Around the World in 80 Days: SE

Yes, Around the World in 80 Days is really just a glorified widescreen travelogue. But it is still one of the most spectacular travelogues ever created, even when squeezed down from giant-screen Todd-AO to DVD.

It didn't merit the Best Picture Oscar it won in 1956. But is was, and still is, pleasant if very lightweight entertainment. And if you have access to a super-large projection setup, it will do your system proud.

Around the World in 80 Days, adapted from the 19th Century novel by French fantasist Jules Verne, was the brainchild of one of Hollywood's loudest bigmouth hucksters and hustlers, Michael Todd.

Mike Todd was a carnival and World Fair strip-tease merchant who graduated to Broadway musicals, and who then became a member of the consortium which launched the massive-screen Cinerama process.

The impact of Cinerama was huge. But Todd wisely realised that a system needing three cameras and three projectors could not last. He hired an inventor to work on a large-screen system which would deliver the impact of Cinerama, but, as he put it, "Cinerama outa one hole". And thus was born one of the most exciting big-screen 70mm experiences ever, Todd-AO.

I've seen just three movies made for and projected in Todd-AO, but the memory lasts forever - this giant curved-screen process was much more involving than its flat-screen rival, Cinemascope, but the expense of its cameras and projectors doomed it to failure.

One of the three movies I saw screened in its Todd-AO format was this movie; the others were the great screen musicals Oklahoma! and South Pacific.

It's great to have these pioneering Todd-AO 70mm movies transferred impeccably to DVD, although, sadly, the brilliant Oklahoma! is only available to Region One buyers. All three movies come up extremely well on DVD, although Around the World in 80 Days does show from time to time some edge-distortion.

This barrel-distortion, a bi-product of the special bugeye lens used for some of Todd-AO's most spectacular moments, is not annoying; it's just a mild reminder of the unusual film process originally used. More importantly, the sheer pace, grand scale and fun have lasted extremely well.

The plot is just a pretext for showing off the vast scale that Todd-AO could bring to the screen. In the Verne story, Phileas Fogg (David Niven) accepts a challenge from fellow-members of London's Reform Club to go around the world in just 80 days. The world is shrinking -- he sets out to prove just how quickly.

The stars, especially David Niven and Shirley MacLaine, are swamped by everything else -- they're just blank cyphers. Only Mexican comedian Fernandel, as Fogg's valet, manages to survive better than either Niven or MacLaine, by dint of a huge personality which the format cannot subdue.

But the spectacular settings are the real stars, as we follow Phileas Fogg and his companions on his breakneck tour of the world, by balloon over the Maritime Alps, by sea to Hong Kong and Japan, by rail over America and by liner back to England.

Although Mike Todd didn't invent the idea of bringing in big stars for tiny guest spots in his movies, he did invent the description 'cameo-role', and this film featured more such cameos than any other movie to that date. Among the cameo appearances we can spot Noel Coward, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, Shirley MacLaine, Peter Lorre, Marlene Dietrich, Frank Sinatra, Buster Keaton, John Mills, Hermione Gingold, Glynis Johns, Robert Morley, Ronald Coleman, Joe E. Brown and 30 others -- see how many you can pick.

Don't expect a masterpiece here. Just mild fun, and some feasts for your eyes in exotic settings and scenery. The editing is a bit odd -- there are a couple of scenes which would seem to make more sense if inserted earlier in the movie -- but the direction is first-rate, as you would expect from Michael Anderson, who came to this project after directing one of Britain's finest movies, The Dam Busters.

The transfer, from a Todd-AO 30 fps roadshow print, is impeccably done. There is curvature evident from time to time at the side of the image. This is known as barrel-distorion, and is characteristic of the special lens used occasionally by Todd-AO for for wide-angle panoramas. But it is never a problem -- it is no more disturbing than the effect seen in mild fish-eye wide-angle camera lenses.

There is some minor print damage evident from time to time, in the form of light flecks, but these are only transitory. More importantly, the bit-rich transfer, spread over two discs, reveals absolutely no moire patterning or aliasing. And colours are rich and vibrant, especially in some of the standout exotic sunset sequences.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track is strong and clear for the most part, with wide stereo imaging. Special effects are fairly limited -- nothing special here -- but for about two-thirds of the movie, both dialogue and the very effective soundtrack music are reproduced strongly and clearly.

For quite a deal of the second disc, there is a noticeable falling-away in soundtrack quality, with the sound taking on a comparatively tinny, cavernous quality. This lasts for about half-an-hour, and the sound quality then reverts to normal.

The two-disc set is quite rich in extra features. Chief amongst them is a bonus movie, a 52-minute 1968 documentary hosted by Orson Welles on the life of Mike Todd.

This is a meaty doco which includes personal and quite unvarnished reminiscences from close friends and business acquaintances, including some memories from Mike's widow, actress Elizabeth Taylor. Her memories seem very carefully prepared and beautifully acted -- some of the actual documentary footage of Taylor and Todd together suggest that if Mike Todd hadn't gone down in an aeroplane crash, their marriage might have crashed instead.

She refers in this doco to a party she and Mike threw at Madison Square Gardens to celebrate the first anniversary of the premiere of Around the World in 80 Days. They invited about 18,000 best buddies. It was an unmitigated disaster. Gatecrashers swarmed over the site, and no-one could get a drink -- the waiters were watering-down the champagne so they could sell the real stuff.

The second short movie in this set is a live television film of this party; a Playouse 90 broadcast entitled Around the World in 90 Minutes. It's an almost unviewable tribute to a dreadful event, as sycophants line up to be interviewed, all wanting to cling to Mike Todd's shirt-tails.

There's a worthwhile feature-film Audio Commentary by BBC Radio pundit Brian Sibley -- he is relaxed and informative in a pleasant low-key way, and is great for helping spot the cameo stars.

There are 11 Outtakes, all of them without sound, and each one more boring than the last. There's a film-snippet from an interview with Mike Todd and wife after his movie got the Best Picture Oscar, and some LA Premiere film footage showing all the stars (Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, Rock Hudson and Doris Day amongst them) who didn't get cameo roles, turning up to ask why not.

Finally, there's a very brief Newsreel clip showing Elizabeth Taylor turning up in Spain during a world tour to launch the movie.

Almost every special feature, and the main feature as well, are introduced by an American film commentator of exceptionally inaccurate and boring style named Robert Osborne (he for instance describes Mike Todd as a con-man during his introduction to the movie -- Mike Todd was a loudmouth hustler, which is a tad different....)

Osborne is interviewed in a domestic setting which I presume is his home -- it shows he should be disqualified from speaking about anything involving critical judgement. Anyone who can live in something which looks like a cross between a cheap bar, an RSL Club and a billiard-room has no place on a DVD of mine.

This is good fun, well worth renting on a long dark night, when you want to be carried away to exotic climes. And the extra features are plentiful, even if they make you totally sick of the super-egotistical showman Mike Todd.