A LITTLE BIT OF NOSTALGIA : WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

“Oh yeah, I remember this one, Tim Burton, Johhny Depp, Freddie Highmore, right?” Err, wrong. 1971, director Mel Stuart, starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. Not that I have anything against the first movie mentioned, good Heavens no. Au contraire, I quite liked it, not that I remember it in any great detail. I mean, I do remember it but not the minutia. Anyway, I am taking a more studious view on films these days ladies and gentlemen, oh yes. Now, I don’t usually reveal a lot about myself but let me tell you this much, I will be going back to school this fall. Masters degree. In a foreign land too – foreign as in not the one I live in and have grown up in anyway. It’s going to be an exciting experience. The point, however, is that I will be studying Film Studies. Hence I am desperately looking round the cracks trying to salvage any major classics and directors that may have fallen through before the fall (notice the witty joke I slipped in there?) We wouldn’t want your friendly neighborhood film critic to get too many weird looks from her fellow pupils and assorted university professors, would we now? To get back to the point, I grant you, this is by no means a classic. I mean, it is, but there are bigger ones. Still, with the recent remake it’s a fascinating exercise to compare the two. Which I did, slightly (except for the minutia as I mentioned). The result was interesting. Not a bad movie, either…
Now, as Charlie and the Chocolate factory is a classic, a complete and utter classic, I will not go into the details of the story. Basically, in a small town there lives a young boy named Charlie Bucket. His father is dead, his family is poor and his four grandparents have been confined to bed for years. Hence they have nothing to eat but cabbage water and Charlie must work after school to help the house. In the same town there is the legendary Chocolate factory of Willy Wonka. Now, the factor y creates some of the most amazing chocolates and candies ever to be conceived of, but no one has gone in or out for years… The recipes are complete secrets. Until… Willy Wonka announces one day that he has hidden five golden tickets in Wonka bars all around the world. The people who find the bars will be taken on a tour round the factory and given a life-time’s supply of chocolate. Charlie is entranced, but with the whole planet competing for just five tickets and with the Bucket family lacking the money to buy bread for the table much less Wonka bars, does he even stand a chance?
And I assume pretty much all of you know the answer to THAT question. Now, there are big gaps, nay entire precipices between the Mel Stuart version and the Burton version of the film. I find it hard, however, to decide on the one I prefer. Now, in the 1971 version, I loved the setting. I mean, granted, in those days the technical abilities Burton used were non-existent. Thus it made infinitely more sense to style a more “real” town. I love the idea of the magical Wonka factory in the middle of a rather glum and very real little town in the middle of the United States. (though of course, Roald Dahl being originally British, the factory would have, no doubt be set in the UK originally this is a minor detail however. Anyway the general “gothic” and fairytale atmosphere that surrounds Burton’s version (as it does his version of pretty much anything) is fun. We all love it – that’s why the man’s a multi-billionaire. However, seeing a more “realistic” setting was refreshing. And the Wonka’s? Well, two entirely different interpretations… Now Depp’s slightly odd genius was brilliant – as usual – but I liked Gene Wilder better. True, Depp’s version suited Burton’s atmosphere infinitely better. Wilder’s Wonka is more “mad benevolent scientist” with flying hair and a top hat. A classic, you might say. On the other hand, Wilder’s version is EXACTLY how I pictured Wonka. Down to a t. so I’m on his side on this one and “Yaa, sucks booo” to anyone who says otherwise. There is, however a redeeming feature for the Burton version. And it is, in my view, a rather pivotal point in the matter. And that is Charlie. Now, the 1971 version introduces Peter Ostrum. A good enough little actor in his way. However, he is, I’m afraid, a little too much of an ideal of the times. Blond, blue eyed, fair skinned – not that there’s anything wrong with that – but also angelic, mild tempered to a fault and mature beyond the level any kid of his age would be. Unrealistic. Admittedly, Feddie Higmore doesn’t exactly turn the role on its head, but his advantage is that he looks and acts like he might exist. The 1971 Charlie could only exist in “Good Housekeeping” or TV Commercials. He annoyed me from the moment I set eyes on him. Not only that, the general attitude the film takes to children is well… I mean, I don’t want to give away too much of the end for the three or four people who have neither read the book or seen one of the movies, however, the 1971 puts a few twists and turns in the plot line. One last “little adventure” courtesy, supposedly, of Willy Wonka. Trouble is, I DO NOT remember this being in the original book. And apart from the fact that messing with the works of a genius like Roald Dahl is sacrilege in itself, they did it wrong. The main attribute of our hero, it seems here, is that he is a “good boy” who will “do as he is told” and not have his own opinions. On the one hand, having this attitude and then moving the film to the States, land of initiative and capitalism, is IRONIC. Secondly Dahl would NEVER want the hero of his books – the child heroes - to be “good as gold” and listen to their parents. Oh no, the kids in his books had spunk, character and they attacked the odds. I understand that this was just after the ‘60s, summer of love, political unrest and all that jazz. Possibly trying to impress the value of parental guidance on the next generation “at least”. They might have meant well but so not cool…
So the “battle of the Wonkas” is taken by a scarred but victorious Tim Burton. At least he stuck to the original ending. Depp will simply have to do as Wonka. Well, I’m not exactly heart-broken, he is rather yummy himself after all =)