Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ( Customized Paragon Panther )  1968

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ( Customized Paragon Panther )  1968

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.     ( amazon.co.uk )      Press Here

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is about an eccentric professor who invents wacky machinery, but can\’t seem to make ends meet. When he invents a revolutionary car, a foreign government becomes interested in it, and resorts to skulduggery to get their hands on it.

Theme Tune

Hushabye Mountain

A gentle breeze from Hushabye Mountain
Softly blows over Lullaby Bay,
It fills the sails of boats that are waiting,
Waiting to sail your worries away.
 
It isn’t far to Hushabye Mountain,
And your boat waits down by the quay.
The winds of night sdo softly are sighing,
Soon they will fly your troubles to sea.
 
So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain,
Wave goodbye to cares of the day,
And watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain
Sail far away from Lullaby Bay.
 
So close your eyes on Hushabye Mountain,
Wave goodbye to cares of the day,
And watch your boat from Hushabye Mountain
Sail far away from Lullaby Bay.

Cast

Dick Van Dyke Dick Van Dyke … Caractacus Potts
Sally Ann Howes Sally Ann Howes … Truly Scrumptious
Lionel Jeffries Lionel Jeffries … Grandpa Potts
Gert Fröbe Gert Fröbe … Baron Bomburst (as Gert Frobe)
Anna Quayle Anna Quayle … Baroness Bomburst
Benny Hill Benny Hill … Toymaker
James Robertson Justice James Robertson Justice … Lord Scrumptious
Robert Helpmann Robert Helpmann … Child Catcher
Heather Ripley Heather Ripley … Jemima
Adrian Hall Adrian Hall … Jeremy
Barbara Windsor Barbara Windsor … Blonde

Trivia

The current owner of the Chitty car is director Peter Jackson. He could be seen near the WETA Workshop in New Zealand driving cast members of The Hobbit films around in the car while playing the main theme song through a sound system.

Trivia

Benny Hill was first brought onto the project to rewrite some scenes at the request of Dick Van Dyke.

Trivia

In his book “Keep Moving”, Dick Van Dyke mentioned during the “Toot Sweets” segment, at 40 years old, he never bothered to warm up before a dance number. During filming, he felt something pop in his leg. He thought he had merely pulled a muscle, but soon after he couldn’t walk without limping. He went to a doctor, who told him his whole body was full of arthritis, and within five years he wouldn’t be able to get around at all without a cane or a wheelchair. Van Dyke responded to this prognosis by jumping up and dancing, which astounded the doctor. Almost 50 years later, in his brief role as Mr. Dawes Jr. in Mary Poppins Returns (2018), 92-year-old Van Dyke danced without any assistance.

Set in the 1910s, the story opens with a montage of European Grand Prix races in which during one, a particular car that appears to win every race, swerves to avoid a girl saving a dog, loses control, crashes, and catches fire, bringing its racing career to an end. The car ends up in an old garage in rural England, where two children, Jeremy and Jemima Potts, have grown fond of it, but are told by a frequent customer, a junkman, that he and his business intend to buy the car from the garage owner Mr. Coggins, for scrap; to crush it into one solid lump, then melt it down to a liquid and have the metal to sell. The two children, who live with their widowed father Caractacus Potts, an eccentric inventor, and his equally peculiar father, implore him to buy the car before the junkman does, but he is unable to, not having the money. While skipping school, they meet Truly Scrumptious, a beautiful upper-class woman with her own motorcar, who brings them home to report their truancy to their father. Truly shows interest in Caractacus\’ odd inventions, but he is affronted by her attempts to tell him that his children should be in school.

Quote

Caracticus Potts: How was India, Grandpa?
Grandpa: How was India? I’ll tell you how India was. I got up this morning and I shot an elephant in my pajamas.
Grandpa, Caracticus Potts, Jemimah, Jeremy: How an elephant got in my pajamas, I shall never know.
Grandpa: You’ve heard it before.
[they all laugh]

Grandpa: Nasty smelly things, motorcars!

Child Catcher: There are children here somewhere. I can smell them.
Child Catcher: Come along, kiddie-winkies!

Truly Scrumptious: What an unusual car.
Jeremy: Daddy made it.
Truly Scrumptious: [laughs] Oh? And it actually goes?
Jemimah: It’s called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Truly Scrumptious: That’s a curious name for a motorcar.
Jemimah: But that’s the sound it makes. Listen.

