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- Ronald Epstein
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
"If you want to view paradise, simply look
around and view it"
It's funny how a movie brings back the earliest
of your childhood memories. It was 1971, and I
was 8 years old. My parents took me to the
Paramount Theater in Asbury Park where I first
saw Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.
I clearly remember coming home and acting out the
movie in the basement of my home. Later, I read
the original book that the movie was based upon,
as well as the book's sequel (Charlie and the glass
Elevator) that put Wonka and company into outer
space (ala the Wonka Elevator) to fight vernicious
Kinids. But that's another story! Suffice to say,
the movie remains my absolute favorite childhood
film that hasn't shown any wear now watching it
as an adult.
When my DVD screener arrived in the mail today,
I felt like I had the Golden Ticket in my hand!
This was more than a beloved movie I was holding --
it represented a success story of battling a studio
who initially refused to release this film in
widescreen. The DVD represented a trophy to everyone
on this forum and other forums on the internet who
loudly crusaded against Warner Brothers for deciding
that family features ought to be released in Pan and
Scan only. Because of each and every one of us
who took a stand and signed a petition, we now have
the ultimate reward on DVD.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is
indeed one of the most magical movies ever made.
It came at a time where grand musical movies were
starting to fade out. As you will find out in the
supplemental documentary, the movie was made to
promote a candy bar.
While the transfer of this DVD generally looks
good, I was disappointed that it didn't look as
great as I had hoped for this Special Edition.
Colors are very pronounced, but not vivid. The
picture is a bit on the soft side and contains
a bit of noticeable graininess. Still, the overall
quality of the transfer is the best I have seen on
any format to date.
The disc packaging states that the film has
been remixed to 5.1 stereo surround. Actually,
I didn't detect the surround ambiance, and thought
it sounded better in 2-channel stereo. Sound is
quite good.
Warner Brothers has put together a really cool
menu that puts you in the Wonka Elevator. As you
select each menu option, the elevator doors close
shut, and you are whizzed up, down, and sideways as
you arrive at your destination. Once you arrive,
a short scene from the movie preludes the menu
which you have selected.
The real treat of this disc is the Supplemental
features that I promise the most die-hard Wonka
fans are going to enjoy. In fact, I have never
enjoyed supplemental material as much as I have on
this disc. It ultimately brought a tear to my eye.
I urge everyone to start with the original short
featurette from 1971. Filmed on the set of the
chocolate factory, the film pays homage to the Art
Director, Harper Goff, who designed the massive
(and beautiful) sets that made up Wonka. Here we
see raw footage of Gene Wilder romping through the
chocolate factory and taking blocking directions
from Director Mel Stuart. It's like watching a
very precious piece of lost artwork that has never
been seen before. I could feel my heart racing
knowing that this was never before seen
footage direct from the set. Unfortunately, the
featurette is a short 10 minutes in length.
The documentary that will really warm your heart,
is Pure Imagination: The Story of Willy Wonka.
This is the documentary put together a year ago
where the entire casts reunites and talks about the
experience of making the most beloved children's film
of all time.
What is interesting to learn is that the idea to
make this film actually came from Director Mel
Stuart's daughter. She read the original Roal Dahl
book, and wanted her Dad to make this film. On a
shoestring budget and pure luck, the film was put
together in desperation. It was a wild gamble to
make such an immense movie on a limited budget and
to then make it into a musical.
The documentary has filmed interviews with all
the child actors including Peter Ostrum (Charlie),
Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca), Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee),
Michael Bollner (Augustus Gloop), Denise Nickerson
(Violet Beauregarde), and even one of the original
Oompa Loompa's. Each of them relates personal
stories from the filming, as well as telling us what
they are doing with their lives now.
But it is the moment that an elderly Gene Wilder
comes on camera that your heart drops. He lovingly
recalls his experience playing Wonka and what inspired
him to play the role as he did. You will be surprised
how many of the pivotal character slants Wonka displays
were originally all Gene's ideas. There never has
been any question that Gene Wilder was the absolute
perfect casting choice, and that the role has become
the staple of his career. I sat and watched this
elderly man talk about the movie of his career, and
I actually had a tear in my eye. It's like sitting
down and watching a beloved screen idol talk about
one of the happiest movies of your childhood. Of
course Gene Wilder answers the ultimate WONKA
questions: Was all the candy in the factory
real?; Did you really eat the buttercup?
The documentary is the sweetest of all treats for
fans of this movie. There's even raw footage of
Anthony Newley presenting for the first time,
the final arrangement of "Pure Imagination", which
he sings. Wilder later recalls how Newley came to
set the day the song was to be recorded and wished
him luck.
Let's move on, because I can talk about this
documentary forever....
There's a very small Photo Gallery of black
and white studio publicity stills which is sort
of interesting to look at, though none of it is
taken from behind-the-scenes.
Sing-along Songs is a gimmicky little
something for the kids that want to learn the
words to the songs. Actual musical scenes are
played in their entirety aided by large bubble-size
lyrics on the screen.
The ORIGINAL trailer is included. I was a bit
disappointed that the reissue trailer was not.
There is a feature-length commentary with
the Wonka kids. Unfortunately, I did not have
time to listen to it. Next viewing, for sure!
Final thoughts.....
It was a long, difficult task to change the tides
and get Warner Brothers to release Willy Wonka
widescreen. It's sort of good that they chose this
film as the one to initially make the bad decision on.
I don't think any other film in their library would
have evoked such anger had it been announced as a
pan and scan only release. This is the definitive
childhood movie that we, as adults, love just as
much as the new generation of kids who will be watching
this film for the very first time.
It belongs in EVERY DVD collection!
Release Date: November 13th
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Ronald Epstein (pronounced like the English "Ronald Epstein")
Circa 2000
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