Honestly, if you try to watch the Around the World in 80 Days film from 1956 today, you have to prepare yourself. It is long. It is massive. It’s a three-hour commitment that basically defines the phrase "they don't make 'em like they used to." Most people today probably associate the title with the 2004 Jackie Chan version, which is... fine, I guess, if you like slapstick and historical inaccuracies. But the 1956 production? That was a cultural earthquake. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and it did it by being the most ambitious logistics nightmare in Hollywood history.
Michael Todd, the producer, was a total madman. He wasn't even a "film guy" in the traditional sense; he was a Broadway promoter who decided he wanted to put the whole world on a screen. He used a process called Todd-AO, a 70mm widescreen format that made everything else look like a postage stamp. When you see Phileas Fogg—played with legendary stiffness by David Niven—soaring over the Alps, you aren't looking at a green screen. They actually flew a camera over those mountains. In an era where we're used to CGI Marvel movies, there’s something genuinely jarring about seeing 8,500 animals and 68,000 extras that are actually, physically there.
The Impossible Logistics of the 1956 Around the World in 80 Days Film
It’s hard to wrap your head around the scale. Todd didn't just hire actors; he hired armies. For the segment in India, they used 6,000 native extras. In Spain, they got 6500. The production moved across 140 different sets built in studios and on location across England, France, India, Spain, Thailand, and Japan.
You've gotta realize that back then, travel wasn't just hopping on a Boeing 787. Moving an entire film crew with massive 70mm cameras across the globe was a feat of engineering. The cost ended up being somewhere around $6 million. That sounds like pocket change now, but in the mid-50s, that was an astronomical gamble. If it had flopped, Todd would have been ruined. Instead, it became a massive hit.
The Cameo Trend Started Here
Ever wonder why modern movies like Knives Out or The Avengers pack their scenes with famous faces just for a five-second joke? You can thank the Around the World in 80 Days film for that. Michael Todd coined the term "cameo." He managed to convince dozens of the biggest stars in the world to show up for tiny roles.
We’re talking about:
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- Frank Sinatra playing a piano player in a Barbary Coast saloon.
- Buster Keaton as a train conductor.
- Marlene Dietrich as a hostess.
- Ronald Colman as a railway official.
It became a game for the audience. People sat in theaters specifically to spot the celebrities. It was the first "event movie" in the way we understand them now. It wasn't just about Jules Verne's story; it was about the spectacle of Hollywood itself.
Why the Jackie Chan Remake (2004) Divided Everyone
Then we have the 2004 version. Look, if you go into the 2004 Around the World in 80 Days film expecting a faithful adaptation of the book, you’re going to be annoyed within five minutes. It’s barely a Jules Verne story. It’s a Jackie Chan action-comedy that uses the book as a loose suggestion.
Steve Coogan plays Phileas Fogg, but he’s portrayed as a bumbling, eccentric inventor rather than the cold, calculated gentleman of the novel. Jackie Chan is Passepartout, who—in this version—is actually a Chinese warrior who stole a jade Buddha. It's wild. It’s fast-paced. It’s also kinda messy.
Critics absolutely mauled it. It holds around a 32% on Rotten Tomatoes. But here's the thing: kids loved it. It introduced a whole generation to the concept of the "80 days" challenge, even if it did so through wire-fu and Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a Turkish Prince with a weird wig. The problem was the budget. It cost $110 million and barely made its money back, becoming one of the most famous box-office bombs of the early 2000s.
The Narrative Spirit: Fogg vs. the Clock
At its core, any Around the World in 80 Days film lives or dies by the tension of the wager. The 1872 novel by Jules Verne was a celebration of the Industrial Revolution. It was about the world shrinking. For the first time in human history, you could actually conceive of circling the globe in a human lifespan, let alone three months.
The 1956 film captures this "British stiff upper lip" energy perfectly. Fogg is obsessed with punctuality. He fires his previous valet because his shaving water was two degrees too cold. It’s ridiculous, but it sets the stakes. When the weather hits or the trains stop, his world collapses.
