Directed by Ken Hughes
My rating: 4 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, MGM/Fox)
Eccentric inventor Dick Van Dyke is a bachelor with two young kids living in an old house in the English countryside. His inventions, while imaginative, are failures, so when the kids beg him to buy a beat-up old car headed for the compactor he can't come up with the money. An impromptu dance performance at the local carnival changes all of that, and after several days in his magical garage chitty chitty bang bang is born. He's also got the attention of local socialite Sally Ann Howes, whose father is a candy magnate. One day while on a picnic at the beach, he spins a wild story that takes up the second half of the film. They end up in a fictional country where kids are outlawed and his own are captured and put away. The "child catcher", played by Robert Helpmann, has given me nightmares for the better part of the last 40 years. Well, the kids are rescued, the child catcher strung up in the castle and the story-within-a-story ends, while the other story has a predictable happy ending, albeit with a twist. Filled with wonderful songs by the Sherman brothers, "Toot Sweets", "Hushabye Mountain", "Truly Scrumptious", just to name a few. One of the best children's-fantasy musicals ever, right up there with The Wizard of Oz, Willie Wonka and the Sherman brothers other movie, Mary Poppins.
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