Jun. 12, 2002 - 12:16 am

cover
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

yep, it of course was Best Picture for that year. it also got awards for cinematography, editing, music and screenplay. this film was a huge production in many ways. it has an enormous number of people that appear onscreen. it has tons of famous people with cameos. it visits 13 countries and lasts 3 hours. apparently it was also the film which originated the term "cameo" in film terms. interesting.

well it stars an Englishman, David Niven, and a Mexican actor, Cantinflas, who plays his manservant. but there are like i said about 50 famous extras in this. like Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Buster Keaton, and Peter Lorre. oh and Shirley MacLaine plays...an Indian (dots) princess? yeah, sure she does.

i'm sure you can guess what this one's about. it's mid to late 19th century in England and Mr. Fogg makes a wager that he and his manservant can make it around the world in 80 days which was damn near impossible with the contemporary transportation systems. it's the famous Jules Verne novel you know. and i give the film a 7/10.

it was up against Giant (1956), The King and I (1956) and The Ten Commandments (1956). impressive. i would've had trouble picking this one to win i believe. but that doesn't necessarily mean i would've chosen differently. it was a pretty good movie. but Giant has James Dean, so that might've pushed me in that direction. well now that i've been watching so many good films, we're sure to see a bad one tomorrow. and i've already checked it out. it's...