Baron Bomburst

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Baron Bomburst is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The character did not appear in Ian Fleming's original novel; it was created by the film's screenwriter, Roald Dahl. Played by Gert Fröbe, Bomburst rules the Barony of Vulgaria together with his wife, Baroness Bomburst. In the stage and film versions, he is a spoiled brat who refuses to grow up. He is also vain, vindictive, cruel, pampered, adored, spoiled, bratty, self-centered, wimpish and incredibly effeminate.In Broadway version the rle has been played by Johnathan Freeman , Ed Dixon , and Marc Kudish .

In the film

First appearing as a gentleman pirate when the Potts and Truly Scrumptious are picnicking on the beach, he reveals a cruel and greedy streak by attempting to steal the enchanted car, then orders his men to load cannons; when the car floats, he wants it even more. But the car escapes (much to his disappointment) and, seeing that the car can float and move like a speedboat on the sea, he sabotages the Potts' home by air and kidnaps Grandfather Potts, mistaking him for the inventor of Chitty.

Later, when the Potts follow Bomburst's airship to his native Vulgaria, they discover how cruelly the Baron treats his subjects. Although it's stated that "the Baroness hates children" and it's the Baroness who sends for the Childcatcher, it's also obvious that the Baron himself hates children as well; his greed is evident all the more when it is revealed that all the toys made by Vulgaria's toymaker are for him.

Baron Bomburst is last seen when a huge battle occurs in his castle, following an ambush led by Caractacus Potts, Bomburst's servant The Toymaker, the children of the villagers and Truly Scrumptious. The cowardly Baron and his wife hide from the battle and see lots of children enter the castle. Wondering where the children are coming from, the Bomburst's summon the Child Catcher, but even he is ultimately defeated by the village children and left hanging in a net in mid-air. Realizing the Child Catcher is defeated, the Baroness suggests escaping down a rubbish chute; the Baron initially resists the idea, but the couple go down anyway. They're trapped in the Child Catcher's cage-car and the Bombursts are defeated! The villagers help battle the cavalry; with the Baron and Baroness defeated, the cavalry retreats from the battle in terror. Vulgaria then becomes a free country; the Bombursts and the Child Catcher are presumably arrested or exiled in the story's ending.

Personality

His relationship with his wife appears to be twisted: when Grandfather Potts inadvertently ejects her out of the captured Chitty, Bomburst automatically opts for a shotgun as the best means to get her down-claiming that he has waited twenty years for this moment, and there is a darkly comical sequence shortly afterwards where he alternately sings of his love for her and attempts to kill her.

Cruel though he is, there is a juvenile side to him as well. His envy for the Potts' car is more akin to a spoiled schoolboy than a psychopathic killer; he sulks mightily when the toymaker has apparently made him a doll, and he sobs near the end when he loses his crown in fleeing from the children. His wife then starts pampering him.