| “ | The Baroness will have your teeth for a necklace and your eyeballs for earrings! | „ |
| ~ The Child Catcher threatening the Toymaker. |
| “ | I don't trust a man who makes toys in a land where children are forbidden! | „ |
| ~ The Child Catcher |
The Child Catcher is the tertiary antagonist in the movie Chitty Chittty Bang Bang, and is portrayed as a black-clad, large-nosed man who is employed to hunt down children and take them away. He carries a large net of the sort used to catch butterflies, and a rather menacing-looking hook such as those used by old-fashioned abortionists. The Child Catcher occasionally snares his prey by luring them out with lollipops. When they fall for his trick, he puts them in cages to be carted off to a large prison under orders from the evil rulers of Vulgaria (Baron Bomburst and Baroness Bomburst), who dislike children.
In the end the Child-Catcher is captured along with his employers after the heroes of the story manage to topple Vulgaria's evil regime and free all the children.
He was played by ballet dancer and actor Sir Robert Helpmann. The Child Catcher and his masters did not appear in the book on which the film is based, which was written by James Bond novelist Ian Fleming. They were instead largely the creation of Roald Dahl of Willy Wonka fame, who co-wrote the film with Ken Hughes.
Gallery
