Behind the Scenes on Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang with Dick Van Dyke
This 2003 video is pretty cool, it’s like watching the Walt Disney film while the star, Dick Van Dyke, is sitting next to you telling behind the scenes stories about the production. There are lots of clips from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang so, if you’re like me and haven’t seen the film since I was a youngster, you’ll be able to assess for yourself if it was as good as you remember it to be.
The commentary is wonderful, right down to Van Dyke’s description of the actual car.
The director, Ken Hughes, wasn’t all that fond of this movie. "We took too long to make it," he was quoted as saying. "I sweated over it for about a year and really it was a only a children's film. I think such a thing should be made quickly and with enthusiasm. My enthusiasm ran out long before the end."
The finished product certainly reflected enthusiasm, although it’s forced as hell, but it was a kind of stylistic enthusiasm that Disney was enamored of.
The movie was a big hit, earning $7.5 million at the box office, a princely sum in 1968.
11 songs were written by Robert and Richard Sherman for the film, they provided the music for another Dick Van Dyke film, Mary Poppins. The song "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was nominated for an Academy Award. And deservedly so, I can’t get it out of my head after 50 years!
Some scenes in this movie were shot in England and the locations have since become tourist destinations. The Cobstone windmill on the hill is near the Buckinghamshire village of Turville, racing scenes were lensed at Box Hill in Surrey.
Directed by Ken Hughes, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Adrian Hall, Heather Ripley, Lionel Jeffries, James Robertson Justice, Robert Helpmann and Gert Fröbe.
