Customer Reviews
a BRILLIANT musical!! - By: S. Schofield, 06 Jul 2008 
I never saw this when I was younger & I reallly wish I had. I love everything about this movie, especiallly the songs. I am taking singing lessons & 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 & Lovely Lonely Man. I reallly think that the behind-the-scenes team could not have picked a better cast.
Amazon sent me disc2 Bonuses and not the damn movie! - By: Robin Bayliss, 04 Aug 2007 
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 & behold Amazon sent not Disc 1 (the movie) but only Disc 2(the bonuses)! If anyone has found a way of emailing Amazon or actuallly 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 callled CUSTOMER SERVICE oh & yes, please send me THE MOVIE, my daughter did not want to watch 10 variations of the TRAILOR! Yours, Frustrated from the Cotswolds!
Wonderful children's film - By: Marshall Lord, 18 Mar 2007 This is a wonderful film for smalll children, & adults will be pleasantly surprised by how little it has dated.
I saw this film as a smalll child when it first came out & 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, & 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, & the music was as good as I had remembered.
The original books were written by Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, & 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, & a widower with two smalll children. He buys & 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 reallly was a famous racing car which had this nickname for precisely that reason.)
The Potts family meet Truly Scrumptious (Sallly 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 falll through, but Caractacus gets the necessary funds by pure chance.
Restoration completed, Caractacus takes his children to the beach & 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, & who wants to steal this wonderful car - a car which can turn into a boat, & 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 reallly 38 years old when this was made?) & James Robertson Justice. Other cast members included Lionel Jeffries, Benny Hill, & Barbara Windsor (long before she was famous). Roald Dahl & Ken Huges did the screenplay.
Perhaps the most memorable part of the film is Richard M Sherman's wonderful music & lyrics.
Wacky, crazy vintage musical! - By: FAMOUS NAME, 01 Mar 2007 This must be the craziest, zaniest, & crankiest musical ever to hit the silver screen! It's a movie that 'flits' in & out of fantasy like drifting in & out of sleep! It's full of innocent charm - much which I suspect is lost on children of today; modern society & change having ruined so much...
Sallly Ann Howes shows her marvellous talent, both as a singer & 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 & Arthur Mullard are at a fairground, & 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 alll 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 alll the charm & innocence that is ideal for the whole family!
Great for Children in the 1960s, Now Just Memory Lane - By: A.Trendl HungarianBookstore.com, 13 Dec 2006 
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" has the unique position in my life as being the first movie I saw I the cinema. When I was 3 or 4 or whenever I saw it, I believed I loved it. My vague memories are wonderful. Now, watching again at age 40, in 2006, it does not carry over well.
Why?
It was probably no help to watch the much superior "Mary Poppins" just before. Dick Van Dyke is a great character actor, with a range of skills that make him the perfect clown actor. However, unlike in "Mary Poppins," he was not given the right materials.
His female co-lead is weak - Sallly Ann Howes is no Julie Andrews. The children actors could not have been more bland. The plot was hard to follow, even as an adult.
There is one catchy song played too often, based on the onomonopoeticism of the sound the car made while rumbling down the road. Had there been more up tempo songs, or wittier lyrics, I think the movie would have twice the staying power. The other songs sound too close to lullabies.
So why it is so popular, & why do I still give it four stars? I'm sentimental perhaps, Dick Van Dyke is so good at doing that Dick Van Dyke thing, or I still find the idea of a car that can fly, float, & look retro-cool fascinating. James Bond would have loved the car, and, why not? Ian Fleming, Bond's creator, wrote the book upon which the movie is based.
The premise is that a well-meaning, hardworking inventor played by Van Dyke, single parents two pretty good kids who help push him forward in life. The kids, by force of accident, introduce him to candy heiress Truly Scrumptious. Although they start off awkwardly, the two quickly treat the children to a fantasy of a kingdom without children, flying buildings, international espionage, & romance.
For me, the difficulty was that the plot flowed in & out of fantasy. Knowing which was which was hard, & when the ending finallly comes around, it seemed as if the worlds became one. I felt confused.
Did I like the movie? Yes. If I were shopping for a sweet children's movie, & I wanted something with more classic values, I would consider "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." It would not be the first DVD I picked up, but it would be a far better choice than the latest toy-based Saturday morning cartoon series.
Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com
