Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

Swimwear!  Who knew (segments of) this old, beloved kids' movie would be so stylish?  Fashion is not really what one associates with Dick Van Dyke.  Ecstatic hopping and smiling, maybe.  But awesome swimsuits?

Here are some stills from the movie which will definitely appeal to today's young fashionista, if she likes to think of herself as inspired equally by a) the past, and b) Forever 21.

Also, interestingly, the screenplay was written by Roald Dahl (wrote "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," and "Matilda") but it was hashed over and completed by other writers.  My husband had an inkling that this was true, saying that the movie has a much tamer slant than it would if Dahl were really in charge.  Dahl apparently created the villain in the movie, The Childcatcher, who has been voted on CBBC as the scariest villain in children's literature.  Lucas also mentioned, before I looked this up, that the Childcatcher was the scariest villain he ever saw in a movie when he was a child.  I think mine was Maleficent from the 1959 Sleeping Beauty.  Mostly because she was the devil.

In the online poll described in the above-mentioned CBBC article, the scariest villains in childrens' books are as follows:

1. The Childcatcher (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Ian Fleming)
2. Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians, Dodie Smith)
3. Bill Sykes (Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens)
4. Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling)