Film Review
Roald Dahl's ever-popular 1964 novel
Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory is marvellously brought to life in
this eccentric musical comedy, which has the dual purpose of educating
parents on how to raise their offspring properly whilst making the
little ones aware of the truly horrible things that will happen to them
if they do not behave like good little boys and girls. Dahl's
penchant for dark humour is never more evident than in the grisly fate
he reserves for the four Hellish brats in his story, and the most
commendable things about Mel Stuart's film adaptation is that it does
not play down the grisly black comedy - if anything, it seems to
accentuate it. What could so easily have been a painfully
saccharine Hollywood musical ends up as something far more interesting
and likeable.
Willy Wonka
& the Chocolate Factory may have nothing like the glitzy
production values of Tim Burton's lavish 2005 remake, but it has just
as much charm and is much funnier, in a Harold Pinter sort of way.
Roald Dahl was originally hired to write the screenplay, but he was replaced
by David Seltzer when he failed to meet his producer's deadlines.
Whilst the film is generally faithful to the original story, Dahl found
plenty to dislike about it - he objected to the change in the
title (which was done to tie in with a promotional deal with Quaker
Oats to launch a new confectionary called the Wonka Bar); he took
offence at the scene in which Charlie and his grandfather burp
repeatedly to avoid being sucked into a ceiling fan; and he was none
too impressed with the casting of Gene Wilder for the part of Wonka -
he had wanted the comedian Spike Milligan to have the role.
Wilder was chosen only after several other actors (including Ron Moody
and Jon Pertwee) had declined to star in the film. Such was his
dislike for the film that Dahl refused to sell the rights to his
follow-up novel,
Charlie and the
Great Glass Elevator. The film may not have been to Roald
Dahl's liking but it did his bank balance no end of good, giving a
massive boost to the popularity of his children's novels in the 1980s
when it made it onto television and home video.
Best known at the time for his starring role alongside Zero Mostel in
Mel Brooks' risqué comedy
The Producers (1968), Gene
Wilder was quite a daring choice for the lead part of Willy
Wonka. Whilst Wilder doesn't appear totally comfortable in the
role, he brings just the right mix of amiable showmanship, eccentricity
and understated menace. Peter Ostrum is a better choice for the
part of Charlie Bucket - he makes the character sympathetic without
making him appear wet or offensively angelic. The four other
child actors deserve credit for making their characters appear as
ghastly as they do in the novel - it is a genuine delight watching them
being picked off like victims in an Agatha Christie story, along with
their equal vile parents. The presence of popular comic actors
Roy Kinnear and Tim Brooke-Taylor in the supporting cast provides the
icing on the cake, although you can't help wondering how great (and
mad) a film this might have been if Roald Dahl had got his way and Spike
Milligan was allowed to lead the company.
As enjoyable as
Willy Wonka &
the Chocolate Factory is, it does have one glaring deficiency:
its musical numbers. Cobbled together by Leslie Bricusse and
Anthony Newley (you'd think they did it for a bet), the film's songs
are outstandingly dismal, with one notable exception: the wonderfully
barmy Oompa Loompa song, a Eurovision-style oddity that will lodge
itself in your head for weeks after you see the film (and may cause
permanent brain damage). The slightly nauseating opening number
The Candy Man Can (sung by Aubrey
Woods, who manages to look like a cross-between Mary Poppins and Norman
Bates) became a chart-topping hit after the film's release when it was
taken up by Sammy Davis, Jr. Bizarrely, the film won an Oscar
nomination for its music and songs - proof, if it be needed, that some
people have absolutely no taste. Which reminds me...
Oompa Loompa Doompadee Dah, If you're
not greedy you will go far. You will live in happiness too, Like
the Oompa, Oompa Loompa doompadee do...
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Willy Wonka, the most famous confectionary maker in the world, creates
worldwide pandemonium when he announces that he will admit five lucky
people to his ultra-secret chocolate factory. Admittance will be
by a special golden ticket, concealed in one of Wonka's chocolate bars.
Charlie Bucket, a poor boy living with his widowed mother and four
bedridden grandparents, dreams of finding one of the tickets, but the
chances of him doing so are almost non-existent. The small amount
of money he earns as a paperboy he gives to his mother, who struggles
to make ends meet. The first four tickets are found and the lucky
winners are revealed to be Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet
Beauregarde and Mike Teevee, all spoiled brats who are used to getting
what they want. Charlie can hardly believe his good luck when he
finds the fifth ticket, in a bar of chocolate purchased with a coin he
found in the street. Accompanied by his Grandpa Joe, Charlie is
admitted to the Wonka factory with the other ticket finders by the
great chocolate maker himself. What lies inside the factory is a
magical wonderland filled with fantastic equipment that is operated by
Willy Wonka's midget workers, the orange-skinned Oompa-Loompas.
The gluttonous Augustus Gloop is drawn to a river of chocolate like a
moth to a flame. The others can only watch in horror as he falls
in and ends up getting stuck in an extraction pipe. Such is the
fate of all bad little boys. Before the visit is over, three more
naughty children will meet a similarly sticky end...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.