Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

This is a nostalgic movie for me personally, it's the first classic movie that I ever saw on the big screen. I was in 8th grade, not yet in High School. I saw it at The Gateway Theater in Chicago in the spring of 1990 with my family, and it was a pretty awesome experience.  April 22, 1990.

This was the period in my life when I started to fall in love with old movies.

I was about 14 years old at the time.

I remember it being a huge, long epic, with lavish location photography, sets and costumes. The music by Victor Young was great too, enjoyable. The opening scenes with Passepartou (Cantinflas) riding the penny-farthing bicycle and meeting David Niven, I'll never forget those scenes. And then they go on their adventure, all over the world, and eventually to America. I remember the young princess in the movie and my mom whispering to me that this is Shirley MacClaine. I had only known her for her 1980s movie up to that point.

And I didn't recognize all the cameo stars, but I did know Frank Sinatra.

Also, there was an actual intermission, and it was a nice break. And the end credits; I was in awe. I love animation and seeing that on the big screen was so cool.

Alot of people criticize the film nowadays and don't think it should have won the Best Picture Oscar. For me, this film was awe-inspiring and impressed me like none other I had seen up until that point.

Another think I really like about 80 Days is the intro with Edward R Murrow when he talks about how travel has evolved. Watching that sequence with the hindsight we now have 50+ years later is really interesting.

Cameos: Charles Boyer, Joe E Brown, Noel Coward, Buster Keaton, Robert Morley, and Marlene Dietrich. Directed by Michael Anderson and Kevin McClory.

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For more about this film:

Gerald has shared some memories of seeing this film when it was first released.

Read the post here at his blog, Laszlos On Lex

Little Dorritt (1988)

With a 6-hour running time, 1988's Little Dorritt always seemed to be a challenging watch but it was on my list because of its acclaim and cast (including Alec Guinness). Last fall the film aired on TCM in 2 parts, and I really enjoyed it!

In his 4-star review, Roger Ebert wrote that he felt the movie might be better experienced seeing it in one day, with a break for lunch in between  (read his review here).

Part 1 is very enjoyable, as we are introduced to a kind man named Mr. Stammers (Derek Jacobi) who returns to his hometown after 20 years of being overseas. He gets reacquainted with a certain family member who has a connection to a mysterious house servant, Amy Dorritt. Stammers spends the entire half of the movie learning about the mystery behind Dorritt and building a name for himself in the community as a businessman and investor.

Part 2 was even better than the first half. The entire second half was told from Amy Dorrit's point of view, and we learn much more about her relationship with her father, splendidly played by Alec Guiness.

I haven't ever read the book, but I understand the story was adapted into a 6 part mini-series starring Tom Courtenay as father Dorritt, which would make for a great watch one day.

It would be nice if this 1988 movie were ever to be released on DVD.

I was curious to see how the film performed at the box office back in 1988, so I checked IMDB and to my surprise it grossed over $1 million. When the movie played at art house theaters in 1988, many theaters charged a separate admission for each 3-hour installment.

Topkapi (1964)

The thieves on the roof of the museum

Peter Ustinov won the 1964 Oscar
for Best Supporting Actor

This movie was on TV the other night and my friend and I watched it again. This is such a great film, and one with some really clever twists and turns.  Maximllian Schell and Melina Mercouri are master thieves who recruit several amateurs to help them steal a precious "Sultan's Dagger" from a Turkish museum. The last half hour is devoted to the heist. There's no music as the criminals steals the dagger.  Peter Ustinov is very funny as a bumbling oaf who may spoil the heist. There's a great line when someone says, "A little bird told me".   With Robert Morley as the man with the gadgets, and Akim Tamiroff. Directed by Jules Dassin.

Melina Mercouri has her eyes on the Topkapi dagger

Another review from Tales of the Easily Distracted

Another blog post from Lazarus' Lair