“Willy Wonka” Returns to the Big Screen For It’s 55th Anniversary

The 1971 classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” is a musical fantasy adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Though it underperformed upon its initial theatrical release, it has since become a timeless cinematic classic celebrated for its whimsical set design, memorable songs and, of course, Gene Wilder’s brilliantly iconic performance.

For the film’s 55th anniversary, the Dietrich Theater will be having a couple special showings of the celebrated film. And, since it has been some time since I’ve seen the film, it was time to go back and revisit this classic!

A sweet boy from a poor family dreams of finding one of five golden tickets hidden inside chocolate bar wrappers which will admit him to the eccentric and reclusive Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. One after another, tickets are discovered by ghastly children - but will the lad find the last remaining one and have all his dreams come true?

It doesn’t matter when the first time you watched this classic, the 1971 classic will still deeply connect the viewer with its magical mix of wonder and a touch of dark humor. Audiences over the years have also enjoyed the still memorable musical numbers, great practical effects and satisfying moral lessons.

For audiences then and now, stepping into the Chocolate Room for the very first time is still an awesome visual moment. The immense set featuring a working chocolate river, edible candy flowers, gummy bear trees and even giant lollipops delivers pure visual magic and tactile escapism before the era of computer graphics.

While the film is famous for its colorful sets and so much more, the character Charlie Bucket serves as the emotional engine that keeps the story going. Before he steps foot inside the factory, the film takes its time focusing on his home life as we see Charlie and his family sharing a tiny one room home.

Where the other kids view the factory as a playground, Charlie views it with genuine awe and reverence. Now, while every child is offered financial gain in exchange for taking the secretive Everlasting Gobstopper, Charlie is the only one who refuses to compromise his values for personal gain - which also makes the film’s final moments more effective.

Gene WIlder’s performance as Wonka is easily one of his best because of his brilliant ability to balance warm whimsiness with a sometimes sharp, unsettling tone. Rather than playing a typical, cheerful children’s book character, he crafted a deeply layered, unpredictable figure who appeals equally to kids and adults.

Wilder famously took the role on one critical condition: he insisted on making his grand entrance by limping out with a cane, getting it stuck, and then seamlessly falling to a forward somersault. He did this so audiences and characters won’t expect what happens. This also established a constant sense of mystery that can keep viewers on their toes.

I still enjoy how seamlessly Wilder could transition from a joyful mood to almost like a chilling sense of menace, which makes his legendary, manic “freakout” during the boat tunnel scene a brilliant highlight. Much of Wonka’s enigmatic nature was conveyed through Wilder’s expressive eyes as he could easily communicate silent amusement, deep disappointment, or mild detachment while watching the misbehaving children suffer the consequences of his factory’s moral experiments.

Audiences also loved how the songs in the 1971 film balanced upbeat, Broadway-style charm, with eerie undertones. Tracks like “Pure Imagination” offered whimsical wonder, while catchy hits like “The Candy Man” became cultural phenomena. The Oompa Loompa songs also stood out for cleverly delivering the story’s moral lessons.

Despite initial mixed box office returns, it was Gene Wilder’s performance and the film’s iconic musical numbers that cemented the film’s status as a beloved, surreal cinematic classic.

MPA: Rated G   (running time 100 minutes)

Initial release date: June 30, 1971

Streaming services: HBO Max/Tubi/Netflix/various PVOD services   (as of writing this review)

https://youtu.be/rbx5DVT8qGg?si=-E2Pt-5NT8Ax33Ed

• Peter Ostrum and the other child actors have stayed close over the years, and regularly attend fan conventions together.

• When Gene Wilder died in 2016, Peter Ostrum changed his social media profile to "Former child actor, veterinarian, inherited a chocolate factory on August 29, 2016."

• After reading the script, Gene Wilder said he would take the role of Willy Wonka under one condition: that he would be allowed to limp and then suddenly somersault in the scene when he first meets the children. When director Mel Stuart asked why, Wilder replied that having Wonka do this meant that "from that time on, no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth." Stuart asked, "If I say no, you won't do the picture?" Wilder said, "I'm afraid that's the truth."

