|
Year
: 1971
Director:
Mel Stuart
Starring:
Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson,
Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear. |
Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory
Another
non christmas related film but one that is part
of the traditional festive tv scheduling. A film
about greed, corruption, consumerism and marketing
- perfect for a cynics Christmas.
The
story revolves around Charlie Bucket a boy from
a poor household who lives in a tiny house
with his mother and two sets of Grandparents -
life is tough and money is short. A ray of hope
comes into Charlie's life when the legendary, and
reclusive, Chocolate maker Mr Willy Wonka announces
that he will open the doors of his chocolate factory
and let people in for the very first time. Charlie
is very excited and dreams of being allowed into
the magical factory, but there is a catch. Only
five children plus their guardians will be allowed
in, and those five will be those who can find one
of five golden tickets distributed throughout the
entire world that are hidden inside Wonka bars.
Charlie tries not to give up hope and luckily he
finds one. He and the other children receive their
invitations to the Chocolate factory and Charlie
is accompanied by his Grandpa Joe. When they all
get inside the factory it is both magical and frightening
at the same time.
Quite
ironic that this film is a Christmas TV favourite
when Roald Dahl wrote it as a criticism of the
rampant consumerism that he felt had been creeping
into society. The film itself obviously has a great
starting point provided by Dahl's story and even
though the film is prone to saccharine - artificial
sweetners (of the worst type - think of some of
the songs) its visual invention and the unsettling
portrayal of Wonka by Gene Wilder makes this a
good movie in its own right.
Tim
Burton's recent film version of Charlie and The
Chocolate Factory is darker and much nearer to
the spirit of Dahl's original book - it is also
helped by the superb gothic aesthetic that Burton
brings to all of his movies. It will be interesting
to see if this new version of the film eventually
takes the place of the original film in the affections
of viewers and the Christmas TV schedules.
Both
films are brilliant in their own ways - you choose.
Charlie
and The Chocolate Factory -
Christmas TV favourite and placed at December
16th on our Films
guaranteed to make you feel Christmassy (UK edition).
Buy
this film and more from our Christmas
DVD Store in association
with Amazon.co.uk
