Around the World (1956 song)
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| “Around the World” | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| Written | 1956 |
| Published | 1956 |
| Songwriter(s) | Harold Adamson, Victor Young |
“Around the World” was the theme tune from the 1956 movie Around the World in 80 Days In the film, only an instrumental version of the song appeared, although the vocal version has become by far the better known one. The song was written by Harold Adamson and Victor Young; Young died in 1956, several weeks after the film’s release and he received the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture posthumously. Young’s orchestral version was a #13 hit on the Billboard charts in 1957. The recording by Bing Crosby was the B-side of the Victor Young version in 1957, on Festival SP45-1274 in Australia, and was a joint charting success.
Recorded versions
The song has been recorded, among others, by:
- Brook Benton (on the album “Endlessly” – 1959)
- Alvin and The Chipmunks – in a speeded-up version for their song The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late) (1958).
- The Chordettes – for their album Never on Sunday (1962).
- Nat King Cole – recorded August 8, 1957.
- Frank Sinatra – included in his album Come Fly with Me (1958)
- The Columbia Ballroom Orchestra
- Ray Conniff – included in the EP Ray Conniff Around the World (1963).
- Sam Cooke – included in his album Songs by Sam Cooke (1958)
- Bing Crosby (Billboard top hit (#25) in 1957, No. 5 hit in UK)
- Gracie Fields (No. 8 hit in UK)
- Eddie Fisher – a 1956 single release.
- Connie Francis – included in her album Connie Francis Sings “Never on Sunday” (1961).
- Buddy Greco – a single release in 1963.
- Ronnie Hilton (No. 4 hit in UK)
- Harry James
- Joni James – included in the album 100 Strings & Joni in Hollywood (1961).
- Steve Lawrence – for his album Winners! (1963)
- Brenda Lee – for her album Emotions (1961)
- The Mantovani Orchestra (Billboard top hit (#12) in 1957, No. 20 hit in UK)
- The McGuire Sisters
- Bette Midler for the live album “Live At Last” (1977).
- Matt Monro – included in his album From Hollywood with Love (1964).
- Jane Morgan and The Troubadours – included in her album Fascination (1957).
- Emile Pandolfi
- André Prévin
- Louis Prima
- George Sanders
- Calum Scott for the soundtrack of the Hulu miniseries, ‘’Four Weddings and a Funeral’’. (2019)
- The Shirelles
- Frank Sinatra, in Come Fly with Me 1958 Capitol LP, arr & cond Billy May
- Kay Starr – in her album Movin’! (1959).
- The Supremes – a 1965 recording included in the expanded CD version of There’s a Place for Us (2004)
- Paul Sullivan
- The Sundowners
- Billy Vaughn
- Bobby Vinton – for his album Drive-In Movie Time (1965).
- Lawrence Welk and his Orchestra
(The Lennon Sisters sang it on “The Lawrence Welk Show.”)
Popular culture
The Buddy Greco recording was the first piece of music heard in the first episode of the 2012 television series Pan Am.
The song is used multiple times in various forms throughout the 2015 Japanese animated film The Anthem of the Heart.
The song is featured prominently in season 2, episode 6 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film)
| Around the World in 80 Days | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Michael Anderson |
| Screenplay by | James PoeJohn FarrowS. J. Perelman |
| Based on | Around the World in Eighty Days 1873 novel by Jules Verne |
| Produced by | Michael Todd |
| Starring | Cantinflas David Niven Robert Newton Shirley MacLaine |
| Cinematography | Lionel Lindon |
| Edited by | Gene Ruggiero Howard Epstein |
| Music by | Victor Young |
| Production company | Michael Todd Company |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release dates | October 17, 1956 (New York City) December 22, 1956 (Los Angeles) |
| Running time | 182 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million |
| Box office | $42 million |
Around the World in 80 Days (sometimes spelled as Around the World in Eighty Days) is a 1956 American epic adventure–comedy film starring David Niven, Cantinflas, Robert Newton and Shirley MacLaine, produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists.
The picture was directed by Michael Anderson and produced by Mike Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay, based on the classic 1873 novel of the same name by Jules Verne, was written by James Poe, John Farrow, and S.J. Perelman. The music score was composed by Victor Young, and the Todd-AO 70 mm cinematography (shot in Technicolor) was by Lionel Lindon. The film’s six-minute-long animated title sequence, shown at the end of the film, was created by award-winning designer Saul Bass.
