WW Chocolate factory in what Country?

[Gerald Davis]

After watching both Willy Wonkers Chocolate factory, It is bothering me what country is it suppose to be set in. It cannot be Bavaria because Charley said he wanted go there, it cannot be Garmang because the fat Kid came from there. It must be some nordic country like Norway or Sweeten.

[Michael Ernest]

England. It's not really a mystery, particularly when they mention London.

[Gregg Bolinger]

The first movie with Gene Wilder was made in a way you didn't know where or when the movie took place. I'm not sure if the book mentioned this either.

[Michael Ernest]

Hard to say. The currency in the book is dollars and dimes, so one would have to guess US. But endless nights of cabbage soup and grandparents who never leave their beds, that sounds far more like Dickens than Dos Passos to me. On top of that, the Buckets live in the town of the factory, ergo...

Looking at the book or the first movie, though: a US town? it doesn't seem to fit.

The first movie was set in a small German town to preserve that sense of fantasy. I'd have to play the first movie again to see if there are any overt hints.

[Gerald Davis]

I know the building s was German, Austrian or Bavarian and there is no place in England that looks like that so it could no possible be London. I guess it is suppose to be a made up country or we was never suppose to know.

[Barry Gaunt]

Chocolate only come from der Schweiz, dummkoepfe!

[Gerald Davis]

Would you like to get clip round the earhole matey , or do you want me to help you to eat all mine Swedish chocolate, ja!

[Barry Gaunt]

Ah so, we hafta be nice! Ok dann. I give you some excellent Schweizer Schoggi, you don't hafta bother to send yours.

[Michael Ernest]

Pfff, the Swiss. What do they know about a day's work?

[Gerald Davis]

You cant say much about Switzerland , it is a place of dreams. The country is not rich but the quality of life is very good and taxes are low. When you see the Swedish, you can tell they have not indulged in to many Chocolate or Hamburgers with fries.

[Alan Wanwierd]

Originally posted by Gerald Davis:
You cant say much about Switzerland ....

34 days statutory minimum annual leave days per year
12 public holidays
==========
46 Days off work per year!! (Compared with Australias 20+9)

To my way of thinking that makes Switzerland one of the worlds greatest places to live and work! (and yes - I am *extremely* jealous!)

[Michael Ernest]

So Swedish people living in Switzerland would have it the best, then?

[Gerald Davis]

Switzerland could have less holidays, and more work. More work would mean being more productive which mean more products from Chocolate to Hamburgers. But who is ganna eat those extra products. Should they go create military products instead as a way of using that extra holiday? Unlike civilian product, which are often wasted anyway and eventually thrown away in a landfill site, the production of weapon can be used to attack the enemy thus acquiring more material gain.

[Marc Peabody]

Facts on the original.
Also, the DVD has a bunch of interesting tidbits including WHY it was not shot in London.

[fred rosenberger]

i didn't recognize the currency Charlie finds to buy his Wonka bar, but it didn't look like U.S. currency...

[Michael Ernest]

See factoid #80 of the page Marc referenced. In the book, it costs a dime to get a Wonka bar. Charlie finds a dollar in the street, which he uses to buy two bars, the second of which has the ticket.

Come to think of it, we never hear about the remaining eighty cents, do they?

I have no idea in what US city you could place this story for film. As a US character in a 70's film, Willy Wonka would have come off as gay or a suspect pederast to the point of distraction. Placed somewhere in Europe, a US audience can dismiss his foppishness as as a kind of old-world decadence. Plus, being across the Atlantic, he's a less threatening gay closet pederast.
[ August 09, 2005: Message edited by: Michael Ernest ]

[Marc Peabody]

Originally posted by Michael Ernest:
Come to think of it, we never hear about the remaining eighty cents, do they?

Like any poor but good child would, he gave it to his family. It's been a while since I've seen or read the story, but I think he gives some to his mother to buy fabric for a dress and some to his Grandpa Joe to buy some tobacco for his pipe. It's also very likely that I've the details mixed up with another classic.
[ August 09, 2005: Message edited by: Marc Peabody ]

[Marc Peabody]

From the original movie's script:

CHARLIE: How about this? (Produces a loaf of bread.)

MRS. BUCKET: Charlie, where'd you get that?

GRANDPA JOE: What difference does it make where he got it?
Point is: he got it.

CHARLIE: It's my first payday.

MRS. BUCKET: Good for you, Charlie. We'll have a real
banquet.

CHARLIE: Mom . . .? Here's what's left. You keep it.
Except for this. From now on, I'm going to pay for your
tobacco.

GRANDPA JOE: No one's going to pay for it, Charlie. I'm
giving it up.

MRS. BUCKET: Come on, Dad, it's only one pipe a day.

GRANDPA JOE: When a loaf of bread looks like a banquet, I've
no right buying tobacco.

CHARLIE: Go on, Grandpa. Please take it.

However, this is the money from his paper route before he found the "dollar". Also, the money he found in the original movie was a coin and I don't remember it saying how much the coin was worth.
[ August 09, 2005: Message edited by: Marc Peabody ]