Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

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Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

6/10

Starring

David Niven
Cantinflas
Robert Newton
Shirley MacLaine

Directed by Michael Anderson

Distributed by United Artists

This is movie that goes on for 2 hours and keeps you wanting more, for the journey had beautiful scenery and nice international cast. The movie stared David Niven as Fogg and Cantinflas as Passepartout.

Both characters being contradictory, Fogg is a gentleman, well-dressed, well-spoken, and extremely punctual, whereas Passepartout was the comic relief in the movie, he loved women and was a jack of all trade, their union boasted of talents and wits that saw them through the entire journey.

This adventure film was produced by Michael Todd and is based on a novel of the same name by Jules Verne.

Well comparing this to the 2004 remake that had Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan is going to be difficult as some of the attributes of Passepartout were given to Fogg making you lose respect for Fogg himself and the 1956 version is far different in the adventures embarked upon by the two compared to those in the 2004 version.

The movie was actually filmed in 75 days and the cast including extras totaled 68,894 people and 7,959 animals. The wardrobe department spent $410,000 to provide 74,685 costumes and 36,092 trinkets.

This movie packed a punch as the producers visited every country that Fogg and Passepartout passed through. The plot is about an English man in 1872 who is a member of the Reform Club, his name is Phileas Fogg (David Niven) he claims he can circumnavigate the world in eighty days.

This made the other member of the Club view his claim as a bogus statement so he makes a £20,000 wager (equal to over £1,000,000 today) with several members of the Reform Club. The wager states that he will arrive back within 80 days before 8:45 pm.

Together with his resourceful valet, Passepartout (Cantinflas), Fogg sets out on his journey which saw him save a princess, battle Indians, and as he was on his journey was named the chief suspect of stolen £55,000 (equal to over £3,000,000 today) from the Bank of England.

This movie’s wonderful cinematography was done by Lionel Lindon who won an Academy award for his work and he was involved in the photography of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

The movie won five Academy awards, beating out critically acclaimed films like Friendly Persuasion, The Ten Commandments, Giant, and The King and I. The wins were Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Music and Best Writing, Best Screenplay, Adapted.

This is a movie that is fun to watch and captivating to see.