Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

“This will out-Disney Disney” is the tagline star Dick Van Dyke applied to his enormous family musical “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, which came after a string of successful projects with Disney, specifically the definitive children’s film, “Mary Poppins”. While the Disney company did not take kindly to Van Dyke’s assessment, the film has not lasted as well as “Mary Poppins”, and while that is certainly fair considering the two, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” still offers tons of entertainment for families, as well as lovers of big splashy musicals. Released in 1968, at the tale end of “Old Hollywood”, the film cannot help but wear its heart on its sleeve throughout its prolonged 145 minute running time; perhaps it is the presence of Dick Van Dyke as absent minded professor Caractacus Potts, or the rousing score by the Sherman brothers (who previously hit gold with their work on “Mary Poppins”), but this film is an unabashedly fun, charming time. Van Dyke, who while wonderful, was squarely second banana in “Mary Poppins”, gets his chance to shine in this film, playing a less resourceful, but ultimately as winning a character as Bert the chimney sweep. Caractacus Potts is an inventor with two children who love him and his endless imagination. He lives in a windmill/laboratory with them and his father, who thinks he is still in Her Majesty’s Army. The real star of the film however is the titular car, an abandoned heap Potts seriously refurbishes to please his children, then dazzles them with a story (or is it?) in which the car swims, flies, and rescues them, all during a fantastic encounter to Vulgaria. Lost in the shuffle of the studios’ transition to edgier, “New Hollywood” fare, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” is a classic that definitely deserves to be revisited today.

As the film begins, Caractacus’ children, Jeremy and Jemima, are playing in the broken down exterior of what was once the top racing car in all England. They implore their father to buy the heap so that it will not be sold for scrap metal, and softie that he is, Caractacus obliges. Caractacus lives for his children and is constantly inventing new gidgets that both serve a practical purpose and bring a smile to their faces. His love for his children is what wins over the heart of Truly Scrumptious, a beautiful young woman who at first admonishes Caractacus for not making his children go to school, but warms to him after she sees how the children adore him and his inventions (like “toot sweet”, his candy whistle). During their mild (this being a family film) courtship, Caractacus completely rebuilds the children’s car, and upon unveiling it, the children name it “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, based on the noises it makes. Unbeknownst to the family, two spies from Vulgaria are keeping tabs on the car, well aware of its prolific past and become even more interested when they see the upgrades Caractacus has made to it. While on a family outing to the beach, Caractacus begins to tell the children a story involving Chitty and the spies from Vulgaria, when suddenly the party is under attack from a Vulgarian warship! The group piles into the car and narrowly avoids capture thanks to Chitty inexplicably spouting wings and flying off of a cliff. Returning home, Caractacus finds that his father has been kidnapped by the Vulgarians, who believe he is the actual inventor of the car, and thus off they go to Vulgaria to rescue him.

The second of the film is where the more bizarre touches (which I attribute to screenwriter Roald Dahl) come into play. The country of Vulgaria is run by the villainous Baron Bomburst, a tyrant obsessed with toys and his equally devious wife, the Baroness. Because of her hatred of children, Vulgaria is patrolled by ‘the Child Catcher’, a frightening personality (he looks like Max Schrek from the film “Nosferatu”!) who creeps around the country, smelling out children with his extra large nose and imprisoning them underneath the royal castle. Jeremy and Jemima of course are captured while Caractacus and Truly are out investigating, and with the help of a kindly toy maker, duo infiltrate the castle, pretending to be parts of an elaborate present the toy maker has created for the Baron. In the film’s most inspired sequence, to protect their cover, Caractacus and Truly act out their roles as toys, Caractacus as a marionette (an amazing display of Dick Van Dyke’s incredibly elastic body and dancing skills) and Truly as a robotic doll. Of course everything falls apart when Grandpa Potts and the rest of the scientists the Baron has imprisoned to invent a flying car for him launch their attack, in the process freeing the children (who get their revenge on the Child Catcher and the Baroness), and finally everyone is rescued by Chitty. Flying back to England, the film goes into a dissolve and small children (and perhaps big ones too) are left to imagine whether or not the adventure really happened, or was simply part of Caractacus’ story. Either way, the mixture of fun, songs (my personal favorites include the aforementioned scene featuring Caractacus and Truly as toys, as well as Truly’s song “Truly Scrumptious” and the infectious title number) and adventure make this a rousing family film, one I would recommend to every member of the family though, not just the little ones.