WILLY WONKA DOUBLE FEATURE
BBC America, 8:00 p.m. ET
This is a double feature allowing a direct comparison of two fine films based on Roald Dahl’s fabulous Charlie and the Chocolate Factory novel. First, at 8 p.m. ET, is 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, in which Gene Wilder interprets the candy-factory boss as a man with a quietly sadistic, very sarcastic, yet very funny emotional undercurrent. Then comes 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in which Johnny Depp plays Willy Wonka as a more childlike chocolate mogul. Both approaches, like both films, are valid and entertaining. I prefer Wilder, but, like most sweet treats, that’s strictly a matter of taste.