again. He decides the car should be called 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' and he tells his children a story of how the car is magic and able to float and fly. Everything is so wonderful about this film, this includes the lovely songs like 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' (We Love You), You Two, Hushaby Mountain and not forgetting Lionel Jeffries song 'Posh' (Port Out Starboard Home, Posh with a capital P). Ballet dancer and actor Robert Helpmann gives a perfect performance as the evil child catcher, scaring generations of children in the same way as Margaret Hamilton did in 'The Wizard Of Oz'. 'Chitty' is also available in a special widescreen 2 Disc set, but the colours of the film seem a bit washed out and less vibrant so i prefere this Full Screen release because of the more vibrant colours. (and the Full Screen version seems to be more popular and more widely available than the latest widescreen release). If like me you like the original release onto DVD of 'The Wizard Of Oz' this release of 'Chitty' makes a good companion. DVD.

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Rating: - a BRILLIANT musical!!
I never saw this when I was younger and I really wish I had. I love everything about this movie, especially the songs. I am taking singing lessons and several times I have sung the entire score. If I had to pick a favourite song, it would be a tie between, You Two, Toot Sweets, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Hushabye Mountain and Lovely Lonely Man. I really think that the behind-the-scenes team could not have picked a better cast.

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Rating: - Amazon sent me disc2 Bonuses and not the damn movie!
I have had to resort to writing a review because - I use the Rental system which I must say is very good - however my daughter wanted to watch 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' so I ordered it. Low and behold Amazon sent not Disc 1 (the movie) but only Disc 2(the bonuses)! If anyone has found a way of emailing Amazon or actually able to speak to anyone please let me know as YOU CANNOT CONTACT THEM, EVER! Amazon please, be more customer facing - have a phone number, have an email address - it's called CUSTOMER SERVICE oh and yes, please send me THE MOVIE, my daughter did not want to watch 10 variations of the TRAILOR! Yours, Frustrated from the Cotswolds!

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Rating: - Wonderful children's film
This is a wonderful film for small children, and adults will be pleasantly surprised by how little it has dated.

I saw this film as a small child when it first came out and loved it.

Recently I was reminded how good the music of the film was when I happened on the song "The Roses of Success" on the internet, and my children appeared in my office in ten seconds flat to see what Daddy was listening to. So I thought I would get them the DVD.

It held their attention for several playings, and the music was as good as I had remembered.

The original books were written by Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, and were quite dark in tone. The film version, however, is a light musical comedy.

Dick van Dyke plays Caractacus Potts, who is a poverty stricken inventor, and a widower with two small children. He buys and rebuilds a famous former racing car, which his children name Chitty Chitty Bang Bang after the distinctive noise made by the car's exhaust. (Fleming put a note in the books to the effect that there really was a famous racing car which had this nickname for precisely that reason.)

The Potts family meet Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes) daughter of the local sweet magnate Lord Scrumptious (James Robertson Justice.) After they get off to a bad start, she tries to help Caractacus Potts raise the money to restore the car. Initial plans to raise money fall through, but Caractacus gets the necessary funds by pure chance.

Restoration completed, Caractacus takes his children to the beach and again they join up with Truly Scrumptious. He tells his children an imaginary story about a wicked foreign potentate, with a wife who hates children, and who wants to steal this wonderful car - a car which can turn into a boat, and also fly. Foreign agents first try to steal the car, then kidnapp Caractacus's father. The viewer is caught up in the story.

Most people will know the ending but I'm not going to give it away for those who don't.

Excellent performances from van Dyke, Howes (was she really 38 years old when this was made?) and James Robertson Justice. Benny Hill plays a toymaker who helps rescue the twins - this was made before his on-screen persona became set as a comic parody of a dirty old man. It seems mildly odd now to watch him performing a straight role as one of the heroes in a children's film but not because there is anything wring with his acting. Other cast members included Lionel Jeffries and Barbara Windsor (long before she was famous). Roald Dahl and Ken Huges did the screenplay.

Perhaps the most memorable part of the film is Richard M Sherman's wonderful music and lyrics.

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Rating: - Wacky, crazy vintage musical!

This must be the craziest, zaniest, and crankiest musical ever to hit the silver screen! It's a movie that 'flits' in and out of fantasy like drifting in and out of sleep! It's full of innocent charm - much which I suspect is lost on children of today; modern society and change having ruined so much...

Sally Ann Howes shows her marvellous talent, both as a singer and also as an extremely talented actress (though we already knew it from when she was a child star) when she plays her part as the mechanical figurine on a music box - no easy feat! Robert Helpmenn is simply magnificent as the 'Child Catcher' - what a performance!

One of the funniest scenes is when two big names in TV; Barbara Windsor and Arthur Mullard are at a fairground, and Arthur's character steps into an automatic hair-cutting machine, only to come out of it again with a mohican haircut! This results in his chasing Dick Van Dyke all around the fairground - seeming never to give up!

The only slight problem, was Dick Van Dykes difficulty in mastering the English accent - he had the same problem in 'Mary Poppins'. One ought to note, that it is far easier for an English person to pick up an American accent, than it ever is the other way around... Very few Americans can master this, but those that do are particularly adept.

This is a fabulous movie, with all the charm and innocence that is ideal for the whole family!