Earlier this month, I wrote up an article on the catchy opening theme from the currently-running anime "Paripi Koumei"（パリピ孔明...Ya Boy Kongming!）, "Chiki Chiki Ban Ban"（チキチキバンバン）whose onomatopoeic title translates into "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". Well, for a guy my age, that translation has had me reminiscing back to an old fantasy movie.
For this week's edition of Reminiscings of Youth, I am brought back to the December 1968 cinematic adaptation of Ian Fleming's "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car" from 1964. Yup, for those people who recognize the author, it is indeed the same former British intelligence agent who came up with the character of James Bond, Agent 007. Before I read the book, it had always been about catching the movie on TV either on a Saturday night on CBS or a Sunday afternoon on one of the Buffalo affiliate stations (I gather that I was still too young to see it at the theatre).
It took me several viewings of "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" to realize how much of that Bond influence entered the movie. Albert R. Broccoli, the producer for the 007 movies, took care of this one, the actor who had played the original Q, Desmond Llewelyn, had a small role as a townsperson, and Gert Frobe, the portly and evil Auric Goldfinger from the third Bond movie, played another portly and not-that-evil Baron Bomburst. As well, raunchy comedian Benny Hill was in there, too, although his role as the Toymaker had him act far more quietly. Plus of course, there was the titular magical car which could have been the ancestor of 007's amazing Aston-Martin DB5.
Although Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang wouldn't come into full glory until the latter half of the movie, I think a lot of the charm for the entire flick is the human star, Dick Van Dyke. I'd known him since I was a toddler because of his successful comedy series but this movie and "Mary Poppins" showed me how much of a song-and-dance man he was. Moreover, "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" is a musical after all so its soundtrack has had plenty of truly scrumptious tunes. Unfortunately, I can't get all of them up but I will include the songs that I've really loved.
Being a fan of some rousing heroic overtures such as the ones for "Star Wars" and "Superman", I've loved the opening overture playing during the first five minutes of the movie. I would almost be inspired enough to find a flying car and soar upwards on hearing that march created by Irwin Costal. To be honest, I actually prefer the instrumental to the sung version by Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts and the kids. The Sherman Brothers were responsible for the theme and other songs on the soundtrack.
Van Dyke mentioned that his performance for "Me Ol' Bamboo" was one of the most difficult dances that he had ever undertaken. And yet, he makes his Potts stumbling around to get the hang of the act with his sudden new dancemates incredible and effortless. The dance sequence and the song have become so iconic that they were incorporated into a "Family Guy" sequence years later.
The one ballad is "Hushabye Mountain" which is used by Potts to get his children to sleep. It didn't get me to sleep but it did get my eyes rather misty.
One more song that I'll show here is "The Roses of Success" which I love for its harmony among the wizened group of geniuses and also for its theme of encouragement and not giving up. Now that we have almost all of the Toronto sports teams fully engaged in their own missions, it may not be a bad song to have playing around.
Ah, yeah, they certainly don't make movies like these anymore. By the way, Dick Van Dyke is another reason that I've put up this article, and it isn't going to be his final time on the blog. So, when "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was released at the end of 1968, what Japanese kayo was seeing the light of day for the first time then?
Kiyoko Suizenji -- Sanbyaku Rokujuu Go Ho no March (三百六十五歩のマーチ）
The Blue Impulse -- Taiyo no Tsurugi（太陽の剣）
Mitsuo Sagawa -- Ima wa Shiawase kai （今は幸せかい）
Yep, that was exactly how I saw it when I was a kid.
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