Grandpa
Chille-Challa
(aka A Varázsló)
English-Language Version:
With: Antal Páger (as "Amtal Pager") (Mr. Csilicsala/Grandpa Chille-Challa), Krisztián Kovács (as "Kriztian Kovacs") (Öcsi), Gábor Agárdi (as "Gabor Agardy") (Balogh Apuka), Judit Tóth (Mother), Hilda Gobbi (as "Hildy Gobbi") (Grandmother), László Csákányi (Mr. Kovács, the schoolteacher), István Egri (Mr. Stiglinc), János Körmendi (as "Janus Kormendi") ("taskmaster"), Ferenc Laluja (Gyuszi), Károly Nagy (Jóska), János Pagonyi (as "Janos Pasuk") (School custodian), József Szendrő (Headmaster), Gyula Bodrogi (Ráró, the horse (voice, uncredited), Endre Harkányi (The Snowman, voice, uncredited), Ráró, the horse (as "Baba the Horse")
***
SYNOPSIS:
PART 1: In Budapest, Hungary, a young boy named Billy Balog throws a rock
through a window at his school. He tries to lie his way out of it, but his
teacher sees right through him, and makes the boy sit in the detention room to
contemplate on his actions.
Billy's pal Joey comes to see him, and promises to help Billy fix the broken
window. Joey asks for Billy's harmonica in trade for his help, but Billy won't
part with the treasured mouth-organ. Billy bluffs his way out of this jam by
promising Joey his pet horse (a horse which doesn't exist)!
Billy and Joey return to Billy's home, in a skyscraper apartment complex; they
meet Billy's grandmother and little brother Ernie. Of course, there is no
horse, so Billy enlists the aid of his magical relative, Grandpa Chille-Challa! The mystical elder appears upon Billy's command, and reluctantly grants
Billy's wish: suddenly, a gorgeous white steed appears!
Joey and Ernie enter Billy's room, and feast their eyes on the horse.
Billy changes his mind about the trade, however. Billy takes the horse aside,
and commands the equine to start speaking. Summoning Grandpa Chille-Challa
again, Billy pleads with the old man to add horse-talking to his magical
wishes. Chille-Challa reluctantly agrees, and the horse begins to chat!
The horse introduces himself as Luke. Luke solicits Joey who leaves,
unimpressed. Luke asks for some fresh grass to eat; the boys can't find
anything appropriate. They all settle on sugar-lumps, and then romp around the
apartment in great play.
Soon, Grandmother returns, and is unnerved to see the tenants all aroused by
the noise Luke and the boys are making. The old woman is duly impressed by the
talking horse, but chalks it up to "these modern times".
Later, Billy's parents return home, and are shocked to see a white horse on
their balcony. Billy tries to hide the horse, but his parents are not fooled;
they soon meet Luke, and are amazed by his capacity of speech.
Billy and his father argue back and forth about the horse's disposition in
their cramped apartment. Billy summons Grandpa Chille-Challa once again, to
enlarge the apartment. Chille-Challa obediently agrees. Suddenly, the walls of
the apartment start to move; the entire apartment building begins to swell and
grow!
Billy sees the error of his ways, and begs Chille-Challa to return things to
normal; he agrees to take responsibility for his original sin, and returns to
confess to his teacher.
PART 2: Billy Balog is dreading his upcoming mathematics test; he can't
understand why his teachers place such an emphasis on logical knowledge, which
to his mind could be better served by asking a machine for the answers!
In fact, this gives Billy a great idea: he will ask his magical Grandfather to
create a robot to help him with his math and science projects! Chille-Challa
explains that men used their minds to learn mathematics long before machines came along, but Billy won't hear of it; he insists Chille-Challa create him a
robot.
Shortly, a magnificent tin man appears. Billy inserts his mathematic books into
the robot, and starts the machine up. The automaton comes to life, and begins
to spout out all of the difficult math equations that Billy couldn't learn.
Billy then asks Chille-Challa to turn the robot into a duplicate of himself, so
he can send it to school in his stead. Chille-Challa obeys, with reservations.
Soon, the robot turns into an exact replica of Billy, but for the fact that he
speaks in a robotic monotone.
Ernie soon encounters the robot Billy in his room, and is thus shocked to see
Billy also in the kitchen, eating breakfast! Billy leads his robot double to
school, hoping to fool his teacher with his newfound knowledge.
Robot Billy responds obediently to the teacher's questions. In fact, robot
Billy speaks at length about higher mathematic theory, to the teacher's
astonishment. The real Billy hides outside, gloating in his deceit.
After school, the schoolboys confront Billy, and demand to know why he was
trying to impress the teacher so badly, and make them all look like fools; he
is saved by a call to the Principal's office.
The Principal tells Billy how proud he is of his newfound genius, and asks for
another demonstration. Billy stalls while he thinks of some way out of this
pickle. Billy feigns exhaustion, and leaves. He rushes to robot Billy, and
loads more books into his information receptacle.
