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CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a splashy and lushly mounted musical, based on a children's book by Ian Fleming (!)which the producers were hoping would strike the same gold as Mary Poppins but wasn't nearly as good.
Dick Van Dyke, four years after Mary Poppins, stars as Caractacus Potts, an eccentric inventor with two small children, who buys and restores an old car and through story he tells his children, becomes a magical car that can float on water and fly in the air. Just as he was in Mary Poppins, Van Dyke is the only American actor among an all-English cast (though he wisely doesn't attempt an accent this time) in this fluffy children's musical that children can still get pleasure from; however, for most of us who grew up on it, has not aged too well.
The lackluster songs are by Richard M.and Robert B. Sherman who also wrote the songs for Mary Poppins and the dances are choreographed by POPPINS choreographers Marc Breaux and DeeDee Wood.
Sally Ann Howes is a lovely leading lady with a Bond-girl-type character name, Truly Scrumptious. James Robertson Justice plays her father, a candy manufacturer, Benny Hill is a toymaker, Gerte Frobe(GOLDFINGER) plays an evil baron who loves to play with toys and Anna Quayle plays his children-hating baroness. There's also a delightful turn by Lionel Jeffries as Van Dyke's equally eccentric grandfather. Robert Helpmann is bone-chilling as the Child Catcher, a character who still gives me nightmares. A little too sappy for grown-ups now, but it might still keep unruly children still for a couple of hours.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was a splashy and lushly mounted musical, based on a children's book by Ian Fleming (!)which the producers were hoping would strike the same gold as Mary Poppins but wasn't nearly as good.
Dick Van Dyke, four years after Mary Poppins, stars as Caractacus Potts, an eccentric inventor with two small children, who buys and restores an old car and through story he tells his children, becomes a magical car that can float on water and fly in the air. Just as he was in Mary Poppins, Van Dyke is the only American actor among an all-English cast (though he wisely doesn't attempt an accent this time) in this fluffy children's musical that children can still get pleasure from; however, for most of us who grew up on it, has not aged too well.
The lackluster songs are by Richard M.and Robert B. Sherman who also wrote the songs for Mary Poppins and the dances are choreographed by POPPINS choreographers Marc Breaux and DeeDee Wood.
Sally Ann Howes is a lovely leading lady with a Bond-girl-type character name, Truly Scrumptious. James Robertson Justice plays her father, a candy manufacturer, Benny Hill is a toymaker, Gerte Frobe(GOLDFINGER) plays an evil baron who loves to play with toys and Anna Quayle plays his children-hating baroness. There's also a delightful turn by Lionel Jeffries as Van Dyke's equally eccentric grandfather. Robert Helpmann is bone-chilling as the Child Catcher, a character who still gives me nightmares. A little too sappy for grown-ups now, but it might still keep unruly children still for a couple of hours.