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Around the World in Eighty Days (1956 film)
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Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 adventure film produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson. John Farrow, the original director, was replaced by Michael Anderson after a few days of shooting and cannot be credited. Produced by Michael Todd with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James Poe, John Farrow and S. J. Perelman based on the classic novel of the same name by Jules Verne.
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Encyclopedia
Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 adventure film produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson. John Farrow, the original director, was replaced by Michael Anderson after a few days of shooting and cannot be credited. Produced by Michael Todd with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written 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 composed by Victor Young, and the Todd-AO 70 mm cinematography was by Lionel Lindon.
Production
Around the World in 80 Days was an epic film. It was produced by Michael Todd, a flamboyant Broadway showman who had never before produced a movie. The director he hired, Michael Anderson, had directed the highly acclaimed British war movie The Dam Busters, the original George Orwell 1984 and other classic films.
Filming took place in late 1955, from August 9 to December 20. The crew worked fast (75 actual days of filming), producing 680,000 feet (128 miles) of film, which was edited down to of finished film. The picture cost just under $6 million to make, employing 140 locations, 100 sets and over 36,000 costumes. Todd said he and the crew visited every country portrayed in the picture (including England, France, India, Spain, Thailand and Japan).
The film premiered on October 17, 1956 at the Rivoli theater in New York City. Todd claimed that the film got 70 to 80 awards, including five Academy awards. The picture grossed $100 million world-wide, including about $25 million in the USA.
The movie included over 40 stars besides David Niven, who played the lead, Phileas Fogg. The Mexican actor Cantinflas played his co-star Passepartout, Fogg's assistant.
10,000 extras were used in filming the bullfight scene, with Cantinflas as the bullfighter, in Spain; Cantinflas had previously done some bullfighting. They used all 6500 residents of the small spanish town named Chinchón, 45 km away from Madrid, but Todd decided there weren't enough spectators. So he found 3500 more from nearby towns. Todd also used over 6000 buffalo for a stampede scene. He used 650 Indians for a fight with white people on a train in the West. Many of the 650 were Indians, but some were extras from L.A. All 650 had their skin color altered with some kind of dye. Todd used about 50 gallons of orange-colored dye for those extras.
Todd sometimes used models of boats, ships and trains in the film, but he often decided that they didn't look realistic so he switched to the real thing where he could. The scene of a collapsing train bridge in the film is partly without models. The overhead shot of the train crossing the bridge was full scale, but the bridge collapse was indeed a large scale miniature, verifiable by observing the slightly jerky motion of the rear passenger car as the train pulls away from the shot on the right, as well as the scale of the slowed-down water droplets which are out of scale in the splashing river below. Water is the greatest givaway in a model shot. This also helps to verify which of the ships in the film are models and which are real. All the steamships shown in the first half of the film are miniatures shot in an outdoor studio tank. It is mostly the water which gives the effect away. The exception is the American ship which is shown at the intermission point, which is real. A tunnel was built for one of the train sequences out of paper mache. After the train filming was complete, the "tunnel" was pushed over into the gorge. It may still be there.
Many of the balloon scenes with Niven and Cantinflas were filmed using a crane. Even that height bothered Niven, who was afraid of heights. Tom Burges, who was shorter than Niven, was used as a stand in for scenes where the balloon is seen from a distance. Many of the lots used in the film are now on the land occupied by Century City, an office complex in the L.A. area.
The title credits are shown at the end of the film. They are an animated sequence (brilliantly created by Saul Bass) that lasts about seven minutes.
The DVDs for “Around the World…” include four hours of supplemental material, in addition to the (apparently restored) three-hour wide-screen color film. The above comments are summarized from the three-hour audio narrative that describes the film. Also included on one of the disks is a documentary film, about 50 minutes long, about Mike Todd.
