NEWS
September 2010
Sir Kenneth Adam, designer of Chitty and Pierre Picton, owner of Chitty.
Ken Adam first entered the film industry as a draughtsman for This Was a Woman (1948), and met his Italian wife Maria Letitzia while filming in Ischia, whom he married on August 16, 1952. His first major screen credit was as the production designer on the 1956 British thriller Soho Incident. In the mid-1950s he went to Hollywood where he worked (uncredited) on the epics Around the World in 80 Days and Ben-Hur. His first major Hollywood credit was the cult Jacques Tourneur horror film Night of the Demon and he was the production designer on several films directed by Robert Aldrich. He was hired for the first James Bond film, Dr No in 1962. In 1964 he designed the famous war room set for Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove, although turned down the opportunity to work with Kubrick's next project 2001: A Space Odyssey after he found out that Kubrick had been working with NASA for a year on space exploration.This enabled Adam to make his name with his innovative, semi-futuristic sets for the James Bond films such as Dr. No (1962), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971). The supertanker set for The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) was the largest sound stage in the world at the time it was built. His last Bond film was Moonraker (1979).
Adam's other notable credits include the cult Michael Caine spy thriller The Ipcress File (1965) and its sequel Funeral in Berlin (1966), the 1969 Peter O'Toole version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Sleuth (1972), Salon Kitty (1976), Agnes of God (1985), Addams Family Values (1993) and The Madness of King George (1994). He also acted as a visual consultant on the acclaimed 1981 BBC-TV adaptation of Dennis Potter's Pennies from Heaven.
Adam returned to worked with Kubrick on Barry Lyndon, for which he won his first Oscar. He also designed the famous car for the film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", which was also produced by the same team that was responsible for the James Bond film series. During the late 1970s he worked on storyboards and concept art for a new Star Trek film that was in pre-production. The film, known as Planet of the Titans, was eventually shelved by Paramount Pictures.
A member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980, and the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival; in 1999 the Victoria and Albert Museum held an exhibition entitled "Ken Adam - Designing the Cold War" in which he talked about his role in designed film sets so associated with the 1960s thru to the 80's.
Naturalised as a British citizen, having been awarded an OBE for services to the film industry; in 2003 under the Diplomatic Services, Adam was awarded Knight Bachelor for services to the film industry and Anglo-German relations, and knighted in 2003 by Queen Elizabeth II.
August 2010
"CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG"
NUMBER 4 IN TOP 100 FAMILY FILMS!
Radio Times has voted "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" #4 as most popular in family films.
"CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG" ON BLU RAY
NOVEMBER 2ND
The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack will feature:
1080p video, a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 soundtrack, and supplements include:
Remembering Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Dick Van Dyke;
A Fantasmagorical Motorcar with Pierre Picton;
The Ditchling Tinkerer;
Dick Van Dyke Press Interview;
The Potts Children;
Photo gallery;
Vintage advertising gallery with rare trailers and TV spots;
Rare Sherman Brothers song demos;
Music Machine;
Sing-a-long version of the film;
Toot Sweet Symphony select remember to Melody Maker;
and Chitty Chitty's Bang Bang Driving Game.
Suggested list price for this set will be $34.99.
I am really hoping that this is a temp version of the cover because it is just embarrassing. It's not even the real car and the
actors are just pasted in some awkward positions and are so out of scale!
December 2004
CHITTY LANDS IN HOLLYWOOD
During 2004, Pierre and Chitty GEN11 were invited to Hollywood for the
HISTORIC first ever reunion of the stars from the movie
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.....
and no reunion could be complete without the movie’s genuine car star.
After a period of 36 years,
Dick Van Dyke (Caractacus),
Sally Ann Howes (Truly Scrumptious),
Adrian Hall (Jeremy)
and Heather Ripley (Jemima)
were once again TOGETHER in their
“FINE FOUR FENDERED FRIEND”.
Chitty and her owner Pierre Picton flew to the USA specially for the
filming of the television special
“AFTER THEY WERE FAMOUS” which aired on ITV1 on Christmas
Eve, following a screening of the film.
November 2003
The Special Edition MGM DVD of
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang features
interviews with Pierre Picton in a special feature
on Chitty GEN 11 " A
Fantasmagorical Motor Car"
