Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Movie Review 

You can tell it's a Broccoli production. Its got all the hallmarks of a Bond film. A beautiful women A gadget armed car Exotic locations An eccentric villain A deformed henchman OTT sets And the ending involves the good guys storming the villains base

Yes. I am old enough to have seen this at the cinema. Forgotten now is that when Chitty drove off the cliff... it was a real cliff hanger. The film stopped for an intermission. So you were left queuing for ice cream for 20 minutes with no idea how they'd get out of it!

The childcatcher use to keep me up at night.

This film will always have a significance to my family as our family home was the nearest to a next-door neighbour for the windmill used in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. My parents worked at Ibstone Manor, and my mother used to push me in my pram down to the windmill to watch Dick Van Dyke and the rest of the cast shooting the various scenes.

Yes Chitty Chitty Bang Bang should rank with the best of the other classics.

I remember watching this movie on VHS as a boy and later during the beginning of my James Bond fandom, I was delighted to discover that Ian Fleming wrote the novel on which this movie is based and Albert R. Broccoli made the movie with many of the same cast and crew he worked with on the Bond movies. Glad that I got the two disc special edition of this movie when I did, since I had wanted to know more about how the movie came to life and it had been years since I had seen it. I also highly recommend the novel, I read it about two years ago and I was pretty impressed with Ian Fleming's writing. A lot of the imagination he brought to the Bond novels, is present in his writing here. Especially when he goes into detail about Chitty and her abilities.

The performance of Truly Scrumptious as a wind up toy mechanical doll was amazing. Really "truly" impressive.

I use to love this movie as a kid, but now that I know that many people from the bond franchise were a part of this movie it makes me appreciate it even more.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is one of my favorites introduced to me by my mother. We still have the tape movie. I think it would be phenomenal to show it again in theaters so younger audiences could see it. I never grow tired of it. Brings me to my childhood 😂

Merry Christmas, Bond fans! Fun Fact: The Potts’ house in real life is just down the road from Stonor Park, which was used as the MI6 safe house in ‘The Living Daylights’, and also very near the village used in ‘The Vicar of Dibley’. And not too far from where I live which is how I know these things. Also, apparently Phil Collins (yes, that Phil Collins) appears in this film as one of the Vulgarian children. I’m so glad you covered this film, I love it to bits. I watched it back when I was 3-4, and I assumed it was a Disney film because I assumed it was made by the same people who made ‘Mary Poppins’ because the two were so similar. Either way, I then moved on to other films, then watched it again this year as a 23 year old when it popped up on Netflix and couldn’t help but be bowled over by its charm. Yes the plot is very much two halves as opposed to a complete whole, but it’s too much fun to care. And those songs - my favourite’s got to be POSH, even if the whole Port Out Starboard Home acronym is an urban myth, I just love the Grandpa character. And Dick Van Dyke. And Gert Frobe. And everything!

As a kid I always figured that the story part actually did come true and that things just got that weird. Later I decided that they were taking turns telling the story.

Q owned the car before Caractacus Potts? Well, I don't know about you, but it sounds like Potts took credit for Q making the car fly! 😂

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang such a Classic Movie

Two things. You blew my mind with all these connections to James Bond. And two, this was one of the films my brother and I would play again and again because of how much we liked it.

It never occurred to me how strange it is that Truly's love song occurs in the story within the story. I laughed out loud when you pointed that out.

Fun fact from what I’ve read in many articles is that Peter Hunt actually directed the main title sequence for this movie shortly before taking a lot of his unit to shoot OHMSS

Kiiss Kiss Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Someone liked Bang Bang didn't they 😁😁 Merry Christmas 007 Calvin

12:43 That’s Neuschwanstein castle in Germany.

I remember I used to have nightmares about the child catcher.

Good review, Calvin. I saw this movie recently in a theatre in Hong Kong packed with kids. They loved it, laughing and cheering all the way through. Can you imagine, in this day and age? I agree, one of the best family movies ever made. And one of the most underrated.

I used to have a duvet cover with the child catcher and his horse/cart on it (along with Chitty). My parents knew I was a fan but didn't seem to understand the psychology behind some of the characterisations.

I loved this film so much as a kid, still do now lol. When I learned that it was made by the Bond team it just made so much sense why I loved it, although I can't believe I didn't recognise the metal slide is the one from YOLT, it always looked familiar but I could never put my finger on it, so thanks for pointing it out :)

Recently rewatched this film again, I was extremely worried it would be one of those childhood movies that you wouldn’t be able to view through rose-tinted glasses, but boy I was wrong. Ended up writing an extremely long review of this film on Letterboxd because of it and ended up hunting down the 2013 soundtrack release to listen to the music again.

Ah, a childhood favorite. I have fond memories of watching and rewatching this on VHS.

