Tag: David Niven

Classic Movie Impression: Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn classic movie impressions, Movie Impresssions9 Comments

I finally watched Around the World in 80 Days from 1956 with David Niven, two years after reading Jules Verne’s novel, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The movie, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1956, was a ton of fun and I am going to watch it again just to catch all the moments I might have missed.

The book and the movie follow the story of Phileas Fogg, an English gentleman, who no one in his gentleman’s  club can exactly figure out. During a discussion Phileas brags that he could go around the world in 80 days. A wager is made and he and his French valet (newly hired) Passepartout (Pass-par-too) head out, starting their journey in a large, hot air balloon.

 As you can imagine, all kind of situations arise on the journey and along the way they pick up a couple other travelers, one an Indian princess they rescue from being killed and another man who turns out to be a police officer who thinks that Phileas is actually the man who robbed the bank of England shortly before leaving on his trip.

(I may be the only one who thinks of Phineas and Ferb, the kids’ cartoon, when I read or hear the name Phileas but that is because I had a little one when the show first came out.)

In addition to Niven as Phileas Fogg, we also have Cantinflas as Passepartout, Shirley MacLaine as Aouda and Robert Newton as Inspector Fix.

I’m going to be upfront and say that I had no idea Shirley McClaine was Aouda, the Indian princess. I didn’t recognize her at all and didn’t realize it until I was working on this blog post and saw her name listed in the cast.

I found it interesting that the movie created the idea of “cameo roles” as a way to invite established stars to participate in a production. The cameos in this movie included the most I’ve ever head of at 40 cameos with some of the most notable being Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Buster Keaton, Noel Coward, Charles Boyer, Caser Romero, Ronald Colman, Red Skelton, and Peter Lorre.

Of course there are some aspects of the movie that have not aged well but many of the racial stereotypes I expected luckily didn’t surface with the focus mainly being on our main characters and the adventures they find themselves in.

Clocking in at 2 hours and 55 minutes, this was one of the longer classic movies I have watched and I actually took several breaks from watching it to run errands, cook dinner, go to bed, and do several other things that needed doing. In other words it took me a couple of days to finish it. I actually do that a lot with movies, no matter the length, because it feels like I am constantly interrupted while watching them.

One couldn’t be expected to shove all that happens in Verne’s book into a 90-minute to 2-hour movie, though, right? The characters travel across several countries, including the US, while being chased by a man who thinks Phileas is a robber, and, for Passepartout, often getting lost or separated from the group.

Michael  Todd produced the movie and when it was released,  he urged promoters not to refer to Around the World in 80 Days as a movie. To him it was an epic, a spectacle, an experience to immerse oneself in.

Michael Todd with his wife Elizabeth Taylor and movie director Michael Anderson.

“Do not refer to Around the World in 80 Days as a movie,” Todd wrote when the movie was distributed. “It’s not a movie. Movies are something you can see in your neighborhood theatre and eat popcorn while you’re watching them….Show Around the World in 80 Days almost exactly as you would present a Broadway show in your theatre.”

Critics and movie-goers agreed with the assessment, though some felt the movie would never end because it was so long.

Todd was a master at convincing stars to get involved, according to Jeff Stafford , writing for TCM.com.

“One of his talents was attracting marquee-name talent through his sheer extravagant nature,” Stafford wrote. “When he learned that the Jules Verne novel had been a childhood favorite of David Niven, he casually offered him the role of Phileas Fogg, to which Niven excitedly said, “I’d do it for nothing.” Todd’s famous remark was “You’ve got a deal.” He enticed other actors with gifts: Ronald Colman received a new yellow Cadillac for half a day’s work. Noel Coward was allowed to write his own dialogue for his cameo scene and received a Bonnard painting as a Christmas present. John Gielgud was seduced into appearing in a small role out of sheer curiosity. Todd recalled that “Gielgud asked me, ‘Why do you want me to play a sacked butler? I am a Shakespearean actor.’ I said, ‘Because I know you could do it so well and I know it’s right for you.’ He said, ‘Let me read it.’ I gave him the pages and he read it. Then he said, ‘My dear Mr. Todd, you really want me to play this? Why?…Who is playing the other part?’ I said, ‘Noel Coward.’ He said, ‘I’ve got to see that.’ I said, ‘One way for you to see it – be on the set tomorrow.’ And he was on the set.”

Todd went all out in other ways for this film too. He not only traveled the world to secure actors but props or locations for scenes.

From Stafford’s article: “He went to Chinchon, Spain, and hired the entire population of 6,500 residents to appear in a bullfight sequence. He visited his friend, the King of Thailand, who loaned him his 165-foot-long royal barge, complete with 70 glitteringly clad oarsmen, for a scene that lasted maybe 12 seconds. In China, Todd acquired a Chinese dragon used in holiday processions, which was 250 years old, thirty-feet-long, and required 24 men to operate it. In Pakistan, the producer persuaded the Nawab of Pritim Pasha to loan him his private elephant herd.”

