Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

Around the world in 80 days

A long but very entertaining movie which would appeal to older viewers remembering so many actors in unexpected bit parts - e.g. Bustor Keaton, Frank Sinatra. David Niven and Cantinflas are excellent and the cost of making this film in so many countries would have been enormous. June 29, 2008

Around the World in 80 Days

I remember when this movie originally came out. Always a fan of David Niven's, the movie was good...however, the Mexican comedian, Cantinflas, stole the scene...he was terrific. I enjoyed the movie and will watch it frequently. June 20, 2008

Love this movie!

I teach the book and show this movie along with the Pierce Brosnan miniseries of the same name. This DVD version was not available when we began teaching the book. Our VHS copy was wearing out! I 1-clicked this on Monday during class when it was clear the tape was dying and had it in hand on Thursday to continue using the film on Friday! An absolute life-saver. May 24, 2008

Excellent Movie! Very Good DVD!

This movie is a real masterpiece that makes very optimal use of the vibrant colour and abilities of the Todd-AO process to provide a visual feast to showcase the natural beauty of various locales across the world. The camera angles for many of the scenes were simply inspired and the clarity and overall picture quality is stunningly beautiful making me a believer in the Todd-AO system. This was and still is a good family entertainment film. I enjoyed the transitions from stodgy old Victorian England at the start, to the Flamenco and bull-fighting scenes in Spain, the jaunt in Hong Kong although the scenes with the ostriches are clearly factually incorrect, the beautiful scenes at Yokohama with the giant Buddha statue and the exotic costumes, the wonderful Wild West scenes in San Francisco with the Native American adventures to the brilliant ingenuity on the Henrietta on the voyage back to London.

The abundance of cameos must have been a real hit with movie fans at the time although the effect will be blunted today due to the unfamiliarity of today's audiences with the stars of that time although it was nice to see Frank Sinatra and my favourite Buster Keaton in action. Keaton, together with Charlie Chaplin were the kings of the silent era and while Chaplin was able to adapt somewhat to the advent of sound in films, sadly Keaton wasn't as lucky but like Chaplin, Keaton was a comedic genius.

The dvd is also a great treat as the sound quality that comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround is simply fantastic! Excellent sound and the best for an older film that I've ever heard to date. This shows how well a properly undertaken job at sound quality restoration can rejuvenate the older classic films if only the studios take the time and effort to do a good job. They should use this dvd as a guide in the future as to the great potential of giving new life to older films through the use of enhanced sound quality.

The picture quality using the Todd-AO process was also very, very good and the clarity is breathtaking however there are still too many white spots in much of the film for my liking. Hopefully with the advent of Blu-ray they should take the opportunity to really do a proper frame by frame clean up to totally remove as much as possible all these picture quality imperfections.

The special features are also very good with an excellent documentary on the life of producer Mike Todd whose life resembled that of the film's protagonist Phileous Fogg as one who is resourceful and willing to risk all to achieve his dreams. Another entertaining extra is the television broadcast of the "little" party that Todd threw at the Madison Square Garden to celebrating the anniversary of the success of the film.

This dvd represents excellent value but I would like to see a better restoration job on the picture quality although again the sound quality is simply brilliant. Having watched both the "Giant" dvd and this one, I am personally unsurprised that this film pipped it to the best film Oscar and in my opinion as an overall entertainment proposition, this film is indeed more deserving of the Oscar for that year.

Great film, good dvd; although you may want to wait and see if they improve even further on the picture quality for the future Blu-ray version. May 17, 2008

Best Picture Oscar ??? Why???

Around the World in 80 Days (Two-Disc Special Edition)
For some reason, maybe because of the names, Phinneas Fogg and Passepartout, I was expecting a funny film. I was sadly disappointed on that score, although there were some somewhat amusing scenes. Basically throughout the first disc, I felt the film's story was a threadbare line on which to hang a sort of travelogue of scenes from various countries along Phinneas' route. The Spanish dance scene and the bull fight were unnecessarily long, as were various other episodes. My interest grew during the second disc, but I am still glad I didn't pay full price for my set. On the whole, I would say I found the film mildly entertainig and it was educational on a cultural level (such as where ostriches were used to pull carts in the Orient). I also felt there was the odd disconnect in the story. April 30, 2008

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