Dick Van Dyke says “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” is one of his favorites and he told HollywoodInHiDef.com that he can’t wait to see it on Blu-ray next week (Nov. 2). In fact, the nearly 85-year-old actor with boundless energy who filmed a remarkable short film in 3D this year called “The Caretaker,” said he’d also like to see “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: in 3D, noting that he’s a big fan of the technology (he already owns a 3DTV and 3D Blu-ray player) and recently attended a computer convention downtown L.A. and was encouraged by the strides being made in 2D-to-3D conversion.
(Story and review continues following the fast-paced 3-minute video below with Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes at the MGM/Fox red carpet and screening of a Blu-ray projection of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” at the Pacific Theater in The Grove in Beverly Hills this morning, Saturday, Oct. 30).
Released four years after “Mary Poppins” (1964), the 1968 “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” also starred Dick Van Dyke in a 2 1/2-hour family musical featuring an adorable young brother and sister and boasted the same masterful Sherman Brothers songwriting team with an equal number of memorable songs — title song, “Me Ol’ Bamboo,” “Truly Scrumptious,” “Toot Sweets,” “Hushabye Mountain,” “Chu-Chi Face,” and Van Dyke’s favorite, “You Two” — and the same dance choreographers.
If that weren’t enough, the movie boasted all the production value and fantasy gadgetry of a James Bond movie at the peak of that franchise since it was produced by the 007 movie producers. In addition to much of the same crew, such as production designers, “Chitty Chitty Bang” also starred the actor who played the iconic Goldfinger (Gert Frobe, who had to mimic his lines from a coach since he didn’t speak English), and featured a cameo by the actor otherwise almost singularly recognized as gadget master “Q.” That unlikeliest of scenarios happened as a result of the story being based on the one and only children’s novel written by James Bond creator Ian Fleming. Oddly, neither Fleming nor the 007 producers ever revisited the genre, but their one foray into that family realm lives on.
Greatly enhancing the legacy of the film is the newly remastered wide-screen version with upgraded 7.1 sound on Blu-ray Disc from MGM/Fox. The colors and image of the 42-year-old movie are as vivid and crisp as any new feature.
Although the bonus feature interviews and retrospectives are almost all the same as the 2003 special edition DVD, they are worth revisiting.
Discussing the scene where he plays a puppet on invisible strings alongside Howes pretending to be a lifesize music box doll, Van Dyke says it was his lifetime ambition to play the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, so this was as close as he could come.
This morning Van Dyke told HollywoodInHiDef.com that he also coveted the role of Willy Wonka in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
The bonus features also include a “vintage featurette” of a rather remarkable discussion by Van Dyke with an apparent gaggle of British reporters from the drivers’ seat of a car three weeks into production on “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” It was shortly after pulling a muscle while shooting a dance number for “Toot Sweet” that left him unable to film any dance numbers for six weeks. Van Dyke politely discusses everything from the somewhat unexpected discontinuation of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (“We all voted” to end it before it got stale, he said) to the impact of TV ratings (“That’s what’s wrong with TV”) to the similarities between the then-recent Oscar-winning “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (lots of dance numbers and his character in “Chitty” similar to his Bert character in “Poppins,” he says).
Also included is a simplistic but mildly enjoyable interactive driving game, a sing-along option, and lots more featurettes and archive shorts and audio recordings, including an outing with the owner of the iconic car of the movie.
— By Scott Hettrick
It was very interesting to see Dick Van Dyke again,after all these years, and to see him looking so spry and alert. That theme music also brought back great memories of a spectacular movie. Thank you for the video and the information regarding 3D
My four children absolutely loved the piece and never tired of it. It finally gave out. We have great admiration for Dick Van Dyke and his exceptional talents.