Fleming: Go Figure

So, the latest James Bond film, "Casino Royale," opened last weekend and I was the lucky reporter who got to interview moviegoers leaving the screenings and catch one myself, courtesy my soon-to-be-acquired employer, Messenger Post Newspapers. Read the article here, but in the meantime, let me share a little-known fact about beloved Bond author, Ian Fleming:

The same man who created 007 was also creator of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!" Chitty, of course, is the car that could fly and float, and what kid wouldn't want to daydream along that the family car Pop patched up in the back shed could actually do so? I believe a souped-up version of Chitty showed up in Pierce Brosnan's last James Bond film: anyone remember that disappearing car that zoomed all over the ice? (Technically, I suppose, that could be considered some advanced form of floating.)

Anyway, I don't know about all four of you semi-loyal readers, but I adored the classic children's movie with Dick Van Dyke. Not only are a few of the kitschy songs a bit more catchy than I might admit, but other whiz-bang (for the '60s at least) gadgets and such are also gleefully imaginative. Wouldn't you rather have a whistling Toot Sweet than a plain, old, boring candy cane? Me too.

In a way, it's ironic that a movie clearly celebrating childhood and everything playful and imaginative about it (especially the adults that encourage kids to dream and invent) also served as a bit of a Message Movie. You know what I mean, the kind that wants to impart an Important Lesson Upon Impressionable Young Minds.

And what lesson is it, you ask, that sticks out most in my mind from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?" Well, that would be the one that Children Should Never Accept Candy From Strangers!!!! "Chitty" (the movie) features one heck of a scary villain who prowls the streets with his prison wagon, trying to tempt little tykes out of hiding with promises of candy for children. Our hero's two towheads fall prey to Mr. Bad Guy, driving home the Message, and then, as I recall, the rest of the movie centers on how Pop and Co. will save them from this evil kidnapper.

The whole thing got me thinking whether parents or public school leaders back in the '60s and '70s ever showed this film to kids with the express purpose of preserving them -- and their teeth, of course! -- from the perils of sugar-laden snacks. Given my 2 1/2 year-old niece's seeming addiction to plain M&Ms, I wonder if a dose of "Chitty" might not cure all candy ills.

Then again, she might end up asking for Toot Sweets for Christmas.