And the train in the movie?

It was a Durango museum piece and used to run from San Francisco to Colorado in 1871 and Todd convinced the museum to loan it after a million dollar bond was secured.

The movie set some definite records, including:

  • the most people (68,894) ever photographed in separate worldwide locations; the greatest distance ever travelled to make a film (four million air passenger miles);
  • the most camera set-ups ever used (200 more than Gone With the Wind, 1939);
  • the most sets ever used (140 actual locations plus interiors on soundstages in London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo as well as six Hollywood studios);
  • the most costumes ever used (74,685);
  • and the most assistant directors (33).

The movie was directed by Michael Anderson.

Younger viewers may not recognize some of the cameos, I certainly didn’t, but it’s still fun to read about them later and learn who they were. I, honestly, only recognized Frank Sinatra until I read about who was in it after I watched it.

There were generations of people who came to know David Niven through this movie, not realizing his long career before it ever came out.

Gentleman’s Journal wrote that Niven represented the perfect English gentlemen in the minds of generations.

In his first movie he said “Good-bye, my dear,” to a lady getting on a train.

“In just a few words, Niven had distilled onto celluloid the perfect English gentleman – suave and cheerful, sleek and charming,” The website states. “His success skyrocketed overnight, and it echoes still today. Even now, when we think of the quintessential Englishman, it is Niven’s smiling face, pencil moustache, and effortless attire that flashes into view.”

Well, if not Niven, then Phileas Fogg.

A few tidbits of trivia I learned about the movie while researching:

  • Orson Welles was a little upset he did not get a cameo in the film. He was upset because before Michael Todd produced this film, he produced a stage version by Welles. The play flopped but Todd turned the project into a film anyway and it enjoyed great success. Welles felt he gave the idea to Todd in the first place. (Source Classic Movie Hub).
  • Shirley MacLaine wrote that filming a scene with thousands of extras ground to a complete halt because the propman forgot to put the bottle of champagne in the balloon with David Niven and Cantinflas.
  • Michael Todd never had anyone else other than David Niven in mind for the role of Phileas Fogg.
  • Michael Todd’s original estimate for the film’s budget was $3 million. The film ended up costing nearly double that, largely thanks to Todd’s demands for verisimilitude and location shooting.
  • Alexander Korda had previously taken an unsuccessful stab at the material. His advice to Michael Todd was “Back away from it, Mike. I’ve been trying to lick it for years. Total loss.”

Have you seen this one?

Sources or additional information :

https://www.classicmoviehub.com/facts-and-trivia/film/around-the-world-in-eighty-days-1956/page/1/

https://www.tcm.com/articles/62567/around-the-world-in-80-days

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048960/trivia

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Classic Movie Impression: The Bishop’s Wife

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn classic movie impressions, Comfy, Cozy Christmas, Movie Impresssions5 Comments

This weekend I watched The Bishop’s Wife (1947), which I have watched before but couldn’t remember the end of, so I watched it again.

The movie stars Cary Grant as an angel named Dudley who comes to earth to help Bishop Henry Brougham, (David Niven). Henry is so wrapped up in securing funding for a cathedral he begins to neglect his wife and daughter.

Dudley arrives at the Bishop’s house after the Bishop prays for God to help him with funding for the cathedral. Dudley tells him right up front that he’s an angel and he’s there to help him but introduces himself to others as Henry’s new assistant. He pretty much forces himself into Henry’s life and ends up charming the pants off all the women he meets and creating miracles for men, women, and children alike. At least one man, Henry’s retired professor friend (Monty Woolley), is very suspicious of him.

Henry isn’t really sure if he believes that Dudley is an angel, especially when the guy starts taking Henry’s wife, Julia, (Loretta Young) out on the town, having dinner with her, taking her skating, and buying her hats.

Still, Henry isn’t about to get distracted from his goal of building the cathedral and he ignores Dudley’s efforts to open his eyes to how much Julia needs him, plowing forward with fundraising instead.

L-R: Actors Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young sit in the back of a car in a still from the film, ‘The Bishop’s Wife,’ directed by Henry Koster, 1947. (Photo by RKO Pictures/Courtesy of Getty Images)

I think Cary is supposed to be charming in this movie but instead I find him a bit devious. Maybe the goal of the movie is to leave the viewer trying to figure out if he is sweet or evil.

The site, The Viewer’s Commentary, had a similar feeling about Cary’s role and explains it better than I can.