• The reactions of the actors and actresses in some scenes are spontaneous: In the scene where Wonka limps out of his factory to greet the Golden Ticket winners, everyone's reaction is genuine. When the children first enter the Chocolate Room and see the candy gardens, their reactions are genuine. When filming the tunnel scene, the actors' reactions to Wonka's singing were genuine; Peter Ostrum, Jack Albertson, and Denise Nickerson were all terrified and had thought Gene Wilder had gone into a psychotic meltdown. In the scene where Wonka is screaming at Charlie and Grandpa Joe, Ostrum's and Albertson's reactions are real. Wilder actually wanted to tell Ostrum beforehand, but director Mel Stuart advised strongly against it, so as not to ruin the illusion of surprise.

• The chocolate river was made from 150,000 gallons of water, real chocolate, and cream. The filmmakers had to change the formula for the chocolate river because, originally, the concoction they were using turned blood red. Because of the cream, the mixture began to spoil, and by the end of filming, it smelled terrible. Michael Bollner, who played Augustus Gloop, later described it as "dirty, stinky water."

• Julie Dawn Cole was among the actors fooled by the scene in which Willy limps out of his factory to greet the Golden Ticket winners. She mentions in the DVD commentary that she thought that Gene Wilder had injured his leg for real and that the filming would have to be temporarily halted. Her reaction, along with the rest of the audience, is genuine.

• This is the only film role of Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie Bucket. Ostrum turned down David L. Wolper's offer for a three-movie contract because he wanted to keep his options open. After feeling underwhelmed at the premiere, he bought a horse, which led to him becoming a veterinarian. Ostrum only tried to return to acting once, when he auditioned to play Alan Strang after Peter Firth left the Broadway production of "Equus" in 1975. As of 2013, Julie Dawn Cole - who played Veruca Salt - is the only one of the child actors who was still acting.

• According to Mel Stuart's book "Pure Imagination: The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," the reason everything in Willy's office is cut in half was that Stuart couldn't bear the thought of, after having gone through all the whimsical and creative rooms in the factory, ending the movie in an ordinary office. Everything was cut in half to make the room look more Wonka-esque.

• Gene Wilder's acting during the boat ride sequence was so convincing that it frightened some of the other actors and actresses, including Denise Nickerson (Violet). They thought that Wilder was going mad from being in the tunnel.

• Roald Dahl was reportedly so angry with the treatment of his book (mainly stemming from the massive rewrite by David Seltzer) that he refused permission for the book's sequel, "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator," to be filmed. Seltzer had an idea for a new sequel, but legal issues meant it never got off the ground. Reportedly, Dahl was so unhappy that he refused ever to watch the completed film in its entirety. Once, while staying in a hotel, he accidentally tuned into a television airing of the movie but reportedly changed the channel immediately when he realized what he was watching. Funnily enough, behind-the-scenes footage on the DVD shows him looking happy while visiting the set, and he even attended the premiere. Julie Dawn Cole, commenting in 2011 on these events, remembers him as being a large, scary man.

• In 2014, this movie was added to the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress.

• The film is often erroneously thought of as a Warner Bros. production. In fact, the film was independently made and the 1971 release was handled by Paramount Pictures. However, the theatrical distribution rights lapsed in 1977, and Paramount, in the days before home video, thought the film was of little commercial use to them anymore, so they never renewed them. The rights were eventually bought by Warner Bros. in 1983 when it was expanding its Warner Home Video catalog after the home video boom of the early 1980s. The film was first released by them onto VHS and Betamax in 1984. Warner Bros. was also responsible for the 25th anniversary theatrical re-release in 1996, and all subsequent home video releases. Warner Bros. did produce Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

• Mel Stuart originally didn't want Willy Wonka to be a musical, as this film was simply going to be a straightforward fantasy film based on the novel per Roald Dahl's wishes, but producers convinced him by pointing out the successes of Mary Poppins (1964) and The Wizard of Oz (1939). The musical numbers were included via rewrites to Dahl's original script by David Seltzer, which left Dahl quite furious.

• Despite the film's poor box office performance, it got attention from television and cable airings along with film rentals, it became a cult classic.