Phineas Fogg makes a bet that he can circumnavigate the globe in the prescribed time limit, which, in Victorian times, is easier said than done.

I remembered loving this as a young Otter, although, it turns out, I was getting at least some of it mixed up with Five Weeks in a Balloon with Fabian (a honey in those days), which was kind of a ripoff of the popularity of this movie. Mr. Otter and I settled down to watch it, which, at three + hours, is a definite time commitment...but we had junk food and lots of sugary snacks, and were prepared to have a good time.

And we did!

Although a bit slow-moving by modern standards, this is a fun movie to watch; the plot is not bad (there is romantic interest and also Fogg is chasing the robbers who stole money from the Bank of England the whole way) and the scenery (many long shots of scenery) is pretty.

But the most fun is recognizing people. This is one of those movies where they got well (and not-so-well) known actors to play nearly every speaking role, and the cast list reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood at the time. We had a great time saying, Hey, that's _____! in nearly every scene.

And of course there's David Niven with his elegance and impurturbibility, and Cantinflas being handsome and funny and adorable.

A fun blast from the past, and better than I expected.