Willy Wonka movie was filmed in Munich

I am no movie buff but watched the old classic, Gene Wilder, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last night and noticed a few familiar things. Low and behold I did a quick search and the original 1971 movie was filmed on location in Munich! Classic.

If you go on IMDB.com, you can do a search of films made in Munich.

It may come as a surprise to most but the absolute die-hard Willy Wonka fans and obsessives, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the original 1971 classic, fantastical, choctastic neo-Fabian fairy tale, and especially for those of us from the British Isles, post-Christmas Dinner film "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", was shot entirely in Munich. The exterior to the Wonka factory, for example, is in fact the Munich gasworks, located on Dachauerstrasse. The city in the final aerial shot of the glass elevator leaving the factory is Munich, with the Frauenkirche patently visible. I don't know about you, but my estimation of Munich has increased exponentially since I've come to realize that I live in the city where Charlie & the Chocolate Factory became reality. The films interiors were shot on the Bavaria Film Studios lot in Grünwald, home to manys the well-known production, among them Das Boot, The Neverending Story and Enemy Mine (Louis Gosset Jrs Oscar-miss as impregnated hermaphrodite alien). Allegedly, Roald Dahl was so unhappy with the cinematic realisation of his book that he steadfastly refused to view it, only accidentally watching it in part in a hotel room before realizing what he was watching and changing the channel. The location of this hotel room remains shrouded in mystery but it was in all likelihood not Bayerischer Hof. Needless to say, it might go some ways to reconfirm Dahls reputation as Grumpy Old Man par excellence.

This will, for many, lend new cadence to the Oompaloompahs and their exploits in the Chinese Tower in summer in Munichs Englischer Garten. In fact, according to IMDBs trivia page on the movie, "many of the people cast as Oompaloompahs were native to Germany or other European countries and therefore did not speak English fluently, if at all. This is why some appear to not know the words to songs during the musical numbers". This may have influenced the initial domestic German edit of the film, which had all songs excised, save for Charlies initial soliloquay song. For current confirmation of the Oompaloompahs existence, we'll simply have to wait until the Chinese Tower reopens for business in early summer to see the Oompahloompahs in action again.

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Wow I did not know that. The original was and still one of my favorites from childhood. Awesome read Punchbear.

I loved the original but I have to say that the Johnny Depp version was excellent in a kind of freaky and slightly scary type way...

If you look at the film poster closely you can recoginze the Chinesischer Turm on the right in the silhouette of the factory.

I never got into the original film as a kid but I absolutely loved the new version with Depp!
Come to think of it, I think it's the Tim Burton factor that I liked about the film.

You're right, there is more than a passing resemblance to the Tower.

It would also appear that Munich has a very real W.Wonka, out in Brunnthal.

A Willy Wonka - a classic Christmas film. Love it every time!

I read also that the small fat guy (Augustus Gloop) was played by a Munich kid. It was the only film he ever did. He now apparently works as an accountant in Munich.

From the WonkaFacts site:


And the cars in the film were borrowed from a nearby US Army base.

From the WonkaFacts site:



Read the WonkaFacts site about the Wonka kids reunion and again here for more movie facts/trivia.

Oh, and Neuschwanstein and Rothenburg ob der Tauber were used in the making of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Actually, Rothenburg is generally thought to have been used in the 1971 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film - the mediaeval town that's flown across at the end. According to Wikipedia, it's actually nearby Nördlingen though.

By Jove STB, you may be right. I'll have it in a bit and post grabs to confirm.

I'm always right - no need to sound surprised.

The original Rollerball with James Caan was also filmed in Munich. "Houston Stadium" is the BMW tower on Mittlerer Ring, and the "Library" is (was?) the BMW Museum.

All of the skating scenes were filmed in what is now the ice rink, I believe.

According to this site it was "The Basketball Hall" but I would imagine they mean the Olympiahalle, maybe using the bike track they use for the 6 tage bike races?

the great escape was also filmed at munich Bavaria Film studio . the prison camp was built in the woods next to the studios .