Just saw this for the first time today at the age of 25, and very annoyed to have not grown up with it. I thought while watching, “It’s like a mix of Mary Poppins, Willy Wonka and James Bond, which makes sense with the involvement of Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl and Dick Van Dyke...” but wow, I didn’t know there was _this much_ connection to those things. You know what the most painful part is? I knew this movie was existed when I might have been the perfect age for it. My grandma had a VHS of it in her basement, but when I was left alone down there I elected to watch _The Lion King II_ instead. Oh, woe of misspent youth...

Calvin was lucky when he was six, he could fast forward through Truly Scrumptious' solo song! When I was six, fifty years ago, I saw 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' on TV once a year by CBS when it was shown in prime time on Thanksgiving evening. When her song came on it was time to use the bathroom or grab a snack 🥨😂

This was definitely one of the films we showed in my house a lot, definitely a classic

Acording to this book about Aston Martins , the car is based off a Bramford and Martin ( a predecessor to Aston Martin) and I can kinda see what they mean but the cars you mentioned make more sense as a basis.

Anna Quayle was also in James Bond - sort of, she appeared in the Berlin sequence of Casino Royale 1967^^

Saw this wonderful film in the cinema in 1968 - magical memories of being a young child and being enthralled! The diecast model car was my favourite toy for years :-). Loved your review Calvin - all the best for the Christmas Holiday and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2020 (with a 'happy' emphasis on April!).

Amazing review Calvin! This film, along with Mary Poppins and the Sound of Music, made up most of my childhood. I'm so happy to see someone give this movie the praise that it deserves! I never realized how much connection there was between this film and the Bond series. It wasn't until a few years ago that I even knew that Ian Fleming wrote the original novel that the film was based on. Thanks for such a great review as always!

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was my favorite childhood movie. Still to this day, it's one of my top 10 all-time favorite films!

I do not understand how this movie has 2 stars out of 5! It is an absolute fun and wild ride and so enjoyable!

Ken Adam's production design in this is some of his best work, totally agreed. I adore the candy factory set.

This is my favourite childhood film. It never gets old.

My parents did show me this film as a kid, and I guess it’s fitting that they’re pretty big James Bond fans. And I adore this film, I really do, I need to find my copy and watch it again fully one of these days. Also yes, you are correct, the Child Catcher is indeed terrifying.

This film is a family Classic the sets are fantastic but the one thing I loved the best is The Car itself what a fantastic piece of craftsmanship

Dog. My mom literally gave me the "dont take candy from strangers" talk after watching this

This movie was my childhood

A proper childhood favourite for me. Even now, this film kind of brings me together with friends I’ve mostly lost contact with. It definitely reminds me of a certain time in my life which I have immense fondness for.

Even in Germany it was a solid success. By the way : the castle in the movie is based in Bavaria, the famous Neu-Schwanstein.

Just passing through and stoped by to hear your very enthusiastic fast passed review, during a fit of my own nostalgia. Though this film never had good critical reviews,ever! who cares, everyone liked back then and still do , to this very day.. I don’t know of anyone who has seen this movie from 10 years old to over 65 who can’t hum or flat out sing at least one song from this movie with joy, and who had not fallen in love with Chitty.

a fantastic review. what a talent you are Calvin. the work required to both script and edit this review is beyond my comprehension. thank you.

Thank you for this! I've been having kind of a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang revival, watching some videos and some (quite negative reviews). The movie is a favorite of mine, having come out when I was 5, which meant I got to see it in all its glory on the big screen. Like you, I get a little teary over Hushabye Mountain, which is such a beautiful and haunting song. I used to sing it to my children when they were small.

Great video!! Theres not alot of Chitty videos online. Big thumbs up to this vid

The Child Catcher is probably the best part of the film

And it always was the best Bond car :) One wonders if Van Dyke's daughter in this inspired the casting of the girl for Gilliam's Baron Munchausen - there is a very similar look and attitude of character.

10:59 The reason the the Scrumptious house and SPECTRE's building is the same building is because both films were filmed at Pinewood Studios. Pinewood was the name of the house and gardens, which are still at the centre of the Pinewood Estate where the studios are built. Several films use the house and/or gardens as an easy to use exterior for Stately Homes of England type places.

Calvin, Great review of the film. I love this film as much as you do! Well-crafted, great cinematography, unique characters, the iconic vehicle itself, and a sumptuous Sherman Bros. score. Totally with you on the "Lovely Lonely Man" song. Several years ago, I picked up a Corgi version of CCBB with removable figures and spring-loaded wings. Also, on occasion, you can find a Toot-Sweet maker on eBay. Favorite line: "Coggins, 'im down the road? Why, he wouldn't light your pipe if his house was on fire..." One minor point on the 2 spies...I'd compare them more closely with Abbott & Costello than Laurel & Hardy. Overall, though, great piece. Thoroughly enjoyed your review. Totally spot on. Will share with my older brother who loves this cinematic masterpiece, too! Best, Paul+

It was one thing when I found out that this was based on a children's book by the creator of James Bond; pretty cool. When I found out that the villain was Goldfinger, 🤯 mind-blown!

