Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Factual error: In every version of the story, including the book, in the scene where Augustus Gloop is sucked into the chocolate pipe, there's no pressure below him (it's an open river, with the pipe sticking into it) so the pressure must come from a vacuum at the top of the pipe. Augustus would have had his lungs and innards sucked out until he was thin enough to pass through the pipe. He would not have survived.

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Suggested correction: In the book Charlie ask Mr. Wonka if all the other kids would be all right and he tells him yes they will.

This isn't a valid correction because the point of the mistake is that he wouldn't survive, as shown. At best you're saying Wonka lied to Charlie.

Bishop73

Other mistake: When the boat that Willy Wonka and the passengers are riding on is heading for the tunnel through the river of chocolate, two crewmen are cranking the paddle wheel. The wheel is in an opening in the middle of the deck. As the paddle is rotating, moving the boat through the river, the blades are always clean and dry and never have any chocolate on them whatsoever. Also the paddle is rotating the wrong way. It should be rotating clockwise.

raywest

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Suggested correction: When the Wonkamobile and passengers are covered in lather, it goes through a magical "squeegee" line that instantly has everyone clean and dry. Perhaps the same principle goes for the paddlewheel.

The paddles would not come out looking so "pristine".

raywest

Visible crew/equipment: There is a cameraman shooting near the gate of Wonka's factory: he is strategically placed to get up close shots shown in the movie yet he blends in to the crowd to make the movie audience think he is one of the many media technicians filming the event of Wonka opening his factory. Later, when the guests are passing through the gate, the cameraman has disappeared.

Scott215

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Suggested correction: The Cameraman is part of the news crew that was filming the event all around. Not a mistake.

The point being is that the cameramen in the crowd are part of Director Mel Stuart's film crew, getting angles and footage of the crowd for the movie without hiring additional crews to get the same shots.

Scott215

How do we know that, though? How do we know this wasn't an extra with a non-working prop meant to be one of the crowd cameramen? Seems like a big assumption to make without the director confirming this was a trick of his.

Because of the camera angles and shots of the crowd that could only be achieved from Stuart's film crew, who are posing as news crews at the event, that's how we know.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: In the contract signing scene, Violet and her father are close to Wonka's right elbow, but when the shot changes to Veruca and her father's view, they are further away, then close to Wonka again in a later shot.

Scott215

More mistakes in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Mr. Salt: What is this, Wonka? Some kind of fun house?
Willy Wonka: Why? Having fun?

More quotes from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Trivia: Peter Ostrum won the role for Charlie while acting at the Cleveland Playhouse children's theater in 6th grade. He had no acting experience after that, and is now a veterinarian.

More trivia for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Question: Why did the author of the book, that this movie is based on, hate this movie version so much?

Android Kaeli

Chosen answer: He felt that it took too many liberties with the story. In the original agreement, Dahl himself was to write the screenplay (he was, by that point, a not-unsuccessful screenwriter), only to find that his version of the script was subsequently heavily re-written, including what Dahl felt were a number of unnecessary gimmicks, such as Wonka's penchant for literary quotations. Even the title of the film was changed from the original "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", in order to tie into the launch of the "Wonka Bar", a new candy bar made by the Quaker Oats company, who co-financed the film. Annoyed at all the changes, he ultimately disowned the film and refused to sell the cinematic rights to the sequel, "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator".

Tailkinker

More questions & answers from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

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