Lee Eisenberg
Michael Anderson's* "Around the World in 80 Days" had to have been one of the most ambitious movies ever made at the time. Lots of sets, lots of animals, lots of traveling, and countless cameos. Obviously the downside is the casting of Shirley MacLaine (not of South Asian descent) as an Indian princess, as well as the depiction of Native Americans in one scene. Overall, it's an impressive piece of work. I suspect that this was the non-Spanish-speaking world's introduction to Cantinflas. You gotta appreciate what they put into this movie.As for other things, when David Niven's character insists that he always eats at a certain time, it reminded me of Sheldon Cooper. During the party scene in Spain, everyone's having fun while he just stares; typical Englishman keeping a stiff upper lip. During the scene where they burn parts of the boat to keep it going, I figured that they would eventually have to burn their clothes and arrive naked.If you judge the cast by the roles and personalities for which they're most famous, then the movie includes the Pink Panther (Niven), Pepe le Moko (Boyer), the Joker (Romero), the gangster (Raft), Clem Kadiddlehopper (Red Skelton), the Blue Angel (Dietrich), the Voice (Carradine), the swoon-inducer (Sinatra), deadpan guy (Keaton), the informer (McLaglen), Benzino Napoloni (Oakie), Mrs. Banks (Johns), Charlie Chan's #1 son (Luke), and of course, the guy who took down Joe McCarthy (Murrow). Directed by Elizabeth Taylor's future husband from a script by Mia Farrow's dad.I haven't seen every Oscar-nominated movie from 1956, but I'd say that this one deserved it (though it had tough competition from "Giant").*I decided to read about Michael Anderson, and surprisingly learned that he died just a few days ago.
HotToastyRag
Michael Todd, Hollywood and Broadway producer and one-time husband to Elizabeth Taylor, put up six million dollars in his quest to make Around the World in Eighty Days the greatest film of all time. And in 1956, that was an unheard of amount of money to spend on a movie. It won the Oscar for Best Picture, but nowadays, it's kind of looked at as "that balloon movie with a hundred people in it".If you ask someone about the plot, he'll probably hesitate and basically repeat the title. The plot is not the focus of the film; the cameos are. Todd recruited forty Hollywood stars, in addition to David Niven in the lead and Shirley MacLaine in a smaller role, to wave at the camera and make the audience squeal with delight as they say, "Oo! There's Frank Sinatra/Charles Boyer/Marlene Dietrich/Cesar Romero/Buster Keaton/Charles Coburn/George Raft/John Gielgud/Glynis Johns!" If you want to see forty Hollywood stars turned into glorified extras, and a story about a man in a hot air balloon appeals to you, go ahead and see it. It is a classic, and it did win Best Picture.
weezeralfalfa
I clearly remember when this was released. The exotic locales and numerous frustrating impediments to achieving the goal of circumnavigating the world in 80 days, in 1872, by various conventional and unconventional means, climaxed by the unexpected ending, provided a generally exciting drama for a kid of those times. The cameo appearances of various very well known or somewhat familiar actors added to the appeal, as did the very memorable theme song. You have to remember that nearly all TVs were B&W then, and travelogue programs weren't that numerous.This film was the baby of the innovative, compulsive gambling, Mike Todd: his only conventional feature film that he produced, which needed to be a big financial success to wipe out his massive debts from gambling and lavish lifestyle. Having previously financed a stage version of the subject, which was a big financial flop, he nearly went bankrupt before finishing this promising version. Having previously been involved in the commercialization of the 3-camera Cinerama film process, Todd had joined with American Optical Company to develop a single camera wide angle version, which included 6 sound tracts, dubbed Todd-AO, which was first used in the production of the spectacularly successful musical "Oklahoma". It's second use was for the present film. We can readily see the influence of Todd's experience with Cinerama in the splendid travelogue visuals. In recent times, TCM has shown this film occasionally. I stopped to rewatch it in it's entirety. David Niven was, of course, perfect for the role of the unbelievably stiff, robotic, Fogg, who represents an extreme version of the time, speed, and money-obsessed modern man. Inexplicably, he hires his virtual opposite in the happy-go-lucky Latino Passepartout(Cantinflas) as his valet and traveling companion., who provides a window into various adventures in various exotic lands that the ever robotic Fogg couldn't provide....Robert Newton has a typical villain role, as a detective, who is sure Fogg was the mastermind behind a large Bank of London heist, the day before Fogg left on the journey. This clearly non-aristocratic sleuth is bent on foiling Fogg's attempt to circle the globe on time to win the prize, as well as arresting him at a convenient time. By forcing Fogg to spend a night in jail in London at the terminus of the journey, before learning that he was not the guilty party, Newton's Mr. Fix is finally clearly fingered as the chief villain of the tale, saved only by Cantinflas's subsequent discovery that it's a day earlier than Fogg assumed. This was Newton's last film role, after establishing himself as the archetypical pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy, in several pirate films. It was clear that his liver wouldn't hold out much longer. Too bad, as he was such a charismatic heavy.As she later admitted, Shirley MacLaine was miscast as the very young Indian widow rescued by Fogg from being forced to burn to death atop her deceased husband's funeral pyre. She didn't look or speak anything like a typical Indian, and she contributed virtually nothing to the interest of the film, after her rescue by Continflas. True, her part was underwritten. The suggestion of a marriage with Fogg , at the end, looks problematic. She is grateful for his? rescue and addition to the traveling group. He seems agreeable, perhaps out of pity. I just wonder if a middle-aged man of his extreme type could alter his persona sufficiently to make an appealing mate, aside from his obvious wealth(of undetermined origin). Just what he normally did with his time is left unexplored.Like the subsequent "Moon River", the theme song "Around the World" is a very memorable soothing inspirational waltz, which was played ad nauseam throughout the film as background, including multiple arrangements during the intermission. Unlike "Moon River", it very surprisingly wasn't nominated for Best Original Film Song. I suspect this is partly because no lyrics were sung during the film, although they soon appeared in various single recordings released. However, Victor Young did receive the Oscar for best original score in a non-musical, and since this was the only original song in the film, this serves as sort of a consolation award for the song. I consider it more addictive than "Moon River", and I'm sure it added significantly to the case for voting this as the best film of the year.The section where the party is trying to make their way across the western US comes across as sort of a western, including several encounters with Native Americans while on a train, a loudmouthed trigger-happy pest in John Carridine, a near train wreck while crossing a rickety trestle being destroyed by flood waters, and an improvised sail--powered(supposedly) rail maintenance hand car, when no train was available in the near term. Incidentally, sail-powered rail cars were tried in the early days of rails, but proved impractical. Fogg's bunch presumably lucked out in having a steady prairie wind in the desired direction. Incidentally, the aristocratic Reform Club, of which Fogg was a member, and which was the initiator of the prize for achieving his goal, is based upon a real London club, whose original purpose was to promote reform of the House of Commons, later to become a bastion of the Liberal Party.
