Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Genre: Family / Comedy / Musical
Rating: G
Length: 2 Hours 25 Minutes
Year: 1968
Langauage: English, French
Subtitles: English, French
Number of DVD's: 1
Director
Ken Hughes
Stars
Dick Van Dyke
Sally Ann Howes
Lionel Jeffries
Gert Frobe
Anna Quayle
Benny Hill
Heather Ripley
Adrian Hall
Robert Helpmann
Phil Collins
Stanley Unwin
Barbara Windsor
Synopsis
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a lovely, multi-layered yarn filled with a heap of good imagery and songs that will have even those as young as three entranced.
The story follows the lives of Professor Caractacus Potts (Dick van Dyke at his best), an inventor of … not much that works, his two children, his dad (richly played by screen hog Lionel Jeffries), and Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes) the daughter of a rich sweet-maker.
Desperate to buy the wreck of a champion racing car for his little ones, Potts undergoes a series of adventures to raise the 30 shillings (a fortune in 1909) to buy it.
Along the way he meets, fights and falls for the lovely Truly. Using all his inventing skills, Potts turns the charred ruin into a dazzlingly beautiful car that not only transforms into a boat, but also a flying car.
This attracts the attention of the evil Baron Bomburst (Gert Frobe) who wants Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for himself and launches a plot to steal her, kidnap Potts, and take them back to Vulgaria.
Only his spies get the wrong chap and Caractacus's dad gets hauled off by the nasties, sparking a rescue mission that brings our heroes into conflict with the Vulgarian army and the horrid Child Catcher (Robert Helpmann).
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a very long movie but moves along at a good rate and you are never caught looking at your watch. The scenes are well augmented by some really nice tunes and songs that may not have been No.1 hits but will spark distant memories of having heard them before. They include Toot Sweet, Hush-a-Bye Mountain, Me Ol' Bamboo, Travelling Life, Roses of Success, Chu-Chi Face, Doll on a Music Box.