This was the first movie I ever was shown by my big sister, I had already watched tons of Bond movies by then but neither of us realized then that it was based on a book by Ian Fleming. I told my sister years ago that it was and she was very surprised because of how different it is from Bond lol But yeah this movie has a lot of sentimental value to me for those reasons and its a shared favorite between my sister and I

Great review & prob one of my fav films of all time. I'm 51 now & for some reason this film still whelms me up when I watch it.

I loved this film as a child. When I had my own son, who was car-mad, I thought to myself "he'll love this". What I'd forgotten was that Chitty is only on screen for about 10 minutes of the movie, something not appreciated by my little boy!

It always takes me back how contrasting of a role (yet still a villain) Gert Fröbe portrays Goldfinger and Baron Bomburst . Very talented.

Great Review Calvin Keep Up The Good Work As Always And Also By The Way Claudine Auger Aka Domino Derval From Thunderball Passed Away A Few Days Ago At Age 78 And She Was And Always Will Be One Of The Most Beautiful Bond Girls Of All Time And She Will Be Missed By All Of Us Including Yours Truly,Colton

I remember getting the book out from my local children's library: it's a more modest tale of smuggling and pirates, but what I mostly remember is that Fleming gives, at the back of the book, the recipe for the cakes they made to took with them on their picnic. Except that someone had taken that page out of the copy I had. I suppose that just copying the recipe would have been too much like hard work, so they ripped the entire page out. Barbarians. By the way, did you know that the car has its own website? PS: Lionel Jeffies was actually younger than DvD

I agree with everything you said and nodded so much I thought my neck might get sore! This is one of my favorite movies ever, especially the music - I think special notice should go to whoever arranged/orchestrated the pieces, it's truly genius, the xylophone choir in Me Old Bamboo, the flute choir in Toot Sweets, the music box effects in Hushabye Mountain with that fantastic key change when Truly takes over in the cave (yes, brings a tear to my eye too, such a beautiful song with a similar chord progression to Chim Chim Cheree but SO much better). I saw this when it first came out in the days when you could sit for more than one feature, I would stay practically all day, I've seen it more times, in a theater, than I've seen any movie since. It also used to fascinate me that the carnival scene was done in a theme of browns and oranges and the birthday scene was in purples, first time I ever started noticing stuff like that. And to this day I think Sally Ann Howes in this movie is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. In my opinion a truly great, great movie.

This is a decent fun film for me but I prefer other musicals such as Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Mary Poppins. Love the child catcher and It’s nice to see Gert Frobe in this film.

I was around seven when I first saw this at the cinema, I loved it so much, I went and saw it again and again, which was easy to do as my dad was the cinema manager/projectionist..fond memories.

Thank you so much for reviewing this. I loved Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a kid. Great music.

Thanks Calvin, another very enjoyable review. Did I pick up on a bit of Lenin sneaked in there as well? (I think that may be the first time in 15 years that having done Politics at university has proved to be of use!)

Sadly, they don't make good family entertaining movies like this anymore. Nowadays, everything has a hidden agenda with innuendos and such. I'm so glad I'm from this era.

I saw this on a relatively big screen when released. I was eight. When Truly sang the romantic song, a crowd of kids ran to the concession stand. I actually thought at age 8 that they came up with that routine to get kids out of the dark and to spend their allowance on popcorn and candy.

OMG! Your American accent is great!

My Dad grew up watching this movie, so of course I've seen it a few times. I knew about Cubi & Goldfinger, but I never realized Q was in the film!! Great review, I have a new appreciation for the film!

My mom took us to see this movie when it came out, and I think we were too young to appreciate it, especially the musical numbers. I could only remember the flying part🤣🤣

Never picked up on the Tanaka slide from YOLT being the same as The Baron 's escape slide! One of the best films of all time in my opinion.

I loved loved loved Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when I was a kid! My mom and I would sing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang all the time!

trivia: The late Sally Ann Howes was Julie Andrews understudy for her My Fair Lady stage role as Eliza Dolittle 🥰

I to this day have never seen a Bond movie. But I’ve seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang many times when I was younger more times than Mary Poppins. This movie introduced me to Dick Van Dyke who’s inspired me and still does inspire me to become a professional actor

Lionel Jefferies (Born 10 June 1926 ) is actually 5 months 29 days younger than Dick Van Dyke (Born 13 December 1925 ) . He played many characters that were older than his age and played Dick Van Dykes father in this movie .He passed away on 19 February 2010 aged 83 of vascular dementia .

