Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and a crew of three—photographers Harry Sharp and Chuck Lewis and co-director Victor Fleming—journey around the world and report on various cultural curiosities and the humor they find in everyday life overseas. (From TCM.com)
My Take:
I love this movie! It's narrated by our "tour guide", Mr. Fairbanks himself, who addresses the camera throughout. We travel with him to Japan, China, India, Siam (Thailand today), and India among other countries, mostly in Asia. This film must have been incredible to watch on the big screen in 1931 when there were no TVs: we see some awesome landscape views, mixed in with humorous bits featuring Fairbanks, in a similar fashion to the popular TV travel show Globetrekker. In one scene, Fairbanks pretends like he's being chased by a wild leopard (but it's all trick photography). In another scene, he plays golf on a giant map of the world; when his ball lands on an island, he "jumps" over the ocean so he doesn't "fall into it". Plus he cracks alot of jokes throughout and I found myself laughing hysterically.
The crew travels mostly through Asia, but there is funny gag at the end where they hop on a flying carpet and manage to see other countries and cities in America, giving the illusion they're literally traveling "around the world". At one point the carpet flies over Chicago and there are some bullets fired at it. Har har. There are one or two other Chicago/mobster jokes in the film too (that cracked up our audience)
I don't think this type of full-length travel film was common back in the early 30s. This is a one of a kind film. You can tell that Fairbanks had fun making this film. The total running time is about 80 minutes (hence, Around the world in 80 minutes) A follow-up film might have been cool with Mr. Fairbanks hosting again, perhaps with a trip to Europe, which would have been fun. Highly recommended!