Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

Director : Mel Stuart

Year : 1971

Genre : Fantasy Musical

Rating : ***1/2

In my opinion, Roald Dahl was the greatest children's writer of all time and with such diverse and entertaining stories as 'James & The Giant Peach', 'Danny, The Champion Of The World', 'Matilda', 'The BFG' and 'Esio Trot', his books contained some of the most surreal, subversive and hilarious literature to ever grace a page. Possibly his most famous tale is 1964's classic 'Charlie & The Chocolate Factory', a magical, funny and cautionary story that touched the hearts and imaginations of children all over the world. Due to the novels phenomenal mainstream success, a movie adaptation was very quickly commissioned soon after and what was eventually created is widely regarded as one of the most popular and most beloved family musical movies ever made. Despite being rather unfaithful to the epochal source material and being artistically snubbed by Dahl himself, 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory' would gain huge critical acclaim and while not a huge box office success on it's initial 1971 release, it would go on to become a cult classic that would be watched by millions upon millions of families around the world.  

After the world famous chocolatier and recluse Willy Wonka announces that five golden tickets which will allow entrance to his amazing factory have been placed in random chocolate bars, a frantic global search ensues for the sought - after foil prizes. But as the Earth erupts into greedy chaos, no - one in the world would like a ticket more than young Charlie Bucket but his family are so poor and his pocket money is so low that the chances of him finding one are nigh on impossible. One by one, the golden tickets are found around the world by four incredibly horrible children and Charlie loses all hope of ever having his wish granted. However, after miraculously finding a silver dollar in a drain and after buying a bar of Wonka chocolate, he finds the last hallowed ticket. With all the prizes discovered, the big day finally arrives. But upon meeting the eccentric Wonka and entering his palacial factory, the children soon learn that greed and gluttony will get them nowhere in life and one by one, each fall victim to an assortment of mild and ironic disasters.

The ideas for a movie adaptation of 'Charlie & The Chocolate Factory' came about when the daughter of director Mel Stuart read the book and begged him to make a movie of it. Enlisting in the help of producer David L. Wolper, who was coincidentally trying to finance a new chocolate bar with the Quaker Oats company, Stuart presented the book to them and after reading it, the company agreed to finance both the film and to advertise the new Quaker Wonka bar.

To promote the new confectionery, it was decided that the upcoming movie's title should be changed to the more marketable 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory'; a rather confusing act which angered author Roald Dahl immensely. In a futile attempt to curry his favour, the writer was asked by both Stuart and Wolper to compose the screenplay for the movie but after repeatedly failing to meet deadlines, the script was rewritten by reknowned writer David Seltzer. This only infuriated Dahl even more and as result, he disowned the project completely. By doing this, Seltzer was given complete artistic freedom allowing him to write in extra scenes which were not included in the original book and, in the process, creating a magical and sometimes scary wonder that may not remain faithful to the source but would go on to become one of the true enduring classics of 70's cinema.

In many ways, the most memorable aspect of 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory' is the genius casting of Mel  Brook's regular Gene Wilder as Wonka. While funny and captivating on screen, the comedian was also able to inject a great deal of darkness to his portrayal of the crazy chocolatier, a trait which would ultimately change the joyous mood and atmosphere of the story as well as perfectly matching the sometimes bleak writing style of Dahl himself. While known as an author of great whimsy and humour, Roald Dahl was also had the capacity to be a very dark writer and while 'Charlie & The Chocolate Factory' may appear on the surface to be a happy story about a boy's dream coming true, underneath there is a dark underlying ideology - namely that of innocent kids being quite severely punished for the thing's that all kid's do. In fact, the naughty children could seem to represent a number of the seven deadly sins; the avaricious Veruca Salt represents greed, the pompous gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde represents pride, the Western - obsessed Mike Teevee represents sloth and the fullsome Augustus Gloop represents gluttony. Because of this, 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory' bears a twisted, if not spurious, resemblance to the sadistic and brutal 1995 horror/thriller 'Se7en'. Yes, it may be light, frothy and fluorescent but underneath it's colourful sheen, 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory' is a much darker film than we give it credit for. Don't forget the utterly terrifying boat ride!

While Gene Wilder may the biggest star to feature in the film, the rest of the cast is solid enough and the various child actors are pretty good in their roles; most notably Julie Dawn Cole who steals the show as the utterly hideous and aptly named Veruca Salt. The titular Charlie is played by Peter Ostrum and while his performance is good, when compared to the rest of the children, he is a bit of a bore. He doesn't really do much and the dialogue he is given is pretty bland when compared to the rest of his young co-stars. However, Ostrum plays his part well and his quietude and sincerity contrasts well with the out of control antics of the rest of the kids. Interestingly, Denise Nickerson who played the rambunctious and vain Violet Beauregarde would subsequently be offered the role of Regan MacNeil, the demon possesed child in William Friedkin's 'The Exorcist'. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, Nickerson had to turn down the role and the part was instead given to Linda Blair. Added to the child stars, 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory' also features a number of veteran actors such as Jack Albertson, Roy Kinnear and Leonard Stone who all have great fun playing the childrens put upon guardians.

As a musical, 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory' works very well indeed and it's many songs are now iconic and a big part of modern popular culture. The most famous and, of course the most beloved, is the mystical 'Pure Imagination' sung by Gene Wilder himself. Perfectly conveying both the magic and wonder of the visuals and the story itself, 'Pure Imagination' is the personification of Roald Dahl's mind and mentality; a whirlpool of strangeness, fantasy and black hearted joy. Other melodic highlights include the jovial and nostalgically themed 'The Candy Man', the mean spirited but extremely catchy 'I Want It Now' and the various hallucinogenic Oompa Loompa songs which all have become bonafide classics in their own rights.

Despite it's imperfections and numerous production hiccups, the picture is a classic that will undoubtedly live forever. It is bright, it is colourful, it's funny, the music is great, the set designs are brilliantly quirky and the acting by the entirety of the cast is perfectly suited to the strange and bizarre world of Roald Dahl. Some, including myself, may argue that Tim Burton's much maligned 2005 remake is a much better adaptation of the source novel as it sticks closer to both the story and the characterisations but for both nostalgic and entertainment value, there is is not many films that can beat Mel Stuarts original, delicious classic 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory'.