How To Grow Your Geek: Parenting and More!

Hey guys,
This one is going to be long, but I don’t think you will mind.
Yep I am back again, this time around I am reviewing another old classic. One I have never seen before but have heard about. It is one Jenny said I would love, and seeing how I was really sick all weekend, this one would not only cheer me up, but would really “Wow” me. Jenny have never been wrong yet and she sure wasn’t this time around either.

So it is summertime, and that usually means trips if you can afford it. So let’s take one, you will need a large trunk and you will have to pack for for everything. Where are we going? Everywhere. How long will we be gone? Oh….eighty days.

Around the world in eighty days – A dvd review by Darcy low.

From the back of the DVD.
“Around 1872, an English gentleman Phileas Fogg (David Niven) claims he can circumnavigate the world in eighty days. He makes a PS£20,000 wager with several skeptical fellow members of his London gentleman’s club, the Reform Club, that he can arrive back within 80 days before exactly 8:45 pm.

Together with his resourceful valet, Passepartout (Mario Moreno “Cantinflas”), Fogg sets out on his journey from Paris via a hot air balloon. Meanwhile, suspicion grows that Fogg has stolen £55,000 from the Bank of England so Police Inspector Fix (Robert Newton) is sent out by Ralph the bank president (Robert Morley) to trail and arrest Fogg. Hopscotching around the globe, Fogg pauses in Spain, where Passepartout engages in a comic bullfight. In India, Fogg and Passepartout rescue young widow Princess Aouda (Shirley MacLaine) from being forced into a funeral pyre with her late husband. The threesome visit Hong Kong, Japan, San Francisco, and the Wild West. Only hours short of winning his wager, Fogg is arrested upon returning to London, by the diligent yet misguided Inspector Fix.”

OMG. This guys, was such an incredible film! Such a great plot and so many beautiful places. When the movie starts out, a man tells us all about travel and how we are able to get to far off places in much sorter time. We are also told about Jules Verne and treated to a VERY old silent film, “From earth to the moon”; which was one his stories dealing with men’s first trip there. It is really pretty funny, but sets up up this film nicely.

When the movie then changes to our story, we see Mr. Phileas Fogg; (played by David Niven.) sitting in a men’s club playing cards and discussing the recent bank robbery that has taken place. A great deal of money was stolen, and Fogg agrees with the statement that with that much money the thief could be anywhere by now. He even goes so far as to suggest that a man could travel the world in just eighty days if he had the money and means to do so. So a bet was made, Fogg himself will prove that it can be done by traveling himself!

Next we meet. Passepartout. He is a very interesting fellow, when we first see him; he is riding down the london streets on the back of a large wheeled bike. (Taller than he is!) If you look closer, you can see he is dressed nice, but he clothes have patches on them. He is on his way too look for work, but he takes the time to flirt with the ladies as well. When he finally arrives at a employment office, he is greeted by the sight of a line of people all looking for the same thing. So as he takes a seat at the end, we over hear a very stressed out man complaining about having had to work for our Mr Fogg. He is a mess, very nervous and just shaking all over as he talks about how it was “Unbearable to work for the man!”

Passepartout listens closely, and while the other people in line act shocked by all of this, he seems somehow interested. When the man is finished and the employer says that the job is impossible to fill, that no one would take it. No one that is but Passepartout, who says he will take the job, he isn’t afraid.

When he gets to Fog’s house, he is told all he needs to know. Mr Fog eats at certain times, has to have his food just right, (his toast should be made at a certain temp, etc.) Fog comes off as something of a Sherlock Holmes, very set in his ways but very smart. A bit stuck up at first, but that will change.

The next day they are all set for their journey, there is just a small catch. The train there were going to catch is not available, so they are stuck before they begun. Luckily the travel agent has a solution. He has built a large balloon and sells it to Fog. So they are able to get under way.

Once they get started the film gets more and more beautiful. And each place you learn a bit about the culture and the people. In the first place, they land thinking they are in France. But they are in Spain instead, Passpartout is able to speak the language though and gets them to a club where they can rest and eat, and they are told there is a man with a boat that could help them with their journey.

This is where we get to see that Passpartout is much more than he seems. He is what they call a “Jack of all trades.” That means he has many talents, like acrobat, working in a circus and other things. Here he has to fight a bull in order to win the boat they will use.

As the movie progress, we see him get into more and more things like this. Each time he either saves the day for Mr Fog, or has to be saved himself. But each time we learn more about Mr Fog and also about each place they go though.

Mean while back in England, there are all kinds of bets being placed on if Fog will be able to travel the world in such a short time. Also, the hunt for the bank robber is on. And rumors are floating it could have been Fog himself! In fact, they go so far as to hire someone to follow him. And it is starting to look more and more like he just might have done it, he is carrying around a large bag full of money.

They travel all over, meeting a lot of people played by a lot of stars. You will see Joey Brown, Buster Keaton, Shirley McClaine, Red Skelton; and if you look really close you will see Frank Sinatra.

Over all this is really a great movie, it really has you guessing whether or not Fog will make it or not, and if he did steal all that money. The places they go are just incredible, really pretty. Makes me wonder if this is out on blu-ray yet. And this is just full of stars! always someone you do, hey isn’t that…..

If you have never seen this movie before, you are going to love it. It has romance, adventure, so real funny moments, and a twist ending. I won’t spoil it, just say it has to do with time ans it took me a while to figure it out. And parents, sit and watch this with your kids, show them all the different places and cultures. At one point, Passepartout has to fight a bull in a ring; but in India when he tried something like that he was almost ran out of town Point out to your kids why that is, I didn’t know until I asked.

This is one of the movies I have seen, it is two and a half hours but that flies by. You don’t even know it. So pick this one up guys, its a keeper!

Now for some cool facts:

The filming took only 75 days, with over 680,000 feet of film being used. That’s 128 miles!!!

It cost under 6 million to make, filming on 140 locations. With 100 sets built and 36,000 outfits made.

It grossed over 25 million.

In the bull fight scene in the very beginning, there were over 10,000 extras used. Some 3.500 we brought in from local villages in Spain.

Real indians were used in the one part of the film, but 650 white actors had their skin dyed with orange dye for the film.

David Niven, like me; has a fear of heights. So a stand in was used for long shots. What is funny is that the stand in was much shorter.

And I got one more cool thing for you. The Nellie Bly connection to the film.

From Wiki: “In 1888, Nellie suggested to her editor at the New York World that she take a trip around the world, attempting to turn the fictional Around the World in Eighty Days into fact for the first time. A year later, at 9:40 a.m. on November 14, 1889, and with two days’ notice,[5] she boarded the Augusta Victoria, a steamer of the White Star Line,[6] and began her 24,899-mile journey.

She brought with her the dress she was wearing, a sturdy overcoat, several changes of underwear and a small travel bag carrying her toiletry essentials. She carried most of her money (200 £ in English bank notes and gold in total as well as some American currency) [7] in a bag tied around her neck.”

Cool huh? A young woman did that way back then. You should look her up, she was really a cool person she did a lot of things that were first for any woman back then.”

So there you go guys, a long review but hopefully you liked it.

Darcy