Home > Adventure >

Around the World in Eighty Days

Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)

October. 17,1956
|
6.7
|
G
| Adventure Fantasy Comedy Romance

Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.

...

Watch Trailer

Cast

Similar titles

Reviews

Lucybespro
1956/10/17

It is a performances centric movie

More
CommentsXp
1956/10/18

Best movie ever!

More
Baseshment
1956/10/19

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

More
AshUnow
1956/10/20

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

More
SimonJack
1956/10/21

When this movie came out, I was a high school freshman. "Around the World in 80 Days" in Todd-AO was a splendor to behold then. And on later viewings, it continues to delight. Modern audiences of the 21st century may not find it as enchanting. But, in the 1950s, world travel still was something mostly for the wealthy and some businesses. American television had little fare that showed foreign lands. For most of us, the movies and National Geographic Magazine were how we saw the broader world that we read about in school. So, "Around the World" was a window on much of the world that most people had only read or heard about. And, what a window it was – and is, with spectacular scenery, vistas, views of foreign lands, and adventures through colorful and varied cultures. I can't imagine anyone wouldn't know the premise of the film, and the book on which it's based. Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a masterful adventure storyteller. He is among the most renowned of French authors, and probably the best-known and read adventure and sci-fi writer of all time. He is indeed, the father of science fiction. Hollywood made four of his 66 novels into excellent movies, and three dozen more films have been made in various countries that were inspired by Verne novels or excerpted from them. Who can forget the big four Jules Verne stories from the mid-20th century films of them? The first was "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" in 1954, followed by "Around the World" in 1956. The next sci-fi classic was "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 1959, and the last of Verne's works with a worthy film production was "Mysterious Island" of 1961. One thing that enhanced Verne's work was the meticulous research he did for his novels. Of course, many of his sci-fi subjects have become a reality – submarines, rockets, travel to the moon. The most fantastic that stretched the imagination was "Journey to the Center of the Earth." Verne combined knowledge of the best current science with history and geography to create his fantastic adventure stories. Since 1980, Jules Verne is the second most translated author in the world – just behind Agatha Christie and ahead of William Shakespeare. A couple of quotes from his biographies are timeless. "Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth." And, "We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones." In the introduction to the DVD film I have, film historian Robert Osborne gives some interesting background on the movie, "Around the World." The making of the film was as much a wonder, as the story itself. And, one man deserves the credit for bringing this great Verne adventure to the screen. When everyone else said it couldn't be done, Michael Todd pulled strings, cajoled people, scrounged for funding, got the best talent and writers he could, and pulled out all the stops. He set out to make a classic like no other, and he did just that.The cast for the film is superb. In the intro, Osborne says, "There was only one actor Michael Todd envisioned as the film's lead character, Phileas Fogg. And, that was David Niven, who was more than pleased to play the part." The second major role – of Passepartout, was a real achievement by Todd. He considered Cantinflas to be the greatest living performer. And, although the Mexican actor – who then was the wealthiest actor in the world, had never made a movie in English, Todd flew to Mexico to meet him. A week later, Cantinflas agreed to do the part. Niven and Cantinflas made a perfect combination to build the story around. Then, Todd set out to get a host of big name stars to add to the film. To do this, he coined the phrase, "cameo part." So, instead of their having bit parts, 36 actors were celebrated for their small parts as gems or star jewels in the film. Osborne says, "For the rest of his life, Niven said it was his favorite of all the roles he ever played." It's interesting that this Verne story doesn't have a balloon in it. At least two of his books had hot air balloons – "Five Weeks in a Balloon" and "Mysterious Island." Todd thought "Around the World" should have a hot air balloon, so it has one. This movie probably holds the record for the number of locations for filming. It was filmed at 52 locales in eight countries and regions, including cities from London to Hong Kong, and Tokyo to San Francisco. Film crews shot in Bangladesh, China, France, Japan, the Persian Gulf, Spain and Thailand. In the U.S. they filmed in California, New Mexico, Colorado and Oklahoma. And, four different major studios were used for filming – Estee Studios in England, and three in California: RKO, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers. "Around the World in 80 Days" won five of eight Oscars for which it was nominated, including Best Picture of 1956. It won over some tremendous films that year ("The King and I," "The Ten Commandments," "Giant," and "Friendly Persuasion.") It also won two Golden Globes including best picture. Later versions of this film were made, but none on the scope and expanse of this great production. With tens of thousands of extras in this film, and yet unspoiled or undeveloped areas captured in 1956, it's unlikely that any future production could ever equal this classic. Even though world travel has shrunk and technology now makes pictures from around the world almost instantaneous to anyone, an imaginary trip such as in "Around the World" should please audiences for decades to come.

