Legend has it Roald Dahl was so appalled by this adaptation of his wonderful kiddies book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that he point-blank refused to allow his follow-up novel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator to be used as a sequel. Sour grapes? Possibly, as Dahl himself originally penned the entire screenplay for this, only to see it drastically re-scribbled by The Omen writer David Seltzer. After all, you could see ol Roalds point if the finished article had turned out to be guff. But, as it happens, Willy Wonka is wonderful, magical film, featuring a terrific lead performance from Gene Wilder, marvellous music, and the sort of gleefully macabre, almost Pythony humour that whether Dahl would admit it or not comes as close to capturing the spirit of his books as any big screen adaptation ever has.
Its the story of a society that goes confectionary-daft when Willy Wonka (Wilder), the enigmatic owner of a giant chocolate factory, announces that five golden tickets have been hidden inside random sweetie wrappers. Whoever uncovers them will win a guided tour of his top secret candy plant and its probably not giving too much away to tell you that one of the lucky winners is focus-of-the-film Charlie (Peter Ostrum), a down-on-his-luck school kid whose family are so poor that their front room features a dirty great bed full of decrepit old soap-dodgers.
After spending the first half-hour of the film focussing on the frantic worldwide search for the golden tickets, director Mel Stuart goes on to take us on a guided tour of Wonkas edible hall of plenty. Though never looking like the most high-budgeted of affairs, its as memorable a set as youll come across – and who among us wouldnt love an Oompa Loompa of our very own? With their bright orange faces, diminutive stature, and chronic singing voices, theyre just like an entire family of little Christina Aguileras only with a more sensible dress-sense.
Its the sort of film youre likely to interpret differently depending on your age. I can recall absolutely loving it as a kid, and now that Ive grown up (well, sort of) I love it even more, but for completely different reasons. While the young uns are likely to focus on the fantastical characters, bright colours and mountains of confectionary, theres a dark, biting sarcasm in each and every one of Gene Wilders lines that Ive only come to appreciate in more recent years.
As for that never-made sequel well, it might be a bit late for that now, but we can take some solace in the news that a brand spanking new Wonka flick is just around the corner, with Johnny Depp set to don the top hat and cane in Tim Burtons eagerly-awaited remake. Personally I cant think of anyone more suited to the task than Burton but theres no doubting that, in this classic 1971 version, hes got one Helluva tough act to follow.