Movies - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

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	Movies - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a 1968 feature film with a script by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes, and songs by the Sherman Brothers, based on Ian Fleming's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car . It starred 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, best known as co-producer of the James Bond series of films, also based on Fleming's novels. Irwin Kostal supervised and conducted the music, and the musical numbers were staged by Marc Beaux and Dee Dee Wood. The film runs for two hours and twenty-five minutes, making it much longer than most films aimed at children.

Tagline: It Was Just An Old Neglected Car. Who Could Have Guessed...

Plot

As the story opens, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a delapidated former racing car and a three-time Grand Prix winner, is the favourite playtoy of Jeremy and Jemima Potts, and is about to be sold for scrap. As the children rush home to persuade their father, to buy the car for them, they narrowly avoid being run over by Truly Scrumptious, an heiress. Miss Scrumptious takes the children home, meeting their widowed father, Caractacus Potts, an inventor who subsequently renovates the old car.

After repairing the car, the Potts family head off to the seaside for a picnic. Professor Potts runs Truly Scrumptous off the road (a running gag throughout the movie is that Truly's car keeps ending up in a pond) and the family persuade Truly to come along on their picnic. (As Dick Van Dyke explained in a documentary interview, in the original story, Professor Potts is married; Truly Scrumptious is added as a love interest in the movie and Potts is assumed to be a widower).

At the beach, Caractacus spins a story about pirates who are trying to steal Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a fantasy sequence which becomes the central plot.

The pirates are headed by Baron Bomburst of Vulgaria. They capture Grandpa Potts, having mistaken him for the professor, and take him to Vulgaria hoping he will build another "fantasmogorical" motor car for the Baron. However, the Potts family witness the kidnapping and chase the bandits back to Vulgaria in the magical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

In the land of Vulgaria children are outlawed, as the Baroness hates children. The only toymaker in town makes toys exclusively for the Baron. When Professor Potts and the Toymaker hatch a plan to rescue Grandpa, and Truly goes out to go get food, the two Potts children, Jemima and Jeremy, are captured by the terrifying 'Childcatcher'.

Eventually, Caractacus and Truly, with some help from the Toymaker, defeat the Baron and his armies, and set free all the children. The Potts family are reunited and return to England. Potts discovers that one of his inventions, "Toot Sweets", previously rejected as being useless for humans, are wonderful for dogs and as "Woof Sweets" will make him a fortune. Caractacus and Truly decide to get married, in a classic happy ending.

Cast

Dick Van Dyke
as Caractacus Potts
Sally Ann Howes
as Truly Scrumptious
Gert Fröbe
as Baron Bomburst
Anna Quayle
as the Baroness
Adrian Hall as Jeremy
Heather Ripley as Jemima
Benny Hill as the Toymaker
Lionel Jeffries
as Grandpa
Robert Helpmann
as the Child Catcher
Stanley Unwin as The Chancellor

Musical numbers

Memorable songs include "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," "Truly Scrumptious," "Hushabye Mountain," "Me Ol' Bamboo," "Toot Sweets," "The Roses Of Success," "You Two," "Chu-Chi Face," "P.O.S.H.," and "Doll On A Music Box" (this last song, sung near the end of the musical by Truly, is combined 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 "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 and adds several new songs, including "Think Vulgar!," "Kiddy-Widdy-Winkies," "Teamwork," and "The Bombie Samba."

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Movies - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Plot

Cast

Musical numbers

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