Back in the classroom, robot Billy spouts more technical knowledge for the
district supervisor. Unfortunately, Billy also fed his detective book into
robot Billy, so the automaton starts relating a lurid crime tale to the waiting
administrators!
Next, robot Billy attacks schoolmate Burke, as he has been programmed to do. A
fight breaks out. Robot Billy is suspended from school, and escorted home by
the custodian. Billy learns of this terrible turn of events, and rushes home
himself.
Gomez, a neighbor, asks robot Billy to go to the store and fetch him some cough
drops. Meanwhile, Billy's parents return home, and are surprised to see TWO
Billys walking in the park! Mr. Gomez asks Billy about his cough drops, and of
course he doesn't know anything. An argument ensues.
Robot Billy encounters the Principal and the teacher outside, and escorts them
to his apartment. He then gives the cough drops to Gomez, who is thoroughly
baffled.
Billy's parents have a conversation with the Principal and teacher, and no-one
can figure out this schizophrenic behavior of Billy's. First, robot Billy is
asked to explain himself, and he can do nothing but repeat gibberish. Billy
sulks in his room, trying to figure a way out of this mess. Billy hurriedly
reprograms robot Billy, and hopes for the best.
Billy sneaks out of the apartment, and encounters an angry Gomez in the
hallway, still grousing about his cough drops. Meanwhile, robot Billy amazes the adults with his knowledge of astronomy. Grandmother enters the room, and
faints when she sees the second Billy.
With both Billy and robot Billy in the same room, the adults try to figure out
which is the real Billy Balog!
Forced to make a stand, Billy's father insists that the REAL Billy is the
clever one, not the good-hearted one. The teacher quizzes both Billys, and of
course the robot Billy answers the questions correctly. The real Billy gets
upset when his father chooses the robot over him, and realizes that his
deception has had devastating consequences.
Chille-Challa appears, and rids Billy of his robot double, insisting that Billy
explain things to his parents.
PART 3: As Billy's parents return home, they discuss their son; he is a clever
lad, and good-hearted, but he doesn't always finish what he starts. Grandmother
informs them that right now, Billy is at his friend's house, learning how to
make flower pots. Billy's father laments that Billy seems to change interests
at the drop of a hat.
Meanwhile, Ernie has learned how to summon the magic of Chille-Challa, and
turns the water from the bathroom faucet into a rainbow of colors.
Soon, there is a guest at the door; a living Snowman! Billy's parents let the
strange creature in. The Snowman informs the adults that Billy started him last
year, and unless he finishes him, he is doomed!
Mother goes to get something cooling for the Snowman. Billy returns home, and
announces his new interest: an aquarium! Meanwhile, Ernie encounters the
Snowman on the balcony, and escorts him to the kitchen, where the Grandmother
is duly impressed.
Billy is appalled to see his unfinished creation before him. Father continues
to argue his point, that Billy starts all sorts of new projects, and rarely
finishes any of them; the Snowman is a "living" example of this carelessness.
Billy defends his actions, but saying that his inventions, although unfinished,
are all signs of a fertile, creative mind, toward his greatest task of all:
building a rocketship! Billy then points out the window, and suddenly, a rocket
blasts off. It is only footage from the outdoor cinema, but his point is made
nonetheless.
Billy calls on Chille-Challa to help him once again out of a jam, but the elder
states that this is the last time he will help. Now, Billy is on his own. Billy
sits in his room, despondent. Ernie wishes for his shoebox to turn into a pet
doggie, and it does. The parents come in, and are delighted to see that Ernie
has learned the art of magical manifestation.
THE END
***
GRANDPA CHILLE-CHALLA is a most unusual and engaging children's fantasy from Budapest, Hungary, likely inaccessible to most modern kids but a fascinating
fantasy-allegory nonetheless, full of rich text and imagery.
GRANDPA CHILLE-CHALLA extols the importance of retaining traditional values (and perspectives) in a time of political and technological upheaval. The extended family is the individual's base of strength during rapid cultural progress, and the family,ironically, may become strongest when challenged by forces from the outside, forces which demand a closer familial bond. Utmost in the film's mind is honoring the wisdom of the ancients, acknowledging and utilizing the bottomless resources which history offers.
In GRANDPA CHILLE-CHALLA, everyone wears a vaguely ironic smirk; one wonders if this is supposed to suggest whimsy, or cynicism? One expects virtually any film from Eastern Europe to be political by nature, and this film does not disappoint. Illustrated here, in vivid relief, are the joys and burdens of urbanization on the middle class; one might even call GRANDPA CHILLE-CHALLA a terminally "bourgeois" film (although one might also effectively argue that this term has lost all meaning by now).
With fascinating and hypnotic literalism, GRANDPA CHILLE-CHALLA subverts the viewer's expectations at every turn, swiftly changing from fantasy to allegory to melodrama without skipping a beat. Our young hero Billy bemoans the adjustments necessary to function properly in a highly-urbanized, and avowedly technocratic civilization, yet extols the exciting possibilities of this same society in the same breath. Thus, his split in two in Part 2 of the film clearly illustrates the problematic nature of merging the romantic and logical selves into one cohesive, well-functioning unit of potentially averse opposites.
