Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

Directed by Ken Hughes. Starring Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Adrian Hall, Hether Ripley, Gert Fröbe, Anna Quayle, Robert Helpman, Benny Hill, Davy Kaye, Stanley Unwin, James Robertson Justice, Barbara Windsor, Peter Arne, Desmond Llewlyn. [G]

Fanciful but unexceptional musical about a crackpot inventor (Van Dyke) and the titular flying car he contrapts. Starts out on firmly frothy footing, with the inventor testing out rocket flight and whistle candy and an automatic hair-cutting machine to predictably unsuccessful results, but ironically enough, around the time that hissing and belching motor vehicle of his starts to soar, the film does the opposite—its whiz-bang fantasy land elements and senselessly-plotted adventures turn tiresome and leaden in a hurry. Van Dyke is adequate as the bright-eyed eccentric, not far removed from his chimney sweep from Mary Poppins (and, indeed, the producers tried to snag Julie Andrews to play his love interest, which ended up being essayed by Howes). Features a largely worthless songbook from the Sherman Brothers (another holdover from Poppins), with the only memorable tune being the title track (which isn’t a good song, exactly, just one that can easily get stuck in the head), disgraced by the godawful “Lovely Lonely Man,” which drags an already overlong film to a screeching halt around the midway point. Kids may like it in fits and starts—it’ll be too leisurely-paced for some—but adults get little to do but occasionally marvel at Ken Adams’ impressive sets and laugh at the crummy special effects. Adapted from a children’s book written by Ian Fleming; Roald Dahl co-authored the script, making it the second time in two years that he helped bring a Fleming story to the big screen (the year before, it was the James Bond picture, You Only Live Twice).

52/100