CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG
The Fantastical, whimsical musical still Turns everybody’s head Today. Grace freeman Takes a 50Th anniversary ride
Cinema’s wonder car turns 50 years old. But it’s the mileage that counts, right? Hop in for a golden anniversary spin.
When it was first released in 1968, with a running time of almost two and a half hours, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was one of a few theatrical films to include an interval. it comes just before the car takes flight for the first time, as Caractacus, truly and the children pursue the unsavoury Baron Bomburst, in a bid to rescue their beloved Grandpa. they reach the edge of the cliff – distracted in their chase, realising their mistake a minute too late – and bang (pardon the pun): it cuts straight to the intermission, complete with the film’s catchy, thematic overture. it had been done with musicals before – Oklahoma!, The Sound Of Music, West Side Story – but it had been done with adventure epics, too:
Ben-Hur, Spartacus, Lawrence Of Arabia. Chitty, with its snappy, sherman Brothers-penned soundtrack and its fast-paced action sits somewhere in the midst of them all, a mad confection as fanciful and as unpredictable as one of its hero’s creations.
adrian hall, who played Jeremy, the son of dick Van dyke’s kindhearted inventor, agrees. “it’s a junior Bond,” he tells SFX. “One of the reasons that i think it’s special is that the story, really, is just a Bond story – and it fits into that period in time in film.” as well as it being based on Bond creator ian fleming’s 1964 novel of the same name, much of the crew on Chitty had worked on the previous year’s You Only Live Twice, including producer albert r “Cubby” Broccoli and screenwriter roald dahl. Other notable 007 alums include production designer Ken adam and editor Peter hunt, who was uncredited for the film’s title sequence.
hall was only seven when principal photography began on the film and eight by the time of its eventual release in the december of the following year, and admits that it took him some time to understand the magnitude of what they were working on, although his mother did earnestly impress its importance upon him from the very beginning. “the day before we started, i was playing in the garden and i tripped and i fell onto a strawberry patch. a small, wooden stake went into my leg – just above the kneecap – and all my mum was worried about was that i might lose the job,” he laughs. “that’s when i thought to myself, ‘Oh, okay, this must be quite serious.’”
although the original contract for the film’s production was intended to last for around four months – an ambitious proposal for a work of its length and detail – hall tells us that, in actuality, all the cast did for the first few months was rehearse; they spent the next weeks simply singing in the studio with a live orchestra, learning, perfecting and recording the songs. “it was nearly six or seven months before we even stood in front of a camera, on the set, to film anything,” he says.
the cast and crew travelled to a plethora of locations: from a small village in england, the site of the Potts’ windmill home, to neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria — the Bombursts’ childless abode in Vulgaria, a parodic twist on the German province — and the Côte d’azur in france for the “truly scrumptious” number. hall confesses that a small portion of this scene was shot on set at Pinewood studios, due to difficulties with the audio while on the beach. “You can tell which are the parts where we’re in the studio,” he says, laughing, “because i’ll be squinting furiously against the bright lights of the set.”
Pinewood studios in Buckinghamshire was, as with so many productions, the main base for the film and where almost all of the big, interior scenes – such as “toot sweets”, the biggest dance number – were staged and
sally ann howes was my first love. everything about her was delightful
filmed, throughout the first winter of shooting. this was where hall and heather ripley – who played Jemima Potts – did their first screen test: the early junkyard scene, in which the children play in the scorched and dilapidated titular car. it was also where they met robert helpmann – the infamous Child Catcher – for the very first time.
“he really was lovely,” hall says. “he wasn’t anything in the slightest like the Child Catcher. Our first introduction to him was him dancing his entire way up a corridor of a set building towards us, all the way from one end to another.” hall is equally as earnest when talking about the other cast members, from the leading stars to the backing dancers – “some of the best days on the set were when there were lots of people”, he reminisces – and enthuses about how caring the entire cast and crew were to him and ripley, who was the same young age as him at the time.
king of comedy
Van dyke is, undeniably, at the beating heart of the enchanting, quirky film, and hall is quick to paint a firm and accurate picture of the long-time great. “dick was fabulous. he was just how you’d expect him to be, when you watch him on the screen. he was genuinely a nice guy. we used to email a lot.” at almost 93, the all-singing, all-dancing actor and comic is showing no signs of slowing down, with multiple film roles ahead, but Chitty’s leading lady, sally ann howes, has, in later years, taken a well-deserved step back from the spotlight – although her sparkle hasn’t dimmed in her co-star’s eyes, even after so long.
“she was my first love,” he gushes. “everything about her was delightful. she really was just absolutely gorgeous.” the part of truly was (somewhat obviously in retrospect) originally written with Julie andrews in mind, in a bid to re-create the dynamic between her and Van dyke in 1964’s Mary Poppins, but, for unknown reasons, she turned down the role. the part went to howes – who, incidentally, had already replaced andrews as eliza doolittle in Broadway’s My Fair Lady – and it’s hard in hindsight to imagine anyone else playing the role of the brilliant heroine who’s equal parts dainty and delicate, and brave and bolshie.
as well as Van dyke, Broccoli managed to poach two other famous names from its practically perfect predecessor: the sherman brothers. it was the first ever non-disney film that richard and robert had written songs for and their lyrical gifts shine through in every number, which are undoubtedly much of the reason for the film’s enduring appeal. “heather and i would walk into a room and there would be the sherman brothers,” hall says. “they would be there, just waiting for the two of us to turn up, stand on the podium, and start singing. they spent a lot of time with us, working with us to get everything just right.”
for the two young stars, some adjustments had to be made. “‘Chitty’ became ‘chiddy’,” he reveals. “if you listen to the theme song, you can hear it. Of all of them, it was my favourite song to sing, but it was hard for someone like me, who had had no training beforehand.” Challenges presented themselves to the cast in the dance numbers too, with the largest catastrophe being when Van dyke
broke his arm during the filming of “toot sweets” and the entire production had to be halted for around six weeks.
“they filmed as much as they could without dick, but there isn’t a lot without dick,” hall smiles. when production resumed following the injury, the first scene to be shot was “Me Ol’ Bamboo”, which everyone on the set crowded to see, watching and waiting with bated breath. in the end, the number was filmed in one take: the one that we see on the screen.
it’s now been 50 years since Chitty first flew into cinemas and it still remains a beloved childhood classic; a testament to all the talent that tirelessly worked on it to bring it to life. “i loved it all,” says hall. “i remember it all so vividly and i loved it. the thought of it being remade does make me a little bit sad, i suppose. although,” he grins, “if they did, i would probably be fine if they contacted me and said that i could have a little walk-on part somewhere in it.”
as yet, the film remains untouched by film producers and is still bursting with the same fizzy charm and feverish wit. it’s hard to believe that a modern-day remake would – or could – have the same magic. honest, truly.
A Blu-ray re-release of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is out now.