Absolutely superb review. I "truly" love this movie too. Our grade school teacher (in 1967) read us the book in class, and I always remember her explaining GEN 11 . . . . . . === GENII, the plural of GENIE. Bravo on this review. (I too "died a thousand deaths" through "Lovely Lonely Man" 🙂

I looooove Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! The music is so perfect and catchy. Love everything about it. Check out Before They Were Famous: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I just watched it and learned a lot about the making of the movie.

Because of this review Calvin, I had to watch this movie again and I'm glad you went into detail on this movie :) hope your enjoying your break

There's a theory that for the past 12 years, the Toymaker was giving the Baron dolls that were more and more human until he could dress up two humans as dolls.

I have to thank my 1st grade music teacher that used to play these classics each holyday

I never knew the song that Rachel was singing to herself whilst her father, Ray, killed Ogilvy in Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds” was “Hushabye Mountain” from this film until I saw this trailer.

Have you checked out the musical yet? It’s based on the film, but changed the story so that Vulgaria actually exists. In Chitty’s opening race (where she is the Paragon Panther), the baron’s car, the Vulgarian Vulture, loses to her, which prompts the baron to try to hunt her down later. As for the dolls sequence, automatons existed in the 1700s, and they moved by clockwork. Check out the Silver Swan, for example.

I wonder what James Bond would say after killing the Child Catcher.

9:18 Oof, Hannibal Lecters?? There goes my childhood! 😂

the audio on my VHS was low quality so I always thought these villains were Bulgarians and that that was what Bulgarian lands and people are like lol

robert helpmann played the sneeky & evil prince Tuan , leader of the boxer rebellion in the blockbuster movie "55 Days in Peking" , which stared sir James Bond Himself David Niven..

Love your videos Calvin! If you have time maybe a nice video to end the year could be a short tribute video to the Bond cast and crew that have died this year. I know a few have gone recently.

Hope Q gets you all the gadgets for Christmas. Cheers for all your great vids. Have a good one.

Another enthusiastic review, thanks!

Merry Christmas, again.

Love this film! I played music from it, at my sister´s wedding, as she requested!

When you were saying that the Child Catcher deserved a more satisfying fate, he does in the musical in which at the end he gets shot by Truly! XD Speaking of which, the musical itself story wise avoids the idea of it being a story told by Caractacus Potts and does flesh out a few more details in which does fix a few flaws with the film. Interesting to hear what you might have to think about that. :)

I just realized that the junkman's actor, Victor Maddern, starred in notable roles in Doctor Who (Fury from the Deep), The Adventures of Robin Hood, Perry Mason, and The Avengers. I know him through the role as the Bandmaster in the cult classic show, The Prisoner, in "Hammer Into Anvil."

Thank you for talking about this film! It was my favourite film growing up, and the first Blu-Ray I bought! I don't know why critics said that all of the songs where quite forgettable, I find them very catchy! And just like you, I used to fast forward Truly's song (which I don't anymore). Brilliant film, brilliant car, brilliant review!

I grew up watching this film several times on an old VHS tape that my family owned. It was one of my favorite movies as a kid and it still is now, I'm so glad I found some other people who seem to enjoy it as much as I do :)

I clearly remember loving watching Chitty, Poppins and Bedknobs & Broomsticks when I was growing up - all have music by the Sherman Brothers

Calvin, you said in one of your livestreams you might do this for Christmas. Now I know it really is Christmas! Maybe next Christmas you could look at the Fleming book it's based on.

I read somewhere that Gert Frobe’s voice was dubbed, in both Chitty and Goldfinger. Also there’s some debate about how much input Roald Dahl actually had in the Chitty script.

When I was a young child in the early 80s I used to play with a girl up the road and we would watch CCBB again and again and were going to get married, as you do when your about 6. Years later, after loosing contact at the age of about 7, she bought my parents house - It was the same week I met the actors who played Jeremy and Jemima! Both of which were very nice. In fact I found Adrian Halls mobile and he shook my hand when I handed it over.

Chitty chitty bang bang is 1 of my all time and love and will be looking for it on blu-ray shortly

This was my favourite childhood movie when I was a child, I watched it over and over again that my parents took me to see the stage show at the London Palladium back in 2002 which starred Michael Ball and Brian Blessed. A Timeless classic family movie musical.

Calvin, I’m casting my vote for you as the next Hannibal Lecter!! I mean, not that the two we have now are anything close to bad, but that impression was spot-on!!!!

I know the grandpa songs weren't necessary, but oh man they are 2 of the best. The grow the roses one is so great because of all the guys in old ass makeup and all the things they do during the song. Plus grow the roses was the one that really got stuck in my brain. The main chitty chitty song did as well but grow the roses for some reason got way more stuck than the main theme. The child catcher though is single handedly one of the best and creepiest characters ever put to film. He was my favorite despite how terrified I was by him! 😂😂

Great review Man 👍