Around the World in 80 Days

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Anderson directs. Lionel Lindon behind the camera. Victor Young scores. Howard Epstein cuts. A long sit — settle in. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1At 182 minutes, this is a three-hour-plus commitment — longer than 95% of films ever made.
• 2Made its money back 7.0× over at the box office.
• 370 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Spanish, French.
• 5396+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
• 6Directed by Michael Anderson, shot by Lionel Lindon. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 7Original score by Victor Young. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 8Editor Howard Epstein shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 9David Niven and Cantinflas and Shirley MacLaine carry the top of the cast.
• 10Marketing tagline: "It's a wonderful world, if you'll only take the time to go around it!".
• 11IMDB entry: tt0048960 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 12Classified under 19 themes, including "bet", "saloon", "bullfighting", "based on novel or book".
• 13Released under 20 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Lionel Lindon

Original score

Victor Young

Editing

Howard Epstein

Production design

Ken Adam

Makeup / hair

Fred Williams

VFX supervisor

Fred Sersen

Runtime

182 min · 3h 2m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$6,000,000

Box office

$42,000,000

Return

700% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

G

IMDB

Around the World in 80 Days (1956) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

72% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

69/100

IMDB rating

6.7/10 · 31,738 votes

MPAA

G

Also by

Michael Anderson

• 
  Private Angelo

  1949 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Rugged Gold

  1994 · ★ 7.4
• 
  Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst

  1957 · ★ 7.3
• 
  The House of the Arrow

  1953 · ★ 7.3
• 
  The Martian Chronicles

  1980 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Chase a Crooked Shadow

  1958 · ★ 7.1

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Around the World In 80 Days (1956) Official Trailer - Cantinflas, Jules Verne Movie HD

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2019-03-06
  ★ 7/10

  Spot the cameo in 5 Oscar winning epic. Based on the wonderful writing from Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days is just shy of three hours, this was my first ever visit to the film and my reaction is mainly positive, though tempered with a small sense of unfulfillment. Phileas Fogg takes a wager from his fellow London club members that he can't circle the globe in 80 days, this it should be noted is 1872 where transport was not of the fast and dynamic variety. Fogg and his trusty servant Passepartout, set off on a journey that brings many adventures, and many humorous scrapes. They meet a wonderful array of characters and travel on many forms of transport, it is in short a magical journey. The production here from Mike Todd is gargantuan, the sets are incredible, the multiple locations befit the multi cast of actors that grace the film (have fun playing spot the star in this one). The costumes and the score are spot on, while Lionel Lindon's cinematography rightly won the gold award because it's lush and cloaks the delightful story with a number of treats for the eyes. David Niven is perfect as Fogg, whilst Cantinflas as Passepartout is perfect foil for Fogg's staid stiff upper lippery. Yet in spite of it's obvious beauty the film is a touch overlong, some scenes are padded far too much when surely a shorter take would have made its mark equally enough? I was surprised by the ending being so short and sweet, yes, sure it's fitting, but after sitting through just under 3 hours of film you are not being unreasonable to expect a grand fanfare type of ending. Still, it doesn't take away from this being a good cinematic achievement. As to if it stands up to repeat viewing? I'll have to see on that one... 7.5/10

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2024-06-14
  ★ 6/10

  I so wanted to like this film. An unsurpassable cast delivering a story depicting the ultimate in compendium storytelling. What could go wrong? Well, sadly - quite a lot. David Niven is fine as the dapper sophisticate "Fogg" who along with his gentleman's gentleman of one whole day "Passepartout" (the acrobatic Cantinflas) accepts a bet from some toffs in the Reform Club that he cannot circumnavigate the world in 80 days. Steam trains, balloons, ships, camels, horses, even a paddle-steamer facilitate their travels with just about every movie star on the books joining in as our tour of the world offers us colourful and entertaining escapades from many different countries and cultures. There is a sort of chemistry between the two travellers, but they are all to often apart on screen, and sadly I thought, it is the very diversity of the stories that lets this down. It is too episodic: the narrative frequently lacks cohesion, often little better than a colourful, occasionally pithy, travelogue and even the mischievous contributions from a super Robert Newton ("Insp. Fix") who reckons "Fogg" is really an infamous bank robber, and the delightful antics of Shirley MacLaine as the "Princess Aouda" can't really redeem or sustain it. It is long, but that needn't have been a problem (at least it isn't 80 days) it's just flat, somehow - so much more could have been going on, but wasn't. To be fair, it does hot up in the last twenty minutes or so, as their quest comes to a head but that isn't enough. The technical aspects are flawless, however - particularly the photography; with the costumiers facing a sartorial Herculean task and Victor Young's score is suitably international in it's themes and well worthy of his Oscar. Maybe it just had too much time and too much money but somehow it's all a wee bit disappointing.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• MI

  Michael Todd Company

Key crew

• NovelJules Verne
• Makeup ArtistFred Williams
• StuntsJames Van Horn
• StuntsPaul Baxley
• StuntsDale Van Sickel
• StuntsRay Spiker
• StuntsSol Gorss
• StuntsRussell Saunders
• StuntsLarry Duran
• StuntsDick Crockett
• StuntsJerry Brown
• Stunt DoubleBob Folkerson
• StuntsBoyd 'Red' Morgan
• StuntsEddie Parker
• StuntsGil Perkins
• StuntsAllen Pinson
• StuntsGeorge Ross
• StuntsBud Wolfe
• StuntsAudrey Saunders
• Associate ProducerKevin McClory
• StuntsMax Kleven
• Special Guest DirectorJohn Farrow
• Associate ProducerWilliam Cameron Menzies
• EditorHoward Epstein

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• bet
• saloon
• bullfighting
• based on novel or book
• elephant
• journey around the world
• jules verne
• detective
• scotland yard
• hot air balloon
• wager
• steampunk
• train
• valet
• around the world
• journey
• steamship
• 19th century
• steam ship

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1956-10-17G

Also known as

International titles

• Around the World in Eighty DaysUS
• Cesta kolem sveta za 80 dniCZ
• La vuelta al mundo en ochenta díasES
• Le tour du monde en 80 joursFR
• De reis om de wereld in 80 dagenBE
• Okolo sveta za 80 dniBG
• Put oko svijeta za 80 danaHR
• O gyros tou kosmou se 80 imeresGR
• Ο γύρος του κόσμου σε 80 μέρεςGR
• 80 nichi kan sekai isshuuJP
• 八十日間世界一周JP
• Aplink pasauli per 80 dienuLT
• Jorden rundt på 80 dagerNO
• A Volta ao Mundo em Oitenta DiasPT
• Ocolul pamantului in 80 de zileRO