Anna Daniels
Several generations have had the privilege of enjoying the Dick Van Dyke classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It’s over half a century old now, but its appeal lives on. And no wonder — its screenplay was co-written by none other than children’s novelist Roald Dahl, who certainly knows what clever young people are looking for in a story. Dahl is not the only novelist who needs credit, however. The film is loosely based on a novel by Ian Fleming, the man behind the original James Bond books!
In the film, Van Dyke plays Caractacus Potts, an eccentric, impoverished inventor and the single father of two children. The kids, played by Adrian Hall and Heather Ripley, have fallen in love with an old car, once famous for winning races but now retired to the junk yard where it is in danger of being scrapped. Caractacus tries to devise a way to get enough money to pay for the car in order to please his children, and in true 1968 movie-musical fashion, wackiness ensues. In this case, it involves candies called “Toot Sweets,” a flying car, and a love interest named Truly Scrumptious (played by Sally Ann Howes). This is one of those movies that parents have been showing their children for decades, and now there’s no need to scrounge up the VHS or DVD — or wait for it to air on television!
Written by: Looper
