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Around the World in Eighty Days (1956 film)

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Around the World in Eighty Days is a 1956 adventure film made by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson and John Farrow (uncredited) and produced by Michael Todd with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was by James Poe, John Farrow and S. J. Perelman based on the classic novel of the same name by Jules Verne. The music score was by Victor Young and the cinematography by Lionel Lindon.

Production

It was a big budget Hollywood movie, shot in producer Michael Todd's pioneering 70mm Todd-AO system to provide the highest-available picture resolution and sweeping widescreen vistas.

Plot

Around 1872, an English gentleman Phileas Fogg (David Niven) claims he can circumnavigate the world in eighty days. He makes a PS£20,000 wager with several skeptical fellow members of his London gentlemen's club, the Reform Club, that he can arrive back within 80 days before exactly 8:45 pm.

Together with his resourceful valet, Passepartout (Mario Moreno "Cantinflas"), Fogg sets out on his journey from Paris via a hot-air balloon. Meanwhile, suspicion grows that Fogg has stolen his £20,000 from the Bank of England. Police Inspector Fix (Robert Newton) is sent out by Ralph the bank president (Robert Morley) to trail and arrest Fogg. Hopscotching around the globe, Fogg pauses in Spain, where Passepartout engages in a comic bullfight. In India, Fogg and Passepartout rescue young widow Princess Aouda (Shirley MacLaine) from being forced into a funeral pyre so that she may join her late husband. The threesome visit Hong Kong, Japan, San Francisco, and the Wild West. Only hours short of winning his wager, Fogg is arrested upon returning to London by the diligent, yet misguided Inspector Fix.

At the jail, the humiliated Fix informs Fogg that the real culprit was caught in Brighton. Though eventually exonerated of the charges, he has lost everything — except the love of the winsome Aouda. But salvation is at hand when Passepartout realizes the next morning that, by crossing the International Date Line, they have gained a day. There is still time to reach the Reform Club and win the bet. To the surprise of all waiting at the club, Fogg arrives just before the clock's chime at 8:45 pm, even Aouda and Passpartout arrive. Noticing Fogg's whole travel party is here, Ralph announces the end of the journey.

One of the most famous sequences in the film, the flight by hot air balloon, is not in the original Jules Verne novel, and it is quite likely that modern-day readers of the novel have been disappointed at not finding it in the book. Because the film was made in Todd AO, the sequence was expressly created to show off the locations seen on the flight, as projected on the giant curved screen used for the process.

Cast

The movie boasts a huge cast, with David Niven and Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno in the lead roles of Fogg and Passepartout. Fogg is the classic Victorian gentleman, well-dressed, well-spoken, and extremely punctual, whereas his servant Passepartout (who has an eye for the ladies) provides much of the comic relief as a "jack of all trades" for the film in contrast to his master's strict formality. Joining them are Shirley MacLaine as Princess Aouda and Robert Newton as the detective Fix, which would turn out to be his last role.

The role of Passepartout was greatly expanded from the novel to accommodate Cantinflas, the most famous Latin-American comedian at the time, and winds up the focus of the film. While Passepartout describes himself as a Parisian in the novel, this is unclear in the film -- he has a French name, but speaks Spanish when he and his master arrive in Spain by balloon. There is also a comic bullfighting sequence especially created for Cantinflas that is not in the novel. Indeed, when the film was released in non-English speaking nations, Cantinflas was billed as the lead (according to the guidebook describing the movie, this was done because of an obstacle Todd faced in casting Cantinflas, who had never before appeared in an American movie and had turned down countless offers to do so. Todd allowed Cantinflas to appear in the film as a Latin, "so", the actor said himself, "to my audience in Latin America, I'll still be Cantinflas").

Over 40 famous performers make cameo appearances, including Marlene Dietrich, George Raft, and Frank Sinatra to name a few (a complete list of cameo appearances is listed below.) Indeed, this film is credited with popularizing the term cameo appearance.

The movie holds the record for the highest number of animals ever employed.

Complete credited cast

(excluded are numerous extras)

Cameo appearances

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

The movie was nominated for eight Oscars, of which it was awarded five:

Although not nominated for best original song, the film's theme song "Around the World" (music by Victor Young, words by Harold Adamson), became very popular. It was a hit for Bing Crosby in 1957, and was a staple of the easy-listening genre for many years: "Around the world I searched for you / I traveled on when hope was gone to keep a rendezvous ... No more will I go all around the world / For I have found my world in you".

Golden Globes

The movie was also nominated for three Golden Globes, of which it was awarded two:

Other awards

Distribution and ownership

The film was originally released by United Artists in two Todd-AO 70mm versions, one for Todd-AO 70mm release at 30 frames per second, and an alternate 70mm version at 24 frames per second reduced to 35mm for general release.

Around 1976, after its last network television broadcast on CBS, UA lost control of the film to Elizabeth Taylor (widow of producer Michael Todd and who had inherited some portion of Todd's estate). In 1983, Warner Bros. acquired the rights to the film from Taylor, and reissued the film theatrically in a re-edited 143-minute version. In the years that followed, a pan-and-scan transfer of the 35mm version (presented at its full 183-minute length) was shown on cable television.

In 2004, WB issued a digitally restored version of the 35mm incarnation on DVD, also at its full 183-minute length, but also including the original intermission, Entr'acte, and exit music segments that were a part of the original 1956 theatrical release, and for the first time on home video at its original 2.2:1 aspect widescreen ratio.

This restored version was reconstructed from the best available elements of the 35mm version WB could find, and was subsequently shown on Turner Classic Movies. The original elements from the 70mm Todd-AO version (as well as the original prints derived from these elements) still exist, albeit in faded condition due to the passage of time, but remains to be formally restored by WB.

Best available prints of the 70mm version have recently been exhibited in revival movie houses worldwide. As of 2007, WB remains the film's rights holder.

See also

References

External links



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