THE CHILD CATCHER
Robert Helpmann
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Kids, this is why you should never take sweets from strangers. The child catcher (played with an odd, leaping gracefulness by ballet dancer Robert Helpmann) is a grotesque-looking fellow with a Cyrano-size nose who takes a perverse glee in sniffing out and capturing hidden children in Vulgaria, a fairy-tale land where kids are verboten. That candy vendor disguise shouldn't have fooled anybody, but it works on Dick Van Dyke's tots, as the child catcher hauls them away screaming in a scene guaranteed to give young viewers nightmares. —Gary Susman
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