More
adrianovasconcelos
1956/10/22

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS will always be special to me because it was the only film that I watched alone with my beloved paternal grandfather, back in Lourenço Marques, Moçambique, in 1970. Of course, one can find flaws with the structure, Cantinflas' excessive flamboyance, and holes in the story's credibility, but that detracts from the immense pleasure, and ultimately the rather solid product that this film turns out to be, with wonderful comic touches and photography, and cameos by major stars of the day generously sprinkled all over the film. A 60th anniversary edition has come out in DVD and BlueRay with excellent extra material, including a voice over commentary that is a joy to listen to, offering detailed information about members of the cast, production difficulties, etc. David Niven's deadpan performance provides a clever counterweight to Cantinflas' overplayed antics. I have now watched this film at least 5 times, and all I can say is that I continue to enjoy it... very much!

More
James Hitchcock
1956/10/23

Jules Verne is often thought of today as a pioneering author of science- fiction, but his "Around the World in 80 Days" is a novel without any futuristic, sci-fi elements. Rather than attempting to predict the technology of the future, Verne uses the novel to celebrate the technology of his own day, especially the railways and steamships which were starting to make the world a smaller place. Even so, he still thought that his hero was attempting the impossible; it is said that his original title was "Around the World in 100 Days", but he changed it when his publisher pointed out that a tour of the world in 100 days was quite feasible so Fogg would not have found any takers for his bet. The basic plot is quite a simple one. In order to win a bet with fellow- members of his London club Phileas Fogg, a Victorian English gentleman, sets out to travel around the world in eighty days, accompanied by his valet Passepartout. Along the way they have various adventures. Their principal antagonist is a Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Fix, who dogs their footsteps in order to arrest Fogg, whom he believes to have robbed the Bank of England. (In reality, Fogg is the victim of mistaken identity). Fogg's love interest is Princess Aouda, a beautiful Indian lady whom he rescues from the fate of being burned alive on her first husband's funeral pyre. The film contains two odd pieces of casting. In the fifties the Production Code still officially banned depictions of mixed-race romances and marriages, but in practice the censors tended to overlook romances between white men and light-skinned non-white or mixed-race women, provided those women were played by white actresses. (E.g. Jennifer Jones in "Love Is a Many-Splendoured Thing", Joan Rice in "His Majesty O'Keeffe", Ava Gardner in "Bhowani Junction", and others). Hence the seemingly bizarre casting of a young Shirley MacLaine as Aouda, although she is not quite as unconvincing as an Indian as one might have expected. Hollywood's squeamishness about interracial love did not die with the Production Code; when the film was remade in 2004 Aouda was written out of the story altogether and Fogg's love interest became a Frenchwoman. The second strange piece of casting is that of the Mexican comedian Cantinflas as Passepartout, a Frenchman in the novel. (Mind you, this role was even more strangely cast in the 2004 version when Passepartout was played by Jackie Chan). The reason is that the producer Mike Todd was a great admirer of Cantinflas, and the plot of the novel was even rewritten to accommodate him. Comic mock-bullfights were a Cantinflas speciality, and in the film Fogg and Passepartout travel to Spain, a country they do not actually visit in the book, so that such a scene can take place. Real bullfighting is a nasty, bloody business, but in the hands of Cantinflas it becomes a genteel, balletic affair, a sort of tango between man and bull who clearly have a gentleman's agreement not to injure one another. Although little known in English-speaking countries, Cantinflas was a huge star in Mexico and elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world, where he was given top billing ahead of David Niven. The film could perhaps be described as "Around the World in 80 Clichés", because each country the travellers visit is represented by a sort of easily recognisable visual shorthand- flamenco and bullfights in Spain, fezzes in Egypt, elephants, sacred cows and turbans in India, rickshaws and pigtails in Hong Kong, kimonos and temples in Japan, cowboys and Indians in America. No expense was spared in making the film; the cast and crew actually did travel round the world, shooting the various scenes on location in the countries where they are set, and a large number of established stars, including the likes of John Gielgud, Marlene Dietrich and Frank Sinatra, have cameo roles or appear as extras. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. This caused some surprise at the time because it beat films as good as "The Ten Commandments" and "Lust for Life". There seemed, however, to be a tradition in the fifties of giving "Best Picture" Oscars to light- hearted films ("An American in Paris", "Gigi") as well as to serious ones ("From Here to Eternity", "On the Waterfront", "Ben-Hur"), and "Around the World in Eighty Days" falls firmly into the former category. It was a big success at the box office, and the Academy judges were obviously impressed by the factors that made it so- its grand scale, its attractive Technicolor photography, Niven's suave, dapper performance as the hero, the antics of Cantinflas and its general sense of fun and adventure. Although it would not have been my personal choice as best film of 1956, I cannot regard it as an unworthy winner. 8/10Some goofs. When Fogg arrives back at his club at 8.45 pm on 21st September it is broad daylight outside, although it would be dark in Britain at this time in late September, and would have been even darker in 1872 when there was no British Summer Time. We see a San Francisco cable car, although these were not introduced until 1873, a year after the date the film is set.

