1956--Around the World in 80 Days, Michael Anderson

1956--Around the World in 80 Days, Michael Anderson
Nominated: Friendly Persuasion, Giant, The King and I, The Ten Commandments
Should Have Won: The Ten Commandments
Be Sure to See: The Bad Seed, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Searchers
"Why hang me for a sheep-stealing son of a tarantula. If you ain't a pack of yellow-bellied milk stops,"--Col. Proctor Stamp

    Jules Verne's classic tale Around the World in 80 Days was adapted into at least three films. One starred martial arts expert Jackie Chan and a previous one featured Pierce Brosnan. Decades before, it had been adapted into a version which won the Academy Award for best picture. It is a shame because the 1956 winner does not deserve to have “Oscar” anywhere near its title. The only interesting thing about this movie is it is that producer Michael Todd coined the term “cameo” and that this movie is the only feature length film he ever produced, and it won. Talk about batting a thousand. 

 

    Well that isn't the only interesting thing about the movie. The first few minutes are also amusing because it opens by showing clips from the classic 1902 film A Trip to the Moon (which comes highly recommended, I might add; it is on youtube. Watch it). After that setup there is a six and a half minute intro about rocket travel and Verne's ideas before the actual movie began. I'm not sure if that is part of the actual movie or added to my disk. I could rent a different copy but, to tell the truth, I don't want to. 

 

    It is September 21, 1872 (75 years to the day before Stephen King was born, I'll have you know), and

Phileas Fogg has made a wager with members of his men's club he can travel around the world in 80 days. The men take that bet and Fogg grabs three shirts, two pairs of pants, and his valet named Passerpartout and they begin their journey. It starts in a balloon but proceeds to trains and boats. Along the way, Princess Aouda (the lovely Shirley MacLaine; in four years she will star in another best picture winner and it is that movie I developed a little crush on her) joins them. They run into a few setbacks and so on, all the while the police are suspicious that he stole 55,000 pounds from a bank. 

 

    Some movies like this can work but most I've seen are a mess. Rat Race, Cannonball Run, and even the quasi-acclaimed It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (which I didn't care too much for but is worth a look on a rainy day) are examples of films that, for me, never should have left the starting post. Movies like this are frustrating because I lose my interest. Around the World in 80 Days was frustrating because on top of losing my interest it was long, at just over three hours. There is one span of over four minutes of nothing but Passepartout looking out a train window. Later, when they've reached America, there is an Indian attack and the rubber arrows bounce off of Passepartout like it was a middle school play. 

   Some of it was good. I liked what Fogg does when the steamship was running out of power. And whether or not he wins the bet was handled well, leading the viewer in different directions. The movie runs about a minute too long. though. When the bet is settled it seems like a good place to end. Then the final ten seconds make up one of the lousiest final scenes in movie history. I can only imagine it was debated on during post-production on whether to keep it or scrap it. They arrived at the wrong choice.  And it should also be noted that a man named Reginald Denny played a police inspector. Wasn't he the truck driver who was beaten during the Rodney King riots? Look that up on a rainy day, but skip this mess.