The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Plot
Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow presents an onscreen prologue, featuring footage from A Trip to the Moon (1902) by Georges Méliès, explaining that it is based loosely on the book From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne. Also included is the launching of an unmanned rocket and footage of the earth receding.
In 1872, an English gentleman Phileas Fogg claims he can circumnavigate the world in eighty days. Met with scepticism, he makes a £20,000 wager (worth about £1.9 million today) with four fellow members of the Reform Club (each contributing £5,000 to the bet) that he can make the journey and arrive back at the club eighty days from exactly 8:45 pm that evening.
Together with his resourceful French valet, Passepartout, Fogg goes hopscotching around the globe generously spending money to encourage others to help him get to his destinations faster so he can accommodate tight steamship schedules. Having reached Paris they hear that a tunnel under the Alps is blocked. The Thomas Cook agent who assists them offers to hire or sell them his hot air balloon. Fogg buys it and they fly over the Alps drinking champagne.
Blown off-course, the two accidentally end up in Spain, where we see a table-top flamenco sequence performed in a bar. Later, Passepartout engages in a comic bullfight. Next, they go to Brindisi in Italy. Meanwhile, back in London, suspicion grows that Fogg has stolen £55,000 (around £5.2 million today) from the Bank of England so Police Inspector Fix is sent out by Scotland Yard to trail him (starting in Suez) but must keep waiting for a warrant to arrive so he can arrest Fogg in the British controlled ports they visit.
In India, Fogg and Passepartout rescue beautiful young widow Aouda from being forced into a funeral pyre with her late husband. The three then travel to Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco, and the Wild West (including the Sioux Nation). Reaching New York, they arrange their passage on a cargo steamship travelling to Venezuela – Fogg bribes the captain to go to England. Alas, they run out of coal mid-ocean and the ship stops. Fogg buys the ship and then instructs the crew to take everything that burns, including lifeboats, to provide fuel.
They arrive in Liverpool, where, still with just enough time left to travel to London and win his wager, Fogg is promptly arrested by the diligent yet misguided Inspector Fix.
Detaining Fogg at the police station, the embarrassed Fix discovers that the real culprit has already been apprehended by police in Brighton. Although Fogg is exculpated and free to go, he now has insufficient time to reach London before his deadline, and so has lost everything but the enduring love of the winsome Aouda. Upon returning to London, Fogg asks Passepartout to arrange a church wedding for the next day, Monday. Salvation comes when Passepartout is shocked to be informed that the next day is actually Sunday. Fogg then realizes that by traveling east towards the rising sun and crossing the International Date Line, he has gained a day. Thus, there is still just enough time to reach the Reform Club and win the bet. Fogg rushes to the club, arriving just before the 8:45 pm chime. Passepartout and Aouda then arrive behind him, inadvertently shocking everyone, as no woman has ever entered the Reform Club before.
Cast
The film boasts an all-star cast, with David Niven and Cantinflas in the lead roles of Fogg and Passepartout. Fogg is the classic Victorian upper-class English gentleman, well-dressed, well-spoken, and extremely punctual, whereas his servant Passepartout (who has an eye for the ladies) provides much of the comic relief as a “jack of all trades” for the film in contrast to his master’s strict formality. Joining them are Shirley MacLaine as the beautiful Indian Princess Aouda and Robert Newton as the determined but hapless Detective Fix, in his last role. Suzanne Alexander and Marla English were initially the finalists for the role of Princess Aouda, but it was given to MacLaine, who accepted the role after having turned it down twice. Others who were considered for the role were Sylvia Lewis, Lisa Davis, Audrey Conti, Eleanore Tanin, Eugenia Paul, Joan Elan, and Jaqueline Park.
The role of Passepartout was greatly expanded from the novel to accommodate Cantinflas, the most famous Latin-American comedian at the time, and winds up as the focus of the film. While Passepartout describes himself as a Parisian in the novel, this is unclear in the film – he has a French name, but speaks fluent Spanish when he and his master arrive in Spain by balloon. In the Spanish version, the name of his character was changed from the French Passepartout to the Spanish Juan Picaporte, the name the character has in the early Spanish translations of the novel. There is also a comic bullfighting sequence which was especially created for Cantinflas and is not in the novel. Indeed, when the film was released in some Spanish-speaking nations, Cantinflas was billed as the lead. According to the guidebook, this was done because of an obstacle Todd faced in casting Cantinflas, who had never previously appeared in an American movie and had turned down numerous offers to do so. Todd allowed him to appear in the film as a Latin, “so,” the actor said himself, “…to my audience in Latin America, I’ll still be Cantinflas.”
