Best Picture: "Around the World in Eighty Days," 1956

Movie Stats:

Released 1956 (USA)

American, in English (some Spanish, most of it translated)

Director – Michael Anderson

Stars – David Niven, Cantinflas, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Newton, plus about a billion famous people in cameos

Plot Summary:

In 1870s England, stuffy rich guy Phileas Fogg (Niven) makes a monetary bet with his stuffy rich friends that he can cross the globe in 80 days. Cantinflas co-stars as Fogg’s manservant Passepartout; MacLaine as Fogg’s love interest, Princess Aouda; and Newton as Inspector Fix, who’s convinced that Fogg committed a daring bank robbery.

Bad Stuff:

At 3+ hours, this is a very long movie. It honestly didn’t feel especially long as a whole – P, it has an intermission! – but certain scenes felt really long. For example, the “bullfighting” scene comes to mind, as does pretty much the whole entire sequence in America.

Most of the movie is go-go-go, except for the ending, which felt really abrupt. The husband, who was only half-watching with me, actually said, “Wait, that was it?” I also felt that resolution of the bank robbery storyline was very unsatisfactory.

The opening sequence, narrated by Edward R. Murrow, was strange and off-putting. I kept thinking I had clicked on the wrong thing, accidentally starting a bonus clip instead of the movie. Not really the best idea to leave viewers confused at the start of your film.

Good Stuff:

The special effects were actually really good. I was expecting a lot of green screening, so imagine my surprise when I instead got a lot of great, scenic shots.

For the most part, the director seems to have used the correct ethnicity actors. Okay, so Shirley MacLaine played an Indian (of the Asian, not Native American, variety) and a Mexican guy played an Arab, but as far as the extras went, there seemed to be Indians playing Indians, Japanese playing Japanese, Spaniards playing Spaniards, etc. I was impressed. You still don’t see a whole lot of that today, let alone back in the 1950s.

It was funny, especially the dialogue.

The Verdict:

You know that “Everything went better than expected” meme? That’s exactly how I feel about this movie. I wasn’t looking forward to it, and once I realized that it’s over three hours long, I thought it was going to be torture. But it actually wasn’t that bad. In fact, it was fairly entertaining.

Having never read the book, I have no idea how true of an adaptation this is. I believe the book was meant to be a fun romp, and that’s certainly what the movie is. There’s no grand message here. You’re meant to sit back and enjoy the ride, which is what I did, for the most part.

If someone were to ask me for a movie recommendation, I can’t say that this would be high on my list, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a chance if you ever come across it.

I give the movie 3.5 stars.

6/11/14 - Upon further reflection, I decided to lower the rating of this movie to 2.5 stars. To find out more about why click HERE.