Trivia

Heather Ripley recalled that she did not realize until much later that Dick Van Dyke was an alcoholic when the film was made.

Baron Bomburst’s castle is Neuschwanstein, built between 1869 and 1886 for the Bavarian King Ludwig II, ‘The Mad King of Bavaria’. This castle is also famously known as the model for the Sleeping Beauty (1959) Castle at Disneyland, which was the symbol of the Disney television program Walt Disney\’s Wonderful World of Color (1954) aka ‘Walt Disney Presents’ aka ‘Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color’.

Trivia

Richard Wayne ‘Dick’ Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, comedian, writer, singer, dancer, and producer with a career spanning seven decades. He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke and father of Barry Van Dyke. Van Dyke starred in the films Bye Bye Birdie, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and in the TV series The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis: Murder. Van Dyke is a recipient of numerous awards in the entertainment industry, including five Emmys, a Tony, and a Grammy.

Trivia

Benny Hill was first brought onto the project to rewrite some scenes at the request of Dick Van Dyke.

Info

Distributed by United Artists
Release date

16 December 1968 (London, premiere)

17 December 1968 (United Kingdom)

18 December 1968 (United States)

Running time
145 minutes

Countries

United Kingdom

United States

Language English
Budget $10 million or $12 million
Box office $7.5 million (rentals)

Trivia

The musical number ‘Toot Sweets’ took three weeks to film and involved 38 dancers, 40 singers, 85 musicians and 100 dogs.

QUIZ 1

The original book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was written by which famous author ?

A. Michael Connelly
B. Ian Fleming
C. Ralph Wright
D. George Bernard Shaw

Press for Answer

B. Ian Fleming

Scroll Down for More

QUIZ 2

The screen story is slightly different to the book.Which other famous author wrote the screen story ?

A. Julia Donaldson
B. Kenneth Grahame
C. Roald Dahl
D. C.S Lewis

Press for Answer

C. Roald Dahl

Scroll Down for More

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang CARS 5 (5)

QUIZ 1

The original book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was written by which famous author ?

A. Michael Connelly
B. Ian Fleming
C. Ralph Wright
D. George Bernard Shaw

Fleming, better known as the creator of James Bond, took his inspiration for the subject from a series of aero-engined racing cars called “Chitty Bang Bang”, built by Count Louis Zborowski in the early 1920s at Higham Park. Fleming had known Higham Park as a guest of its later owner, Walter Whigham, chairman of Robert Fleming & Co. It was the last book he wrote and he did not live to see it published

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang CARS 6 (1)

QUIZ 2

The screen story is slightly different to the book.Which other famous author wrote the screen story ?

A. Julia Donaldson
B. Kenneth Grahame
C. Roald Dahl
D. C.S Lewis

Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang was loosely adapted as a 1968 film of the same name with a screenplay by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes; a subsequent novelisation was also published. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli, co-producer of the James Bond film series. The story was also adapted as a stage musical under the same name. In April 2011 a BBC Radio 4 Extra adaptation was broadcast with Imogen Stubbs as the voice of Chitty. Three sequels to Fleming’s book have been published, all written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

Julia Donaldson is best known for her popular rhyming stories for children, especially those illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which include The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Stick Man.

Kenneth Grahame is most famous for The Wind in the Willows (1908), one of the classics of children’s literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon. Both books were later adapted for stage and film, of which A. A. Milne’s Toad of Toad Hall

C.S Lewis is best known for his works of fiction, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy

51. Thunderbirds FAB-1

<< PREVIOUS PAGE

( Ford Thunderbird FAB-1 ) 1964

52. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

THIS PAGE

( Customised Paragon Panther ) 1968

53. Inspector Gadget 2

NEXT PAGE >>

( Modified Lincoln Convertible ) 1964

Famous Cars from TV, Film ( www.gadgetshowprizes.co.uk ) is unofficial and for information only. It is in no way linked to any official companies. All Amazon Links are linked directly to an official Amazon associates affiliated website ( www.amazon.co.uk )Info from IMBCd, Wilkipedia, IMdb, and Video from YouTube . Make ,Model and Year are for Reference ONLY and may not match the Movie Date, Cars are in No Particular Order