Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)

Adaptation of Jules Verne's novel about a Victorian Englishman who bets that with the new steamships and railways he can do what the title says.

Director:

Michael Anderson

Writers:

James Poe (screenplay), John Farrow (screenplay),

Stars:

Cantinflas, Finlay Currie, Robert Morley

Won 5 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cantinflas	...	Passepartout
Finlay Currie	...	Andrew Stuart
Robert Morley	...	Ralph - Bank of England Governor
Ronald Squire	...	Reform Club Member
Basil Sydney	...	Reform Club Member
Noel Coward	...	Roland Hesketh-Baggott - London Employment Agency Manager
John Gielgud	...	Foster - Fogg's Ex-Valet (as Sir John Gielgud)
Trevor Howard	...	Denis Fallentin -Reform Club Member
Harcourt Williams	...	Hinshaw - Reform Club Aged Steward
David Niven	...	Phileas Fogg
Martine Carol	...	Girl in Paris Railroad Station
Fernandel	...	French Coachman
Charles Boyer	...	Monsieur Gasse -Thomas Cook Paris Clerk
Evelyn Keyes	...	Tart - Paris
José Greco	...	Flamenco Dancer (as Jose Greco and Troupe)

Storyline

Phileas Fogg accepts a challenge from his fellow members at the Reform Club and sets of prove that you can travel around the world in a mind-boggling 80 days. He sets off by train to Paris with his new valet Passepartout but then is forced to continue the trip by balloon arriving next in Spain where Passepartout has an interesting encounter in the bullfighting ring. They finally make their way across the Mediterranean and through the Suez canal, arriving in Bombay two days ahead of schedule. They board the train for Calcutta where they find there is a 50 mile gap midway. The break in their journey proved eventful as they rescue an Indian princess, Aouda, who is about to be forced to commit suttee - throwing herself on her dead husband's funeral pyre. They make to Calcutta and on to Siam and the Honk Kong. Throughout the voyage, they are followed by a detective, Mr. Fix, who is convinced that Fogg is the thief responsible for the recent £55,000 theft at the bank of England. In Honk ...

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Plot Keywords:

bet | travel | train | england | journey | 

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Taglines:

...and the whole world loves it!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish French

Release Date:

1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Michael Todd's Around the World in 80 Days

Filming Locations:

Yokohama, Kanagawa, Honshu, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$42,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Michael Todd Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

175 min 167 min (35 mm) 183 min (with overture and exit music) 135 min (video) 182 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Mag-optical) (35 mm prints) (1956) Mono (optical) (35 mm prints) (re-release prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System) 4-Track Stereo (Perspecta Sound encoding) (35 mm magnetic prints) (1956)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Two major episodes in the film that do not appear in the novel are the arrival in Spain by gas balloon and the bullfighting scene.

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Goofs

When the balloon crosses France, the Sacre Coeur Basilica can be seen but, the building of that church began in 1873.

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Quotes

Mr. Fix: Follow that ostrich!

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Crazy Credits

The closing credits then begin with the words WHO WAS SEEN IN WHAT SCENE ... AND WHO DID WHAT.

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Connections

Version of Die Reise um die Erde in 80 Tagen (1963)

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Soundtracks

"Around the World"
(1956) (uncredited)
Music by Victor Young
Main theme played in the score throughout the movie

User Reviews

This Picture Makes No Sense On A Small Screen

Around the World in 80 Days is part comedy and part demonstration of a new wide-screen process. I saw it in its original run at the old Rivoli Theater in New York, where the screen ran from 48th St. to 49th St. People gasped at the size of the screen when the curtains opened, before the film even got underway.

If you watch the new 16x9 DVD on anything less than a 50-inch television, the visual composition and the pacing are absolutely incomprehensible, and you're on your own to seize on the many little things that are there to entertain you. But as a whole, the film loses its reason for being when viewed on a conventional TV.

David Niven is unbeatable as Phileas Fogg, Shirley Maclaine is implausible but slyly humorous as the Princess, Robert Newton appears sober most of the time and hammy all of it as Inspector Fix.

Cantinflas is inexplicable as Passepartout, except perhaps as Mike Todd's attempt to corral the entire Latin American market. The Mexican comedian's English is very shaky; it slows him down, and his clarity comes and goes and makes me wonder if Paul Frees didn't replace a lot of his lines. At any rate, only in the seemingly improvised encounter with Red Skelton at a buffet does Cantinflas do anything remotely humorous, and there he's the straight man.

The cameos are fun, and if you're too young to know who all these geezers are, it's worth it to find out, and use the IMDb to track down the work that made them famous. I remember the shriek the original audience let out when the piano player was revealed to be Frank Sinatra.

Viewing the film now, I was most moved to see Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglan reunited in the engine room of the Henrietta, thirty years after they riveted the industry in "What Price Glory?" Buster Keaton concentrates really hard in his appearance as the train conductor, to excellent effect. A. E. Matthews gives a terrific acting lesson in saying "no" a half a dozen times in a London sequence.

Among the original bettors, locate Ronald Squire with the drooping mustache, hollow nasal baritone, and a slouching relaxation while performing that was a marvel - Rex Harrison publicly admired Ronald Squire's ease on stage all his life. In fact, Squire is so relaxed he makes someone like Dean Martin seem uptight.

So, this film is an unusual case - requiring patience for lots of little joys on the small screen, but making sense only on a large one.