Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

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Movie
German title Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Original title Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1971
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK o.A.
Rod
Director Mel Stuart
script Roald Dahl ,
David Seltzer (anonymous)
production David L. Wolper ,
Stan Margulies
music Leslie Bricusse ,
Anthony Newley
camera Arthur Ibbetson
cut David Saxon
occupation
synchronization

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( engl. Original title: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory ) is a film adaptation of Mel Stuart in 1971 after the eponymous children's classic by Roald Dahl . The main roles were played by Gene Wilder (as "Willy Wonka") and Peter Ostrum (as "Charlie Bucket"). In 2005 the book was filmed a second time under the same title . The director took over here Tim Burton .

In 2014 the film was included in the National Film Registry .

action

Little Charlie Bucket lives with his parents and four grandparents in very poor conditions. The shabby house everyone lives in is very close to a legendary chocolate and candy factory. Almost every evening Charlie's grandfather Josef tells the boy the strangest stories about the factory, which belongs to the no less strange but ingenious Willy Wonka . Mr. Wonka is a living legend in the area because no one has seen him for many decades. And not a single worker has been in or out of the factory for decades. It is said that Mr. Wonka fired all of his workers because secret recipes were constantly being stolen and given to competing companies. But despite the alleged closure, the company produces masses of sweets of unmatched quality and quality, some with amazing taste and texture properties. Charlie and his family cannot afford such goodies; even simple chocolate is a luxury.

One day newspaper articles, radio reports and TV news announce that Mr. Wonka is giving away gold tickets. These are five tickets printed on gold foil that entitle the finder to visit Wonka's legendary chocolate factory. However, only children (accompanied by an adult) can redeem the tickets. The tickets are hidden in the packaging of simple chocolate bars and have been scattered all over the world. The first four tickets will soon be found. Their happy owners are: the obese and voracious Augustus Stopf , the arrogant and domineering Angela Zart , the successful and prestigious chewing gum world champion Violetta Wiederkau and the opinionated and opinionated Mickie Glotze . Only the fifth ticket just doesn't want to be found and false reports about alleged winners are already making the rounds. Charlie, who doesn't believe in his luck, is speechless when he of all people wins the last ticket. Together with the other children, he and his grandfather go to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

Willy Wonka turns out to be eccentric, subtle and calculating. He leads his guests through various factory halls that seem to have sprung directly from the imaginations of chocolate-addicted children: waterfalls made of real chocolate, sugar trees with gummy bear fruits and huge mushrooms made of marshmallow and cotton candy - entire landscapes made of edible confectionery. As a guest gift, Mr. Wonka hands each child a four-colored candy that not only unfolds the favorite flavors of the respective connoisseur, but is also everlasting. Then he introduces the children to the factory workers: the Oompa Loompas , short people with clay-colored skin, green hair and white eyebrows. Not only do they work hard and present the visitors with a wide variety of equipment, they also sing. Her songs, however, have a nasty undertone and almost always contain a certain moral sermon . During the tour, strange "accidents" always occur, in which a child always does something careless or stupid and has to be rescued by the Oompa Loompas: Augustus slips into the chocolate river while snacking, Angela falls into an egg-sorting machine, Violetta puffs up to a human blueberry and Mickie is shrunk to mouse size by a magical remote control. After all, only Charlie and his grandfather are left. But because they both secretly nibbled on a miracle shower, Mr. Wonka wants to throw them out.

Grandpa Josef is upset, promises to “settle accounts” with Mr. Wonka and encourages his grandson to hand over the secret of the miracle candy to Mr. Wonka's competitor. But when Charlie returns the miracle candy because he has a guilty conscience, Mr. Wonka is touched and announces that Charlie has won the main prize, the chocolate factory. Mr. Wonka and his two guests get into the wonkavator (a glass elevator) and shoot it through the roof of the factory. As the Wonkavator hovers high above the city, Mr. Wonka declares that Charlie will be his successor. Charlie accepts on the condition that his family can move into the factory, which Mr. Wonka welcomes.

