An eccentric Victorian single-father turns a broken-down Grand Prix enters a local competition to build race car. Since he's actually an Inventor he includes a few 'options 'in the design. One day he takes his children and their friend for an outing but it turn into a magical fantasy adventure to save their grandfather in a far-off land! !Looks Great on Acid!

Copyright 17 December 1968 by Warfield Productions—Dramatic Features. Released through United Artists Pictures. New York opening at Loew's State 2: 18 December 1968. U.S. release: 18 December 1968. U.K. release: 28 December 1969. Australian release: 19 December 1968. Sydney opening at the Paris. 145 minutes.SYNOPSIS: An unsuccessful inventor weaves a story about an old car that he has made over into a shiny new contraption.NOTES: The title song was nominated for an Academy Award, losing to "The Windmills of Your Mind" from "The Thomas Crown Affair"."Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" took more money in Great Britain in 1969 than any other movie except "Oliver" and a re-issue of "Gone With The Wind". In the U.S.A., "Chitty" achieved 12th position for 1969.COMMENT: We keep waiting for the big musical production number involving all the Vulgarians which will climax the whole thing, but curiously there isn't one. Maybe just as well since Gert Frobe gives such a flat-footed performance, mistiming even such mildly amusing lines as "Never mind, I get her next time". Even in his comedy duet, he seems to be a beat behind his partner. The two spies similarly mangle their opportunities. They are dud hams. A pity two more interesting people weren't cast. Benny Hill has a small role complete with accent which he plays virtually straight, but Helpmann makes the most of his couple of scenes as the child catcher. Dick Van Dyke is his usual pseudo-engaging self — an energetic dancer, a fair vocalizer but a somewhat blandly nauseating personality. We keep waiting for Justice to come back. Sally Ann Howes is a pleasant singer but a cloying person and the kids are two spoiled, self- centered brats. Lionel Jeffries tends to overdo his part, especially in the early stages, but comes into his own with "P=O=S=H" and thereafter. The film is very uneven. It takes forever to get off the ground, but improves once we get to the JRJ scenes and Adam's splendid sets and the two great musical production numbers in the sweet factory and the delightful Bamboo dance at the fair. It's a pity the rest of the film is something of an anticlimax. In fact it's a different story altogether as the script itself acknowledges!

There's so much to attack but so much to love (begrugingly) in this movie version of Ian Fleming's novel. Yes, indeed, the author of the Bond series wrote a musical about a magical car that floats, flies and bang bang bangs. It's also a lifesaver for the eccentric inventor Cattaragus Potts (Dick Van Dyke), his two precocious children (Adrian Hall and Heather Ripley), and a beautiful socialite (Sally Anne Howes) who is at the crossroads of her life and determined to get past the pretensions of being the daughter of a wealthy sweets manufacturer, Lord Scrumptious (a wonderfully imperious James Robertson Justice) who has nothing but her money to claim as her own. The widowed Potts and the lovely Truly don't hit it off at first (like many couples paired together in a movie musical), but her instant love for his children draws them closer, as does an adventure where they head off to a weird land of child-hating rulers and underground canyons where everybody under the age of 18 lives in fear.The Sherman Brothers achieve another hit in their musical catalog with the musical score, an obvious follow-up to "Mary Poppins", yet not released by Walt Disney. Van Dyke is the obvious choice for Potts, and with Julie Andrews unable to take on the role of the heroine, British musical diva Sally Anne Howes had her one American film role as Truly. "Lovely, Lonely Man" shows her as a gorgeous soprano, and it is sad for American audiences that she didn't get the chance to be seen in more films. Only some lucky audiences on Broadway got the chance to see her, mainly as a replacement in "My Fair Lady" for Andrews on Broadway.Hall and Ripley are delightful as the children, looking more real than the kids from "Mary Poppins" and delightfully coy in their attitudes towards life. Lionel Jeffries gives a glorious performance as their flustered grandfather, an eccentric world traveler who pretends to go around the world in his little shack which really appears to be an out-house. There's gloriously campy performances from Gert Frobe and Anna Quayle as the Baron and Baroness Bomburst who perform "Choochy Face" with the attitudes of teenagers in a seemingly perfect lovefest, but its obvious that the Baron can't stand her, leading to some hilarious innuendos of him obviously trying to snuff her out. "Choochy Face" is followed up by the hysterical visual of the dried-up court of prunes who surround them socially, giving this a cartoon feel in its live action presentation.Then, there's Robert Helpmann as the sinister looking Child Catcher, one of the most horrifying villains ever on screen, and one who probably gave a lot of children nightmares. He actually looks like he could be a distant relative of the Wicked Witch of the West, an escapee from Oz who was obviously banished by the little people who lived in that land. Even "Willy Wonka" with its darkness didn't have a character like this. Musically and choreographically, "Chitty" is phenomenal with several lavish production numbers, some extremely touching moments, and a fantasy element that is almost as magical as "The Wizard of Oz". A Broadway version proved to be even more elephantine than the movie, overly cute and missing the adult touches that made the movie as appealing to grown-ups as it was to children.

I read this book as a child in the 60s. While it was a story of fantasy, it did not talk down to the reader and was full of wit and subtlety. When the movie came out, I was very excited to see the wonderful tale of imagination come to the screen. What resulted was so insulting to my intelligence that it horrified me. Dick van Dyke's moronic mugging, the idiotic songs, the over the top portrayal of the title character, and general treacly smarm and cheese completely destroyed an amazing book. You think I'm being harsh? Read the book. Skip this movie. If it isn't the worst movie ever made, it is without a doubt the worst adaptation of a book ever perpetrated. It destroyed my faith in humanity and my opinion has not changed as this movie has not improved with age, whereas the book retains all its integrity and charm. Roald Dahl should have known better.