Chug-Chug, Mug-Mug

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a picture for the ages--the ages between five and twelve. After that, interest is bound to slacken into hostility or slumber. With valid reason. The movie, based on Ian Fleming's only children's book, is a story with enough saccharine to sweeten the Sargasso Sea.

Once upon a time (c. 1910) there was an inventor named Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke). He and his two children--apparently spawned by autogenesis, since there is no mention of a mother--live with their potty Grandpa (Lionel Jeffries) and a bunch of malfunctioning machines, ingeniously designed by Rowland Emett. Like the man who invented five-up and six-up and then gave up, Caractacus falls just short of greatness. His vacuum cleaner not only cleans the rug, it swallows it. His color television set just broadcasts wobbles. His Icarus act fizzles when the rockets tied to his back go off piecemeal and get pointed the wrong way, driving him only horizontally.

Into his life wheels an automobile that the family dubs Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because of the way it chug-chugs and a beautiful lady named Truly Scrumptious because of the way she mug-mugs. Cute romance is in the air, cute songs flood the sound track, and the children, pining for Truly (Sally Ann Howes), utter the unkindest cute of all: "If he kisses her, then they'll hafta get married."

Just as the stream of self-conscious ness winds down to a thin treacle, the film--and the car--take flight. Caractacus spins a tale of adventure, with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as the hero. The car soars and sails, evil Baron Bomburst (Gert Frobe) covets it and unleashes comic villains to kidnap its owner. Instead, they get Grandpa. Off he goes to Vulgaria, a horrid land where children are forbidden. Underneath the baron's castle, the banished boys and girls have hidden for years, waiting for salvation.

In a swirl of capes and costumes, balloons and special effects, the Potts come to the rescue, triumphing over twin evils: the baron and the score. Written by Robert and Richard Sherman (Mary Poppins), the eleven songs have all the rich melodic variety of an automobile horn. Persistent syncopation and some breathless choreography partly redeem it, but most of the film's sporadic success is due to Director Ken Hughes's fantasy scenes, which make up in imagination what they lack in technical facility. Next to Tiny Tim's hallowed remark, the holiday season's most overworked phrase is "What can we take the children to?"

At a time when violence and sex are the dual sellers at the box office, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang looks better than it is simply because it's not not all all bad bad.

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