Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [DVD] [1968]

Definitely one of the greatest British musicals that has never lost its charm and is appealing today as it has been to audiences since it was made. A great story line, beautiful music, catchy memorable songs, very funny at times with moments of pure slapstick comedy, beautiful English, French and German scenery and a touching love story to top it all. No dubbing was used for any of the songs as everyone who sang in the film used their own voice on the soundtrack. The film was made in Super Panavision 70mm., so it is very unusual that you get the best print outlay in the 4.3 format. This means the screen size is smaller with black horizontal tabs not only at the top and bottom of the screen (the 'letterbox' effect), but also down the side of the screen vertically. This still gives perfect picture quality and colour rendition and full size of the original 70mm. print, although you may not realise it. By all means, you can fill your tv screen using 'zoom' format, but you will lose some picture quality and full size of the frame. Don't try it, just enjoy it in the 4.3 format. The DVD shows the complete film with a very short but loud 'bang-bang' overture for a few seconds before the credits begin, then a short intermission and then the exit music. And the star of the show....the car!Enjoy!! David in Colchester.

Same has titanic- a good family film hilarious at the end - love the movie

A classic

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang falls into that category of long musicals of the 60s and 70s, of which Oliver! is a prime example. I recently watched For Half a Sixpence, another of those long long films, and it really grated, so overblown and tedious.This film, however, with a big budget always in front of the camera, well produced in every way, was a delightful two and a half hours, thoroughly entertaining. It is children's fancy all the way, involving a lovelorn madcap inventor, his two children and the run-down car he saves for them, as well as a Sweet factory owner's daughter. After an hour we enter storyland, with a toy maker, evil child-hating king in his castle, and the car swims and flies too!Until now, I had only seen the film in bits on bank holidays...I have now watched it in its entirety, found it delightful, never grating, well-paced, with a dose of nostalgia, a very good cast from Dick van Dyke down to the two charming children, excellent catchy songs, and a never-tiring eye for an inventive detail as the story progressed. Indeed a classic!

I read other peoples comments on just how good the HD 1080 transfer to Blu Ray Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was. so i made the decision to get my own copy, to see if they were right.The colour reproduction and sound is almost as impressive as the film Zulu and i donot think there are many films on Blu Ray as fine as this one.Last night (9 Jan 2012) i had another critical look at the picture quality of this Blu Ray disc.The picture quality is remarkable to say the least, the litchen on the tiles of the garage roof where he assembles GEN11 can be seen in great detail with incredible sound quality to the accompanying music.Next to Zulu this BluRay disc is the best picture quality and sound i have experienced.Depending on equipment used i would love to know if there a finer quality picture available on Bluray.As it is to be expected the sound reproduction is magnificent in 7-1 Theatre Surround and the clarity and sharpness of picutre is almost perfect.Strangely enough because the picture and sound quality is so good i enjoyed the film far more than the standard dvd offering most of us are used to.When you can see and read background detail that before was unclear you enjoy the film so much more, you pause the film to see who is in the photographs in their livingroom and the billboards in the fairground and when the beautifull car fully restored makes its first appearence the shimmering light on GEN11 bodywork is gorgeous.Just pause the film at 52min 2sec and study the minute detail on the cars bodywork,the blades of grass as so clear and vivid you almost want to get up out of your chair and pick a handfull.I can still remember being taken by my mum to the now closed Plaza cinema in Cardiff the very week the film was released in 1968 when i was five yrs old, and even remember where in the auditorium i sat and i can remember going to Macross to be bought the original Corgi toy version of the car that same afternoon.Like all original Corgi toys i played and damaged them and who could blame me with no child thinking of keeping their toy as an investment.It is still an emotional event when Chitty makes her first appearence in the film and seeing GEN11 almost jump out of the screen in this Blu Ray transfer makes my memories of seeing the film back in 1968 that more special.One area of the film that looked especially impressive were the beach scenes filmed in the south of France where the grains of sand stood out as they should in 1080 quality.Now ive been told that not every Blu ray transfer is as successfull as others but anyone with a top quality HD tv and Blu Ray player should buy this film to see just how near perfect a Blu Ray transfer can be and remember it was made back in 1968 which makes it a fairly old film in modern cinema but as with his James Bond films Albert Broccoli the films director only used the finest film then available hence the stunning Blu Ray transfer we are lucky to see today.Any musical that can utilise 7-1 Surround sound to its advantage is bound to be a treat and this version of CCBB is on par with The Sound of Music faultless.When before i played the film very infrequently i can now see me playing this BluRay disc many times bcause the picture and sound is so good.Thank god for Blu Ray because when its this good its heaven.

Good film

I've read so many and often conflicting reviews from various sites that I hope this helps your decision. Having seen it in the cinema in 1968 it's still a joyous film for ALL ages with a great story, lovely songs and wonderful casting and a huge heart. Right - here's my take on the blu-ray using my standard Samsung 43" TV and a standard LG Blu-ray player: the DVD is still very adequate but the Blu-ray does gives a bright and improved depth of colour and sharpness although on my size TV not startlingly so. It was a great price using my Amazon Prime with free postage. It's wide-screen with black bars top and bottom. There is NO intermission thankfully so no interruptions in the story. The flying Chitty sequences were limited by the blue screen special effects available in 1968, but there is a slight improvement with this Blu-ray edition (better not worse). It's a fantasy so that's perfectly fine. I'm pleased I decided to disregard the many reviews and just buy it and decide for myself!!! I'm glad I did and will watch repeatedly. Hope this helps.

Very good

na een zoektocht van 2 jaar ligt hij eindelijk in de kast niks beter dan dit origineel

Delivered well packed. The DVD played well with no issue. One of the best musical classics

Ottimo DVD. Il film è in Spagnolo ma ha anche l'audio in Italiano. L'oggetto è esattamente come descritto. L'audio in Spagnolo è molto utile perché mia moglie essendo di lingua spagnola ha apprezzato molto il film che gli è piaciuto e sopratutto ha capito i dialoghi nel suo idioma (Spagnolo)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a nice and only children story written by the author of James Bond, Ian Fleming. And he has excelled here too. It a beautiful kids musical which the whole family can enjoy even in this era. Set in 60s this blu ray is a must watch as restoration of audio and video is simply brilliant. Although I have watched only half so far on the blu ray and I have enjoyed it. (I watched it on a VCD when I was a student long time ago). If there are no glitches on the disc I guess the blu ray is worth owning.

While I can't say this is a favorite movie of my, it does hold a special place in my heart. I decided to buy it on Blue Ray before it disappeared. As an added bonus it came with a DVD as well as the Blue Ray. The discs were pristine and played without fault. I was a little worried the used discs would be scratched or damaged in some other way. I needn't have worried because, aside from the missing poly wrap, the disc and case were as one would expect a new product to look like. The Blue Ray remastering done to this 50 + year old film was nothing short of astounding. I couldn't belive what I was seeing when I first put the disc on and had to back up the first 10 minutes because I simply couldn't remember what had happened. I was too engrossed in the vivid colours and the crisp picture to pay any attention to the actual plot. Next up, Bedknobs and Broomsticks.