“But, while I’m not certain “perfect” is necessarily the right word for Dudley as a character, I’m still not entirely convinced that the movie wasn’t actually trying to play him up as being in his right to step in on Henry’s marriage, either. This is based on the film’s affectionate depiction of his chemistry with Julia, the amount of sympathy the film has for her, and the apparent distaste it has for the stiff Henry beyond his admirable loyalty and good intentions.”

“That ice skating thing I mentioned before wasn’t some kind of non sequitur,” the post continues. “There’s a painfully long scene in which Dudley and Julia and their cab driver have a whimsical impromptu ice skating session where he romances her in front of everyone by secretly granting her expert skill while Henry toils away elsewhere, callously inattentive to Julia’s wifely needs. It would be one thing if it was intended to teach Henry a lesson about what could potentially happen, but it actually kinda left me with a gross feeling, given how wonderful it’s all supposed to be while knowing about Dudley’s infatuation – not to mention his manipulation of the situation and nonchalant demeanor when confronted about it.”

This is the scene in question:

At one point even Henry begins to wonder if Dudley is from heaven or hell and if he truly is trying to steal his wife from him.

It’s what I was wondering too and by the end of the movie  . . . well if you’ve never seen it you will have to watch it and let me know what you think.

The movie is based on a book by Robert Nathan whose other fantasy romance, Portrait of Jennie, would later overtake The Bishop’s Wife on a literary level and later became a 1948 David Selznick movie.

According to an article on TCM.com, producer Samuel Goldwyn decided to take on this movie right after winning an Oscar for The Best Year of Our Lives in 1946.

Cary was originally set to play the Bishop, but as he read the script he began to suggest edits and finally decided he didn’t have the right part. He should be playing Dudley.

Later on, though, after the final casting decisions were made, Grant wanted to switch back.

Then there was the fact that Goldwyn didn’t like the set.

Niven wrote in his future autobiography, “The day before shooting was to start, Goldwyn decided that the interiors of the Bishop’s house were not ecclesiastical enough and ordered several sets to be torn down, redesigned and rebuilt. For three weeks, while this was going on, production was halted, then, two days after the cameras finally had a chance to turn, Goldwyn decided that Seiter’s hand was a little too heavy on the tiller: he was removed, paid his full salary and after a week, Goldwyn hired Henry Koster to start again from scratch – with another two weeks of rehearsal. All this must have cost Goldwyn several hundred thousand dollars….”

Niven was already struggling through the production because his wife tragically died during filming.  Her fatal head injury occurred during a party game of “sardines” at Tyrone Power’s house. Her name was Primmie and she fell down a flight of cellar stairs after thinking she was running into a closet.

Problems further continued to plague the film when Cary and Loretta Young couldn’t get along part of the time.

Despite all of the hardships, the movie was well-received and remains a favorite Christmas film of many classic movie buffs today.

It was nominated for five Oscars but did not win any.

I’m not sure I found this movie as heartwarming as some of the Christmas movies I’ve watched, probably because I found it so difficult to read Cary in this one and was quite suspicious of him. I did, however, still enjoy the movie overall.

A few pieces of trivia about the movie for you:

I recognized the young actor who played the young George Bailey from It’s A Wonderful Life — Bobby Anderson —— in a snowball throwing scene in this film. I looked up his name and found out that Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in It’s a Wonderful Life also played The Bishop and his wife’s daughter, Debby.

According to IMBd (I did not double check these to clarify they are true):

“At about 1:20, Henry and Julia are ready to make some Parish calls. Henry says to Julia, “We go first to the Trubshawes.” This is an example of David Niven’s attempt to mention the name of his friend (Michael Trubshawe) in every movie he made.”

“Over Cary Grant’s protests, a skating double wearing a mask with Grant’s features was used in the long shots of the complex skating routine. A skating double was also used for Loretta Young on all long shots.”

Market research showed that moviegoers avoided the film because they thought it was religious. So, Samuel Goldwyn decided to re-title it Cary and the Bishop’s Wife for some US markets, while adding a black text box with the question “Have you heard about CARY AND THE BISHOP’S WIFE?” on posters in markets where the film kept the original title. By adding Cary Grant’s first name to the title the film’s business increased by as much as 25 per cent.

“In Britain the film was selected for that year’s Royal Command Film Performance screening. Princess Margaret and her sister, the future Queen Elizabeth, both attended the screening of “The Bishop’s Wife” on November 25, 1947, at the Odeon Theatre in Leicester Square. According to David Niven, “The audience loved every second of it, and the Queen and Princess Margaret told me afterwards and at great length how much they had enjoyed it.”

Have you ever seen The Bishop’s Wife? What did you think of it?

*This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Christmas Link Up for 2024. If you have a Christmas/holiday post you would like to share you can find the link HERE or at the top of the page here on my blog.