Talk about a film I haven’t seen in a bloody long time. ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’ (1971) is a film I must have seen easily over 50 times because it happened to be one of the films we had on rotation when I was growing up. To be fair, it is a pretty solid film to have in that rotation and watching it again it struck me just how much this film has been imprinted on my brain. The film follows Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), a young boy with a heart of gold who lives in poverty with his mother and four grandparents. He has great interest in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory which has mysteriously remained closed with no one coming in and out for years. and when Wonka announces that he has hidden 5 golden tickets in his chocolate bars which will allow the finders to tour he becomes desperate to find a ticket so he can finally see the mystery and wonder of the factory.
I think anyone who has seen this film knows it is odd, especially when it gets to Wonka’s factory. Of course, we all know the boat scene which remains as insane as ever. In the grand scheme of things, it is a scene that doesn’t particularly add anything except in continuing to accentuate Wonka’s eccentricity and giving a sense of anything can happen in the factory, and yet it leaves its mark. It is visual quite psychedelic, and it is also horrible (you literally see a chicken get beheaded) and Gene Wilder sells the insanity of the scene brilliantly. But this isn’t the only odd ball moment in the film. All the Oompa Loompa songs are bizarre. Not so much in their content or the Oompa Loompas themselves, but in the choice of the filmmakers to have the songs become fourth wall breaking by having certain words of the lyrics appear on screen. Watching this as a kid it didn’t seem that weird but watching it now it is a really odd choice, especially as the majority of the film in terms of editing, shots, and scene structure are not experimental or strange. In terms of visuals the film is brilliant. It does a great job of juxtaposing the town outside the factory and the factory itself on a visual level. The town (apart from the candy shop which acts as the factory outside of the factory) is made up of bland greys and browns so that when we enter the factory the colours pop even more. It has a similar effect to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939) with Dorothy going from black and white to colour, and it works really well in letting you know you have stepped into a new world. In regard to performances everyone does a great job. This is helped by the fact that the film is full of interesting and fun characters with huge personalities and the actors all help to make even the smallest of characters memorable. But of course, there is a standout performance in the form of Gene Wilder who is superb. He shines in every scenario and the film is not even half as good if he is not involved.
As a kid I always wanted to get to the chocolate factory quick sharp. I had little care for the build up in getting there, I just wanted to be there. But re-watching it now there are so many great moments before we get to the factory, especially the scenes where we see different scenarios of people obsessed with finding the golden tickets. These scenes are some of the funniest in the film, especially the robot which has been invented to find the golden tickets and the woman whose husband has been kidnapped and they want her case of Wonka bars in return to releasing him. Charlie’s schoolteacher is also a great comedy character with some of the best lines in the film. I also couldn’t quite believe how much of this film I remembered. It must have been at least 14 years since I last saw this but even the smallest of details were clear in my mind as though I had just seen the film yesterday. However, one thing I didn’t remember is just quite how understated the musical numbers are. I half remembered being much more filled out, almost big band style, but they are quite minimalistic. This doesn’t mean they aren’t great because they are, especially ‘Pure Imagination’, and I think the minimalistic nature of them actually works well.
I don’t think anyone would argue that this is a classic of cinema and recommending it seems almost like a waste of time only because I think the majority of people have seen this already. I might be wrong, and just in case I am I will say don’t waste any time, get yourself on Netflix, and watch this cinema classic. It is well worth your time.