Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory [Blu-ray]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Promoted as a family musical by Paramount Pictures, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is more of a black comedy, perversely faithful to the spirit of Roald Dahl's original book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Enigmatic candy manufacturer Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) stages a contest by hiding five golden tickets in five of his scrumptious candy bars. Whoever comes up with these tickets will win a free tour of the Wonka factory, as well as a lifetime supply of candy. Four of the five winning children are insufferable brats: the fifth is a likeable young lad named Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), who takes the tour in the company of his equally amiable grandfather (Jack Albertson). In the course of the tour, Willy Wonka punishes the four nastier children in various diabolical methods -- one kid is inflated and covered with blueberry dye, another ends up as a principal ingredient of the chocolate, and so on -- because these kids have violated the ethics of Wonka's factory. In the end, only Charlie and his grandfather are left. Ostensibly set in England, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was lensed in Germany (as revealed by the film's final overhead shot). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby TrueHD
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Subtitle: Fre/Spa
• Features:
  • Delectable documentary Pure Imagination: the story of Will Wonk & the Chocolate Factory
  • Mouth-watering commentary with the Wonka Kids
  • 4 scrumptious sing-along songs
  • Tasty vintage featurette
  • Theatrical trailer

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Adaptation and Original Song Score - 1971 (Walter Scharf, Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comed - 1971 (Gene Wilder)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Gene Wilder - Willy Wonka
       Jack Albertson - Grandpa Joe
       Peter Ostrum - Charlie
       Roy Kinnear - Mr. Salt
       Julie Dawn Cole - Veruca Salt
       Aubrey Woods - Bill
       Leonard Stone - Mr. Beauregarde
       David Battley - Mr. Turkentine

• Director:

  Mel Stuart

• Producer:

  David L. Wolper, Stan Margulies

• Screenwriter:

  Roald Dahl

• Book Author:

  Roald Dahl

• Cinematographer:

  Arthur Ibbetson

• Composer (Music Score):

  Leslie Bricusse

• Songwriter:

  Leslie Bricusse

• Composer (Music Score):

  Anthony Newley

• Songwriter:

  Anthony Newley

• Composer (Music Score):

  Walter Scharf

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Walter Scharf

• Editor:

  David Saxon

• Art Director:

  Harper Goff

• Costume Designer:

  Helen Colvig, Ille Sievers

• Makeup:

  Raimund Stangle

• Special Effects:

  Logan R. Frazee

• First Assistant Director:

  Wolfgang Glattes, Jack Roe

• Choreography:

  Howard Jeffrey

REVIEW:

• As dark and sweet as the titular confection, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) overcame a lackluster theatrical release to become an adored black comedy/musical and family classic. Scripted by Roald Dahl from his children's book (with an uncredited rewrite by David Seltzer), director Mel Stuart and set designer Harper Goff rendered the adventure a psychedelically colored trip through a candy factory that was equal parts children's paradise and creepy funhouse. Even as Gene Wilder's mysterious, purple-clad candy man Wonka extols the whimsical possibilities of "pure imagination," the orange-faced Oompa Loompas tunefully back up Wonka's message about the evils of parent-enabled gluttony, greed, and TV sloth. Though Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was greeted with audience indifference in 1971, Leslie Briscusse, Anthony Newley, and Walter Scharf's song score earned an Oscar nomination, and Sammy Davis Jr.'s version of "Candy Man" became a 1972 chart-topper. Given new life by TV and home video, legions of music makers and dreamers of the dreams have since succumbed to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory's wicked charms, leading to a 25th anniversary theatrical re-release in 1996. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi