Facts > Films > Around the World in Eighty Days
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) Facts
| Director(s) | Michael Anderson |
| Producer(s) | Kevin McClory (uncredited), William Cameron Menzies, Michael Todd |
| Featured Cast | Finlay Currie, Robert Morley, Ronald Squire, Basil Sydney, John Gielgud |
| Total Facts | 58 |
The term "cameo", meaning in this case a small part by a famous person, was popularized by the many "cameo appearances" in this film.
There is no gas balloon in the original novel. Nevertheless this mode of transportation has endured as an iconic image of the film.
There were two separate lawsuits filed against the producer of this film, claiming that the title song had been plagiarized.
This film called for more costumes (74,685) then any other film ever made. The Western Costume Co. in Hollywood provided most of the costumes, but wardrobe storehouses in London, Japan, Hong Kong and Spain were also all called on to provide costumes for the 1,243 extras.
This is the second Todd-AO production (the first was Oklahoma!) shot twice, at 24 fps (to produce the general-release version in 35 mm) and at 30 fps (to produce the roadshow version in 70 mm). Both versions were shot on 65 mm negative with Todd-AO lenses. Sometimes two cameras operated side-by-side filming the same take, other times the same camera was used with the speed changed for the second take, and still other times, in non-dialogue scenes, the same shot was used. The 35 mm version is presented in conventional 2:1 squeeze anamorphic process (incorrectly credited to Todd-AO); the 70 mm version is presented in Todd-AO.
This was the third Best Picture Oscar winner shot in a widescreen format. (The very first Best Picture winner in history, Wings, contained some widescreen sequences.)
Tied with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the longest title of an Oscar winner for Best Motion Picture until 2004 when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won. The shortest is Gigi.
Two major episodes in the film that do not appear in the novel are the arrival in Spain by gas balloon and the bullfighting scene.