Cast and dubbing

The following are the main characters:

role actor German Voice actor
Willy Wonka Gene Wilder Wolfgang Draeger
Charlie Bucket Peter Ostrum Thomas Behnke
Grandpa Josef Jack Albertson Eduard Wandrey
Mr. Zart Roy Kinnear Horst Niendorf
Mr. Sunshine David Battley Horst Gentzen
Mr. Wiederkau Leonard Stone Edgar Ott
Mrs. Bucket Diana Sowle Ilse Kiewiet
Chocolate Seller Bill Aubrey Woods Lothar Blumhagen
Augustus darning Michael Boellner
Mickie telly Paris themes Steffen Müller
Mrs. Darning Ursula Reit
FBI agent Ed Peck Arnold Marquis
Angela tender Julie Dawn Cole Susanne Lissa
Mrs. Telly Dodo Denney Ursula Lillig
Mrs. Curtis Gloria Manon Barbara Ratthey
Violetta Wiederkau Denise Nickerson Ina Patzlaff
Computer programmer Tim Brooke-Taylor Andreas Mannkopff
Arthur Slugworth / Mr. Wilkinson Günter Meisner

production

The idea of ​​filming the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came when Mel Stuart's daughter asked her father to make a film version after reading the book. After Stuart presented the book to producer David L. Wolper, the latter was able to convince the Quaker Oats Company to buy the rights to the book and finance the film. This planned to bring a chocolate bar on the market at the start of the film in order to promote it with the film. Tragically, the chocolate bar had a recipe error, and the chocolate melted on the supermarket shelves and had to be taken off the market. The chocolate bar disappeared into oblivion and the film became a classic.

script

Roald Dahl, who also wrote the original book, is considered to be the scriptwriter of the film, which is designed as a children's musical, although the scriptwriter David Seltzer, who is not mentioned in the credits, revised it considerably. For example, Seltzer put the numerous quotes from classical literature that did not appear in the book in Wonka's mouth. Some parts of the plot of the book have been adapted with the film's success in the cinema in mind - the most noteworthy are the added musical numbers. Contrary to popular belief that the original film title Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory takes into account an expanded role of Willy Wonka - rather the opposite is the case - the title was changed because at the time the film was released, "Charlie" was the common name in the Vietnam War for the soldiers of the Vietcong was (Viet Cong = Victor Charlie).

occupation

Director Mel Stuart and producer David Wolper opposed Dahl's request to cast Willy Wonka with British comedian Spike Milligan . Joel Gray , the Broadway singer preferred by the two, dropped out because of his small height. The week-long audition at New York's Plaza Hotel finally ended with the election of Hollywood actor Gene Wilder . The producers worked with casting agencies in New York, London and Munich to cast the children and their parents . People of short stature for the roles of Oompa Loompas were sought all over the world.

Filming and publishing

With a budget of three million US dollars , the film was shot in the Bavaria Film studios in Munich for cost reasons . In addition, the city of Munich's gasworks, which served as the backdrop for the chocolate factory, helped the choice of location. Filming began on August 31, 1970 and ended on November 19 of the same year. For Charlie's city, which can be seen in the Wonkavator during the flight , aerial photos of Nördlingen were used.

The film premiered in the United States on June 30, 1971. It first ran in the Federal Republic of Germany on December 25, 1971. It was first released on DVD with a German sound track on July 7, 2005.

Encouragement

Although the film grossed only four million US dollars less than hoped for in the first six months, critics and moviegoers reacted positively to it. Dahl disliked the filming of his book so much that he refused to sell the rights to the sequel ( Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator ) ; it was not until 1989, a year before his death, that he agreed to another film adaptation of one of his books.

Due to repeated television broadcasts in English-speaking countries, the popularity rose and the film achieved cult status. In 2005 the book was filmed for a second time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ; Director Tim Burton stated, however, that it is not a remake of the first film, but rather a further interpretation of the book.

German versions

In the original German version, almost all song numbers that only partially continue the story have been removed. The song that Charlie's grandfather sings is included in the shortened version in the VHS version of the film, Willy Wonka's song when entering the first room with the chocolate river is also shortened. The Oompa Loompas were also dubbed in a shortened version, but only if no image processing was necessary. Otherwise it was cut again. Veruca's song has been removed and replaced with spoken dialogue.

However, since the cuts were so obscure, it was not possible to put them on the DVD, which was titled Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory . Only the choir above the credits is also available in the German version on the DVD. Other scenes that were removed in the German version mostly concern sequences that were considered too scary for a family film at the time. For example, the entire psychedelic trip by boat through the tunnel, during which the passengers are confronted with their fears, is missing. In addition, the picture of the impostor has been removed because it shows a Nazi man; and the dialogue in which the gentlemen talk about the fact that the fifth ticket was a fake was shortened to the point of incomprehension. Furthermore, Wonka's explanation was also somewhat defused towards the end.

