29th Academy Awards · 1957
Around the World in 80 Days
Directed byCooked up by Michael Anderson
“It's a wonderful world, if you'll only take the time to go around it!”
“Fogg booked a world tour with zero Wi-Fi. Iconic behavior ✈️”
The storyThe lore 📖
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.
Phileas Fogg is a super punctual British gentleman who bets his whole fortune he can travel around the entire world in 80 days, which back then was absolutely delulu 🎈. He and his loyal valet Passepartout hop on trains, ships, elephants, and even a hot air balloon. Every country is a new side quest, and a detective is following them because he thinks Fogg is sus.
What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾
Tomatometer
72%
Fresh
#92 of 98 winnersFamous linesLines living rent free
An Englishman never jokes about a wager, sir.
Princess Aouda: Mr. Fogg, why must you be so... so British?
Phileas Fogg: Madame, I am what I am.
Sir Francis Gromarty: One thousand pounds for an elephant? It's outrageous! You've been diddled.
Phileas Fogg: Undoubtedly. But it's not often one needs an elephant in a hurry.
Phileas Fogg: …No woman has ever set foot in the club.
Princess Aouda: Why not?
Phileas Fogg: Because... that could spell the end of the British Empire.
Monsieur Gasse: Monsieur! You are now addressing the second most celebrated balloonist in Europe.
Phileas Fogg: And who is the first?
Monsieur Gasse: He is not available. He was, uh, buried last Tuesday.
…Speed is good only when wisdom leads the way.
Princess Aouda: Have there been any women in his life?
Passepartout: I assume he had a mother, but I am not certain.
Phileas Fogg: But the London newspapers announced the opening of this railway throughout.
Railway Official: That must have been The Daily Telegraph. Never would have read that in The Times.
Saloon Hostess: Never be in a hurry. You'll miss the best parts in life.
Phileas Fogg: Madam, you don't understand. I'm looking for my man.
Saloon Hostess: So am I.
Bombay Police Inspector: Good heavens! Four o'clock it's teatime!
Mr. Fix: Yes I know, but this is a crisis.
Bombay Police Inspector: Crisis or no, nothing should interfere with tea!
Quotes via Wikiquote
Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍
-
Chinchón
Community of Madrid, Spain
The town's main square became a bullring for Cantinflas's bullfight, with all 6,500 residents plus 3,500 neighbors as extras.
-
Waters off San Francisco
San Francisco, California
The Atlantic steamship crossing was shot here on a converted barge mocked up as a paddle steamer, which Niven found dangerously unstable.
-
Century City studio lots
Los Angeles, California
Many of the studio lots used in the film, including for the balloon scenes, stood on land now occupied by the Century City office complex.
Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓
- According to Time magazine, the cast including extras totaled 68,894 people, alongside 7,959 animals including 512 rhesus monkeys, 2,448 American bison and a sacred cow that eats flowers on cue.Wikipedia · Production
- For the bullfight scene, Mike Todd used all 6,500 residents of the Spanish town of Chinchón, then decided there still weren't enough spectators and brought in 3,500 more from nearby towns.Wikipedia · Production
- The film's famous hydrogen balloon flight isn't in Jules Verne's novel at all; it was created expressly to show off scenery on the giant curved Todd-AO screen.Wikipedia · Production
- Mike Todd was a Broadway showman who had never produced a film before, and he sold his interest in the Todd-AO widescreen format to help finance this one.Wikipedia · Production
- When Mike Todd asked David Niven to play Phileas Fogg, Niven replied 'I'd do it for nothing!' and later admitted he was grateful Todd didn't hold him to it.Wikipedia · Production
- Todd finished filming deep in debt, and according to David Niven the footage was kept under the supervision of Todd's creditors and returned to a secure vault each night, as if in escrow.Wikipedia · Production
- The wardrobe department spent $410,000 on 74,685 costumes and 36,092 trinkets, allegedly the most costumes ever required for a Hollywood production.Wikipedia · Production
- The film premiered at New York's Rivoli Theater and ran there for 102 weeks, playing 1,564 performances to more than 2.1 million patrons.Wikipedia · Release
- For the first anniversary, Mike Todd threw an 18,000-guest party at Madison Square Garden that Time called a 'spectacular flop'; Todd shrugged it off by saying, 'You can't say it was a little bust.'Wikipedia · Anniversary celebration
- It won Best Picture without a single acting nomination, and was the last film to win Best Picture without winning Best Director until In the Heat of the Night.Wikipedia · Accolades