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 £55,000 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 with 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. 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. 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, in 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
- Charles Boyer - Monsieur Gasse, balloonist
- Joe E. Brown - Station Master, rural Nebraska
- Martine Carol - Tourist, Paris
- John Carradine - Col. Proctor Stamp, San Francisco
- Charles Coburn - Clerk, Hong Kong
- Ronald Colman - Railway Official, India
- Melville Cooper - Steward
- Noël Coward - Hesketh-Baggott
- Finlay Currie - Whist Partner
- Reginald Denny - Police Chief, Bombay
- Andy Devine - First Mate, S.S. Henrietta
- Marlene Dietrich - Hostess, Barbary Coast Saloon
- Luis Miguel Dominguín - Bullfighter
- Fernandel - Coachman, Paris
- Walter Fitzgerald - Club Member
- Ava Gardner - Spectator
- John Gielgud - Mr Foster, the Butler
- Hermione Gingold - Sportin' Lady
- José Greco - Dancer
- Sir Cedric Hardwicke - General Sir Francis Gromarty, India
- Trevor Howard - Falletin
- Glynis Johns - Companion
- Buster Keaton - Conductor
- Evelyn Keyes - Flirt
- Beatrice Lillie - Revivalist, London
- Peter Lorre - Steward, S.S. Carnatic
- Edmund Lowe - Engineer, S.S. Henrietta
- Col. Tim McCoy - Colonel, U.S. Cavalry
- Victor McLaglen - Helmsman, S.S. Henrietta
- A.E. Matthews - Club Member
- Mike Mazurki - Character (in Hong Kong bar)
- John Mills - Cabby in London
- Robert Morley - Ralph (Reform club)
- Alan Mowbray - Consul
- Edward R. Murrow - Narrator, prologue
- Jack Oakie - Captain of S.S. Henrietta
- George Raft - Bouncer at Barbary Coast Saloon
- Gilbert Roland - Achmed Abdullah
- Cesar Romero - Henchman
- Frank Sinatra - Saloon Pianist
- Red Skelton - Drunk, Barbary Coast saloon
- Ronald Squire - Club Member
- Basil Sydney - Club Member
- Richard Wattis - Insp. Hunter
- Harcourt Williams - Hinshaw
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards
The movie was nominated for eight Oscars, of which it was awarded five, beating out classics like The Ten Commandments, Giant, and The King and I:
- Won: Best Picture - Michael Todd, producer
- Won: Best Cinematography, Color - Lionel Lindon
- Won: Best Film Editing - Gene Ruggiero and Paul Weatherwax
- Won: Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Victor Young
- Won: Best Writing, Best Screenplay, Adapted - John Farrow, S. J. Perelman, and James Poe
- Nominee: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color - Ken Adam, Ross Dowd, and James W. Sullivan
- Nominee: Best Costume Design, Color - Miles White
- Nominee: Best Director - Michael Anderson
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 distributed by United Artists in two Todd-AO 70 mm versions, one for Todd-AO 70 mm release at 30 frames per second, and an alternate 70 mm version at 24 frames per second reduced to 35 mm for general release.
Around 1976, after its last network television broadcast on CBS, UA lost control of the film to Elizabeth Taylor, the widow of producer Michael Todd and who had inherited a 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 35 mm version (presented at its full 183-minute length) was shown on cable television.
In 2004, WB issued a digitally restored version of the 35 mm 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 35 mm version WB could find, and was subsequently shown on Turner Classic Movies. The original elements from the 70 mm 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 remain to be formally restored by WB.
Warner's retained Andy Pratt Film Labs who in conjunction with Eastman Kodak developed a method to remove the cracked and fading to brown, clear lacquer from the original 65 mm Technicolor negative. Warners did nothing further to restore the negative. The 65 mm Negative was used for the DVD release. Due to costs of making a 70 mm release print even without magnetic striping, using DTS disk for audio, there are no immediate plans for any new prints. The 65 mm roadshow print negative was used for the DVD release. Had any 35 mm Anamorphic elements been used the aspect ratio would have been 2.35:1. Mike Todd had limited 35 mm anamorphic prints made with a non-standard compression ratio to provide a 2.21:1 viewing experience. These special 35 mm prints are called Cinestage, the same name of Mike Todd's showcase theatre in Chicago.
Best available prints of the 70 mm version have recently been exhibited in revival movie houses worldwide. As of 2007, WB remains the film's rights holder.
Racism
Much of the film's plot relies on the use of racial stereotyping that is both historically inaccurate and extremely offensive by contemporary standards; it was however, considered acceptable by the standards of the day. Specifically the Indian Funeral Pyre and the portrayal of Native Americans as cannibals. It also portrays the American characters as cowardly, which is interesting given that the film was American, though it may be meant comically.
See also
External links
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