The full original film version was first broadcast on ARTE on August 22, 2006 ; The missing sequences were shown with German subtitles . In addition, this version has been re-released in Germany on DVD including the English version.

The German synchronous processing was created in 1971 in the studios of Berliner Synchron GmbH . Ruth Leschin wrote the dialogue book and Friedrich Schoenfelder took care of the dubbing . In this version, the names of the characters have also been partially translated or changed for better understanding.

music

The songs and the soundtrack were designed by famous British songwriters Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley . The title The Candy Man as interpreted by Sammy Davis Jr. became best known.

Music numbers

  1. "Golden Ticket" (Pure Imagination / Main Title Theme)
  2. "The Candy Man," performed by Aubrey Woods (number 1 hit in the US by Sammy Davis, Jr. )
  3. "Charlie's Paper Run"
  4. "Cheer Up, Charlie," performed by Diana Sowle
  5. "Lucky Charlie"
  6. "(I've Got A) Golden Ticket," performed by Jack Albertson and Peter Ostrum
  7. "Pure Imagination" performed by Gene Wilder
  8. “Oompa Loompa Doompa-De-Do” performed by the Oompa Loompas
  9. "The Wondrous Boat Ride" performed by Gene Wilder
  10. "Everlasting Gobstoppers", Oompa Loompa
  11. "Bubble Machine"
  12. "I Want It Now," performed by Julie Dawn Cole
  13. "The Rowing Song" performed by Gene Wilder
  14. "Wonkamobile, Wonkavision", Oompa Loompa
  15. "Wonkavator" (Pure Imagination / End Title)

criticism

"A film adaptation of a children's book that mixes musical elements with approaches from fairy tales and satire, but confuses cramp and kitsch with fantasy."

- Lexicon of international film

“Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory turns out to be a nice film for young and old, which is a little predictable, but doesn't really look dusty. Of course you can tell the age, but that doesn't prove to be a problem. Since the film has also been neglected on German television and is now almost 40 years old, the nostalgia factor is of course missing here in this country, but the film convinces with its imaginative implementation. Conclusion: Willy Wonka is a musical for young and old, but one that also takes on dark traits. "

- Peter Osteried : Movieman.de

“Incidental realism in Charlie's English working-class suburb and the gentle reminder of the power of wishing are paired with tongue-in-cheek satirical swipes at the impending loss of childhood. Here, too, the imagination, together with the dwarfish Umpa Lumpas who work in the factory, does somersaults. But, unlike Tim Burton, it works with manual labor and not with computer tricks. And with his relaxed irony, Gene Wilder is even a tad better Willy Wonka than Johnny Depp. "

- Andreas Fischer : cineastentreff.de

“Old-fashioned musical fairy tale without much musical swing; the approaches to satire remain weak (rating: 1½ stars moderate). "

- Adolf Heinzlmeier , Berndt Schulz : Lexicon Films on TV

“Director Mel Stuart shot this funny, imaginative children's adventure based on the famous literary model by Roald Dahl. Gene Wilder convinces as a chocolate manufacturer in this timelessly beautiful piece of cinema [...]. "

- prism

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a children's film, has a special quality that is usually neglected even in adult films: you never know what will happen next."

- Anita Earle : San Francisco Chronicle

Awards

media

  • DVD: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory . Warner Home Video 2005

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Susan King: 25 titles added to National Film Registry , Los Angeles Times online, December 17, 2014, accessed December 18, 2014
  2. ↑ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Cast on diethelm-glaser.net (German); last accessed on November 28, 2017
  3. ↑ IMDb: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971)> Filming & Production. Retrieved December 25, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Willy Wonka & the chocolate factory on the dvd-forum.at page
  5. ↑ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1970) in Arne Kaul's synchronous database ; Retrieved October 21, 2008
  6. ↑ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 29, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. ↑ Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in: Lexicon "Films on TV" , (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 124 (criticism still refers to the old German-language 86-minute version)
  8. ↑ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at prisma-online.de; Retrieved November 1, 2008
  9. ↑ Ronald M. Hahn , Volker Jansen, Norbert Stresau : Lexicon of Fantasy Films. 650 films from 1900 to 1986 . Heyne, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-453-02273-4 , p. 73.