“You Are Going Traveling?” “Around the World.” “Then You Won’t Be Here for Breakfast.”
Even though I wasn’t a huge fan of the book Around the World in Eighty Days when I read it, I decided to give the 1956 movie version a chance. The three-hour run time did give me pause, but I sat down to watch it anyway. Sadly, it disappointed.
The movie sets out to tell the same story as the book. In the 1870’s, an English gentleman, Phileas Fogg (David Niven), sets out with his new valet Passepartout (Cantinflas) to travel around the world in eighty days after he makes a wager that he can do it with other members of his gentlemen’s club. Along the way, he catches the attention of Inspector Fix (Robert Newton) who thinks Fogg is on the run after having robbed a bank. Meanwhile, in India, he rescues the Princess Aouda (Shirley MacLaine) and she joins their party. But will he make it back in time to win?
Changing a book when it is made into a movie is nothing new, and this book makes two big changes within the first 30 minutes as Fogg and Passepartout travel by hot air balloon and Passepartout winds up in a bull fight. After that, it starts to stick closer to the book, for better or worse.
I never felt like I got to know the characters in the book, and that stays true here in the movie. Meanwhile, Princess Aouda’s hero worship of Fogg is over the top. Again, this was true in the book, but I wish they’d done something different with her character.
My bigger issue with the movie is the pacing. Yes, this is an epic journal, but too much of it is taken up with scenery shots with background music. They could have shortened the movie by a good twenty to thirty minutes by shortening these scenes. Yes, some of it was good, but they didn’t need to go on as long as it did.
If you are familiar with stars of the age, you’ll enjoy seeing some of them pop up as minor characters.
Keep in mind that none of my complaints about the film are aimed at any of the actors. The two leads get the most material, and they have some fun along the way with it. The rest of the cast is fine. It’s the script that doesn’t give them enough to work with and cause the issues.
I still like the premise of the story, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Sadly, Around the World in Eighty Days doesn’t improve on it at all as a movie.
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