A Comparative Look at the Different Versions
When you compare the major versions, you see how much filmmaking changed:
The 1956 Epic:
Focuses on "Travelogue" energy. It wants to show you the world. The film includes long sequences of bullfights in Spain and dances in India that don't move the plot forward at all. They are just there to look beautiful. It’s slow cinema. It’s majestic.
The 1989 Miniseries:
Pierce Brosnan played Fogg here. This is actually the version many "Verne purists" prefer. Because it’s a miniseries, it has more room to breathe. It keeps the Victorian tone better than the big-budget movies. It feels more like a travel diary and less like a circus.
The 2021 TV Series:
David Tennant took a crack at Fogg recently. This version is much more introspective. It deals with Fogg’s internal trauma and the colonial implications of a British man stomping across the globe. It’s a very "modern" take, focusing on character growth rather than just the ticking clock.
The Balloon Myth
Here is a fun fact that most people get wrong. If you ask someone to describe a scene from an Around the World in 80 Days film, they will almost certainly mention a hot air balloon.
Guess what? There is no balloon in the original Jules Verne book. Not one.
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In the novel, they use trains, steamships, a wind-powered sledge, and even an elephant. Michael Todd added the balloon in 1956 because he thought it would look incredible in widescreen. It worked so well that the image of the balloon became the universal symbol for the story. Every remake since then has felt obligated to put a balloon in just because Todd did it.
The Controversy of "The World"
We have to be honest: the older versions of this story haven't all aged well. The 1956 Around the World in 80 Days film is very much a product of its time. It views the world through a colonial, Western lens. The depictions of indigenous people in India and Native Americans in the US are often caricatured or purely there for Fogg to "save" someone.
Princess Aouda, the Indian woman Fogg rescues from a suttee ceremony, was played by Shirley MacLaine in the 1956 version. MacLaine is, obviously, not Indian. They used "brownface" makeup on her, which is incredibly uncomfortable to watch now. This is one area where the 2004 film and the 2021 series actually did a much better job by casting actors who actually fit the heritage of the characters and giving them more agency.
Why We Keep Remaking This Story
Why does the Around the World in 80 Days film keep coming back? It’s the ultimate "what if." Could I do it? If the world threw every obstacle at me—police warrants, broken tracks, storms at sea—could I stay on schedule?
It’s a story about human stubbornness.
Phileas Fogg represents the idea that logic and planning can conquer the chaos of nature. Even though we can now circle the globe in about 40 hours on commercial flights, the romanticism of the journey remains. We love the idea of the "Grand Tour."
Actionable Insights for Fans and Travelers
If you're looking to dive into this story or even recreate the spirit of it, here is how to handle it:
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- Watch the 1956 version first, but do it in sittings. It’s basically two movies. Watch the first half, take a break, and treat it like a historical artifact. Don't skip the prologue; it features Edward R. Murrow and is a fascinating look at how people viewed "technology" in the 50s.
- Read the book after the movies. You’ll be shocked at how different Fogg is. He’s much more of a "math robot" in the book, which makes his eventual emotional breakthrough more satisfying.
- The "Slow Travel" Movement. If the films inspire you to travel, look into the modern "No-Fly" travel movement. There are several agencies now that specialize in booking "80 Days" style trips using only trains and ships. It's expensive and slow, but it’s the only way to actually see the transition of cultures that the films try to capture.
- Spot the Cameos. If you watch the '56 version, pull up a list of the 40+ cameos on your phone. It’s like an Easter egg hunt that keeps you engaged during the slower parts of the plot.
The legacy of the Around the World in 80 Days film isn't just about a guy winning a bet. It’s about the birth of the modern blockbuster. Without Michael Todd’s insane vision for 70mm spectacle and star-studded casts, we might not have the big-screen experiences we take for granted today. Whether it’s David Niven in a balloon or Jackie Chan fighting on a moving train, the story remains our favorite way to see the world without leaving our couch.
To get the most out of the experience, start with the 1956 restored 4K version to appreciate the cinematography that won the Oscar, then skip ahead to the David Tennant series for a modern perspective on the characters. This provides the best "then and now" comparison of how our view of the world has shifted over the last seventy years.