More than 40 famous performers make brief cameo appearances, including Marlene Dietrich, Ronald Colman, Noël Coward, Buster Keaton, George Raft, Cesar Romero, and Frank Sinatra. The film was significant as the first of the so-called Hollywood “make work” films, employing dozens of film personalities. John Wayne turned down Todd’s offer for the role of the Colonel leading the Cavalry charge, a role filled by Colonel Tim McCoy. James Cagney, Gary Cooper, and Kirk Douglas—along with Wayne—were considered for the role, but according to Michael Todd, “they all wanted to kid it.” Promotional material released at the time quoted a Screen Actors Guild representative looking at the shooting call sheet and crying: “Good heavens Todd, you’ve made extras out of all the stars in Hollywood!” As of 2022, Shirley MacLaine and Glynis Johns are the last surviving members of the billed cast, as well as the unbilled Marion Ross.
Main cast
- David Niven as Phileas Fogg
- Cantinflas as Passepartout
- Shirley MacLaine as Princess Aouda
- Robert Newton as Inspector Fix
Cameo appearances
- Edward R. Murrow as the prologue narrator
- A. E. Matthews as a Reform Club member
- Ronald Adam as a Reform Club steward
- Walter Fitzgerald as a Reform Club member
- Finlay Currie as Andrew Stuart, Reform Club member
- Robert Morley as Gauthier Ralph, Reform Club member and Bank of England Governor
- Frederick Leister as a Reform Club member
- Ronald Squire as a Reform Club member
- Basil Sydney as a Reform Club member
- Noël Coward as Roland Hesketh-Baggott, London employment agency manager
- Sir John Gielgud as Foster, Fogg’s former valet
- Trevor Howard as Denis Fallentin, Reform Club member
- Harcourt Williams as Hinshaw, a Reform Club steward
- Martine Carol as a girl in the Paris railway station
- Fernandel as a Paris coachman
- Charles Boyer as Monsieur Gasse, balloonist
- Evelyn Keyes as a Paris flirt
- José Greco as a flamenco dancer
- Luis Miguel Dominguín as a bullfighter
- Gilbert Roland as Achmed Abdullah
- Cesar Romero as Abdullah’s henchman
- Alan Mowbray as the British Consul at Suez
- Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Sir Francis Cromarty
- Melville Cooper as Mr. Talley, steward on the RMS Rangoon
- Reginald Denny as a Bombay police inspector
- Ronald Colman as a Great Indian Peninsular Railway official
- Robert Cabal as an elephant driver-guide
- Charles Coburn as a Hong Kong steamship company clerk
- Peter Lorre as a steward on the SS Carnatic
- Mike Mazurki as a Hong Kong drunk
- Richard Wattis as Inspector Hunter of Scotland Yard (uncredited)
- Keye Luke as an old man at Yokohama travel office (uncredited)
- Felix Felton as a Reform Club member (uncredited)
- Philip Ahn as Hong Kong citizen (uncredited)
- George Raft as the bouncer of the Barbary Coast Saloon
- Red Skelton as a drunk at the saloon
- Marlene Dietrich as the saloon hostess
- John Carradine as Col. Stamp Proctor of San Francisco
- Frank Sinatra as the saloon pianist
- Buster Keaton as a train conductor (San Francisco to Fort Kearney)
- Col. Tim McCoy as a US Cavalry Colonel
- Joe E. Brown as the Fort Kearney stationmaster
- Andy Devine as the first mate of the SS Henrietta
- Edmund Lowe as the engineer of the SS Henrietta
- Victor McLaglen as the helmsman of the SS Henrietta
- Jack Oakie as the Captain of the SS Henrietta
- Beatrice Lillie as a London revivalist leader
- John Mills as a London carriage driver
- Glynis Johns as a Sporting Lady
- Hermione Gingold as a Sporting Lady
- Frank Royde as a clergyman
- Marion Ross (unbilled)
- James Dime
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