Billy is a conflicted, intelligent yet not entirely sympathetic
character. He is a fearless children's role model, unafraid to confront
authority, even with bald-faced lies. He is a rebel foremost, a progressive,
but also a pathological liar, so he comes across as terribly human. Naive,
selfish Billy exploits the good nature of his wish-granting grandfather, and
thus, squanders his heritage. Of course, the big lesson Billy learns is that
one needs bigger lies to cover bigger sins, and thus, dangerous escalation is
born.
Grandpa Chille-Challa is a frustrating character, in that he seems beholden to
serve Billy, for better or worse. Using magic to serve his reckless grandson is
a noble but foolish service, which causes much trouble for the lad and his
world. Perhaps that's the point; magic is a powerful force which can be used
for any purpose, good or ill, so choose your magic wisely!
Billy’s parents and grandmother, for the most part, act as befuddled foils for the machinations of the two lead characters. However, it is fun to watch the dear but terminally naďve grandmother attribute every bizarre manifestation and plot twist to “these modern times”, showing how swiftly societal progress can leave elders behind.
GRANDPA CHILLE-CHALLA's episodic nature may be explained by the fact that A Varázsló was originally produced as a Hungarian television series, and the feature is composited from several of the TV episodes.
The film boasts some impressive full-scale effects, such as walls moving,
buildings shuffling down the street, chimneys growing, and one amazing shot of
an entire apartment facade splitting in two. These magical, and highly
theatrical film tricks, very much in the spirit of film genius Georges Melies,
remind us what a great tradition of stage-bound effects we have lost in recent
years with the ascendancy of computer-bound "virtual" f/x.
Parts 1 and 3, with the talking horse and the living Snowman, emphasize
fantastic scenarios, whereas Part 2, with Billy's robot double, plays
effectively on the "twins" or "mistaken identity" motif so popular in 1960's
kiddy culture (THE PARENT TRAP, THE PATTY DUKE SHOW).
***
The short-lived Xerox Films had GRANDPA CHILLE-CHALLA on its roster of children's fantasies to release to the U.S. and Canada, but we have no indication the film did reach release. (The appearance of Xerox Films' series director Robert Braverman, on the credits, suggests that the English-Language version was created with Xerox' release in mind.)
Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the English-language version is the
opening theme song, a bizarre and terminally corny jingle which seems
translated almost too literally from the European source material. A chorus
warbling gleefully about "a magical grandpa!" seems almost too trite for any
Western kiddy audience, even in the comparatively "innocent" 1970's! We offer
the lyrics herewith:
"Grandpa Chille-Challa"
We sing our song!
A grandpa is he!
Tricks on the double,
That's why we sing,
It would be lots of fun to have so magical a grandpa!
It's no surprise,
Magic cannot,
That's why we sing,
It would be lots of fun to have so magical a grandpa!
What a grandpa!
The dubbed voices are all pretty much par for the course, with the exception of
kid brother Ernie, whose voice is spoken by a woman pretending to be the small
boy. He spouts ironic little 'bon mots' which are pretty funny, a curious
comedic touch in a film otherwise fairly straightforward.
Video/DVD availability: VHS (Off-Hollywood; oop)
(1969, Hungary) color 86 minutes
Mafilm II / Játékfilmstúdió
Executive Producer: Otto Elek
Screenplay: Sándor Török, Eszter Tóth
Music: Ferenc Lovas
Horse Trainer: Bela Lenart
Cinematography: Ottó Forgács
Edited by Sandor Boronkay
Directed by György Palásthy
(ca 1970) Xerox Film Corporation 79 minutes
(1993) Studio Off-Hollywood 79 minutes
Series Director: Thomas D. Anglim
Executive Producer: Robert Braverman
Produced by Belluci Productions
Screenplay: Janet Waggener
Song Lyrics: Charlotte Fielden, Hubert Fielden, Robert Braverman
Dubbing voices: John Gilbert, April Johnson, Allan Mills, Dave Patrick, Madeline
Krondy, Doris Malcolm, James Gilbert, Don McIntyre, Florence Schreiber, David
Raboy, Jimmy Tapp, Lynn Deragon, Margo MacKinnon, Arthur Grosser, Tommy
Fielden, Randy Rolling, Linda Weston, Hubert Fielden, John Wildman
Come sing along,
'Bout a magical friend!
The future he can see,
More than anyone can!
When there is trouble!
Not every grandpa,
Can do such magic things!
Of wisdom he brings!
Grandpa Chille-Challa!
When you need help, he's around, you do not have to look far!
What a grandpa!
Magic grandpa,
And he's also so wise!
Grandpas know when,
We have told them little lies!
Do all we dream.
Fixing up trouble's,
Not easy as it seems!
Of wisdom he brings!
Grandpa Chille-Challa!
When you need help, he's around, you do not have to look far!
He's some grandpa!
Grandpa Chille-Challa!
That's Him!
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