It was the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle next to the Lindau Autobahn. That's where the basketball events took place. The bike races were in the Radsporthalle, now known as Event Arena.

This almost supercedes Wonka in terms of awesomeness. If the Death Star was built in Kunstpark Ost I would feel complete.

James Garner and Colin fly over Neuschwanstein in their attempt to escape

Well you learn something every day, I didn't know that the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle was used in the olympics. I knew about the radsport halle, but that was sort of out of use when I first came here, don't know why.

No problem, even you weren't here during the Olympics, long-timer though you may be. There's Olympic sites everywhere around Munich, and Garching (shooting range), and Oberschleißheim (rowing), and Augsburg (canoeing), and even Kiel (sailing).

It was also used for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Dick van Dyke, as was Neuschwanstein castle.

Oh poor guy! I would have been grumpy too if they'd destroyed your book by making it into a terrible film with a completely different ending and feeling. Most of his ideas for the books came from stories he'd made up for his children, so I guess it must have personaly hurt him to see that happen. He was also probably grumpy because he had massive difficulties with his back, a war wound from crash landing his hurracane, which meant he could rarley sit down without being in pain.

Still I just finished reading "Danny the Champion of the World" to my son, same as my mum did to me 30 years ago, and he loved it! What a beautiful legacy to leave!

This has got to be my favourite post of the day. Partly because I was brought up on the Roald Dahl stories and am a big fan, but mainly because of the use of word 'exponentially'.
Fantastic word!!

Is that the Stadtwerke building or another? Where exactly is it?

That's a good one, IMDB is non-specific, according to this site, Munich had 4 gasworks, one of which is located opposite Westfriedhof at Dachauerstrasse 148, the Stadtwerk. Or maybe not anymore as according to these lads, they demolished a gasworks in Munich in 2002, but don't say which one. This company here performed hazardous waste disposal from the works at Dachauerstrasse in March 2001, "Entsorgung von hochkontaminiertem Material aus der Sanierungsmaßnahme eines Gaswerks". The gasworks at Moosach was also demolished, relatively recently, in 2005. It may be that the gasworks used in Willy Wonka has unfortunately already been demolished.



Think I'll have to take the 20 out to have a look-see.

The gaswerke is still there, including some of the buildings & clocktower. I found it last week. Officially the building's called the "SWM Versorgungs GmbH", located on Emmy-Noether-Str. 10. It's a 2-minute walk from the Westfriedhof cemetery.
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z273/wonkakid/Wonka.jpg

Some die hard put up a short vid of their visit to the factory, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maMp6W4sXBU

Oh. My. God. As I work under contract for Stadtwerke München I have an office there. I haven't seen Willy Wonka in ages and it never occurred to me during the last two years that I was actually working at site of the Wonka Candy Company!

My mind is officially blown. I mean seriously. This is insane.

Note: SWM Versongung is but one division of the company housed there.

Post a pic!

Very well...


That's an old pic (from 2006) as there's now another building on the lot where the crane is.

Should be said that I've decided to take another offer so my work there will be ending shortly, but I'm glad I found this out...

more about the Great Escape.
The prison camp itself was built on a lot just outside the Bavaria Studios in Grunwald. The producers had to get special permission from the Bavarian government to cut down some trees in order to fit the camp into the area. Permission was granted with the agreement that the trees would be replanted when shooting (in 1962 I believe) was completed. I'm told the Mirisch Corporation made good on the promise.
The railway sequence (when David McCallum's character was shot) was filmed at a disused train station in Grunwald. They had to find a train station without electric wires (trains in that era were steam driven). I'm told the engine had to be transported down from Northern Germany.
The outsiide shooting for the most part took place at Starnbergersee including the famous Steve McQueen motorcycle acrobatics.

Also shot at Bavaria was the James Cagney/Billy Wilder film "One, Two, Three" in 1961