More
l_rawjalaurence
1956/10/24

Michael Anderson's film is justifiably memorable for its huge cast, its memorable photography (by Lionel Linden), its catchy theme tune (Victor Young), and its sheer brio. It remains producer Mike Todd's crowning achievement, a lasting legacy for a showman whose life was brutally curtailed by an air-crash in 1958. The epic is held together by two memorable performances from David Niven as Phileas Fogg and Cantinflas as his loyal servant Passepartout.Structurally speaking, however, AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS is a mess. There are some memorable individual sequences - for example, at the beginning when Fogg makes a bet in London's Reform Club with his fellow-members (Finlay Currie, Ronald Squire, Trevor Howard, Basil Sydney); or the brief exchange at the domestic services agency involving Fogg's former manservant (John Gielgud) and the proprietor (Noel Coward). Later on Fogg has a memorable exchange with the Indian Peninsular Railway Official (Ronald Colman), in which the two actors compete for who can speak their lines in the best RP (Received Pronunciation) accent. Once Fogg crosses to the United States, he has another memorable encounter with a Barbary Coast saloon pianist (Frank Sinatra).Yet such sequences are often separated by long stretches of film where nothing really happens: Passepartout has a long bull-fighting sequence, watched by Fogg and Achmed Abdullah (Gilbert Roland), that becomes tedious; likewise the funeral sequence where Fogg saves Princess Aouda (Shirley MacLaine) from death seems to be included simply to show off director Anderson's love of local color. In the end the experience of watching the film becomes an exercise in identifying the stars playing cameo roles - for a film buff of the mid-twentieth century, this can be a fascinating experience, but perhaps not to most viewers' taste. Nonetheless, it's fun to see actors such as Robert Newton, Joe E. Brown, Peter Lorre, John Carradine, John Mills, Glynis Johns, Hermione Gingold and even Buster Keaton in cameo roles. If you blink too much, you might miss them.David Niven doesn't have too much to do in this film, other than to reinvent his familiar screen persona as an urbane man-about-town, perpetually faced with the responsibility of taming his manservant's excesses. Nonetheless he does his task competently.AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS is an exhausting experience to watch, but one that still communicates incidental pleasures, especially to viewers from an older generation.

More