| “ | Let me tell you, toymaker. This nose of mine has never failed me, and if there ARE children here, my friend... you will die. | „ |
| ~ The Child Catcher to the Toymaker. |
| “ | The Baroness will have your teeth for a necklace and your eyeballs for earrings. | „ |
| ~ The Child Catcher threatening the Toymaker. |
| “ | I don't trust a man who makes toys in a land where children are forbidden. | „ |
| ~ The Child Catcher. |
The Child Catcher is the secondary antagonist in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which is based on the 1964 English children's novel of the same name by the late Ian Fleming. However, he was not featured in the original book and was added to the screenplay by Roald Dahl. He is the wicked main henchman of Baron Bomburst and Baroness Bomburst, who have employed him to snatch and imprison children on the streets of Vulgaria, as his employers strongly dislike children.
He was portrayed by the late ballet dancer Robert Helpmann.
Personality[]
The Child Catcher is the very definition of the phrase “stranger danger.” He is a creepy, evil, scary, nasty, tricky and devious man, who despises children as much as his employers do. In fact he hates them so much so that he’s perfectly willing to capture them, even to the point of luring them out of hiding with sweets, and imprison them in the palace dungeon under the Baron and Baroness' orders. This shows that he is also cold-hearted, cruel, remorseless and uncaring, and has no shame in capturing innocent children. However, when the children escape and revolt against the Baron and Baroness, with help from Caractacus Potts, the Toymaker and Truly Scrumptious, while he still tries to put on a threatening façade, when they gang up on him to capture him, he is shown to be rather cowardly.
Appearance[]
The Child Catcher is a slender man, long, stringy black hair, brown eyes, pale skin and a long, large pointed nose. He wears a mostly black outfit, consisting of a long black coat, a large black tie, a white undershirt, a black vest with silver buttons, black trousers, black gloves, black flat-heeled shoes, and a crumpled black top hat with a black hatband. When he comes to lure the child into his trap, he dons a yellow overcoat with a colorful floral pattern, and ties a bouquet of red and yellow roses to his hat with a red ribbon, to appear more appealing and approachable so as to catch the children with ease, lest his overall black-clad appearance give him away. He’s usually seen carrying a large net of the sort used to capture butterflies, and a rather menacing-looking hook such as those used by old-fashioned abortionists.
Role in the film[]
The Child Catcher is first seen driving his prison wagon to the village square. Upon arrival, he begins to sniff around for any traces of children. He soon picks up the scent and believes the children in question may be hiding in the toy shop. He and the Baron’s guards break in and begin to search the place for the twin children, along with their father, his sweetheart, and his magical car. The Child Catcher warns the Toymaker that if he’s hiding any children within his shop that he will die. When the Captain of the Guards returns from scouring the basement and tells him that there are no children, the Child Catcher furiously heads down himself, convinced that the children are hiding somewhere. Luckily, Caractacus, Truly, Jeremy and Jemima fool him, for the most part, by disguising themselves as Jack-in-the-boxes. At that moment, the Baron’s guards capture Chitty and escort the car back to the Baron’s castle. The Child Catcher then takes his leave, though he still has his suspicions about the Toymaker.
A little while later, while Caractacus and the Toymaker head out to scope out the castle to rescue Caractacus’ father, who was mistaken for the inventor himself, Truly heads out to get Jeremy and Jemima some food to eat. While she is gone, the Child Catcher reappears on the scene, with his prison wagon decorated in a whimsical, fun fashion and he himself dressed in colorful garb, to lure the children out of hiding. Jeremy and Jemima hear him calling, offering lollipops, ice cream, cherry pies and other sweet treats. Foolishly, they leave their hiding place, even suggesting they bring back sweets for Truly. Despite other people’s protests, the children follow the Child Catcher, who puts on a friendly act and tell them that the sweets are inside his wagon. As the back opens up and the children climb up the steps, the Child Catcher forcibly shoves the two inside the wagon, dropping his friendly act (with the colorful wagon façade literally dropping away to reveal it for what it really is). As the children cry out for help, having successfully captured his victims, the Child Catcher hops aboard his wagon and drives back to the castle with Jeremy and Jemima prisoner, cackling maniacally. Luckily, Truly happens by at that moment and sees the children trapped in the prison wagon and tells Caractacus, who returned with the Toymaker at that moment, that the children are in trouble.
Inside the castle, the Child Catcher presents his victims to the Baron and Baroness, even angrily ordering them to be quiet as they protest. He offers to let the Baroness inspect them closer, to which they pretend to bite, shocking everyone. They shock the crowd further by warning them their father will destroy the castle when he finds out about their capture. This attempt stand up to the evil adults they’re facing only prompts the Baroness to order they be taken to the tower, which the Child Catcher fully agrees with.
The Child Catcher is last seen during the film’s climax when he comes to help the Bomburst couple after they are taken hostage by the children. However, he ends up being surrounded by the children. While he tries to scare them, they all close in on him, and he is captured along with his employers, allowing the heroes to topple Vulgaria’s evil regime and free all the children.
Though Vulgaria becomes a free country, it’s completely unknown what happened to the Child Catcher afterwards. As he just captured children and was employed by Vulgaria’s rulers, it highly likely that he was either exiled or sent to the very dungeons where the children were imprisoned. Another possibility could be that he pardoned for his crimes, as he only followed orders of the Bomburst couple—although, because of the children’s hatred for him, he will most likely not easily escape justice.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Child Catcher's role as a cruel child hunter is regarded as one of the most common themes in Roald Dahl's works, featuring abusive and unkind child haters or teachers who delight on the childrens' suffering, like Captain Lancaster in Danny, the Champion of the World or Agatha Trunchbull in Matilda. This is because of Dahl's real life experiences during his childhood, where he had a teacher named Captain Hardcastle who was sadistic with him.
- Despite the Child Cather's scary reputation, Heather Ripley (who played Jemima) said that Robert Helpmann "...Was the least scariest person I have ever met in my life. There was absolutely nothing about him that was scary. He was a sweet and charming gentleman. But the way he moved, could be very scary". Both her and Adrian Hall (who played her on-screen brother, Jeremy) attended his funeral.
- Robert Helpmann was nearly killed when the carriage that he was driving for the film spun out of control and turned over. Thanks to his dancer's reflexes, he was able to leap off of the moving wheel and land safely on his feet.
- The Child Catcher, alongside Baron Bomburst and Baroness Bomburst, did not appear in the book on which the film is based, which was written by James Bond novelist Ian Fleming. They were instead largely the creation of Roald Dahl of Willy Wonka fame, who co-wrote the film with Ken Hughes and created most of the Vulgaria scenes.
- Ironically, the Child Catcher was voted by BBC News as "the scariest villain in children's books" in 2005 in spite that he didn't appear in the original book, suggesting that either BBC News didn't know that he was just created for the film or just attributed him as a children book villain because of being created by Roald Dahl, who was a well-renowned children's novelist.
External Links[]
- Child Catcher on the Wikipedia