Following the blockbuster success of Walt Disney's adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Richard Fleischer, 1954) and Mike Todd's Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Anderson, 1956), 19th century French author Jules Verne was suddenly a 20th century Hollywood box office hot property. Of the movies released in their wake Journey to the Center of the Earth (Henry Levin, 1959) and Mysterious Island (Cy Endfield, 1961) are the best of the bunch. Further down the list is Five Weeks in a Balloon.
Loosely based on Verne's 1863 novel of the same name Five Weeks in a Balloon finds an unlikely crew of adventurers, including explorer Fergusson (Cedric Hardwicke), his youthful assistant (popstar Fabian) and US newspaper hack Donald O'Shay (Red Buttons), set sail for Africa in a hot air balloon with a gondola inexplicably shaped like a unicorn! Picking up kidnapped teacher Susan (Barbara Eden) and slave trader Ahmed (Peter Lorre) en route. Getting into scrapes involving various tribes-people, the odd slave and a pipe-smoking chimp, expect some outdated racial stereotypes and some decidedly pre-feminist representations of women. Nothing overtly offensive, however, be warned it is very much a product of its time!
Five Weeks in a Balloon was a conscious attempt by 20th Century Fox to repeat the success of their adaptation of Journey to the Center of the Earth. A decent, if not exactly starry, cast were assembled. Buttons and Eden make for attractive romantic leads. Fabian is thrown in to attract the teens, similar to the casting of Pat Boone in Journey to the Center of the Earth. A little extra gravitas comes courtesy of Hardwicke and Lorre, but nothing particularly demanding is asked of any of the performers.
Irwin Allen would seem a natural choice for director, having previously helmed the hit adventure movies The Lost World (1960) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), both for Fox. Later in the decade he would provide the company with successful television sci-fi series Lost in Space (1965-68) and Land of the Giants (1968-70). Sadly, Five weeks in a Balloon would prove to be a disappointment, both artistically and commercially. It certainly isn't terrible, but it lacks the scope and grandeur of Journey to the Center of the Earth and even the more modest The Lost World. A smaller budget is evident; while there is nothing essentially wrong with the effects, the balloon for example is impressive, it just seems light on spectacle compared to earlier Verne adaptations.
Ultimately, Five Weeks in a Balloon is too slight a movie to be considered the epic adventure is promises to be. Neither is it the schlocky fun that so much of the Allen oeuvre is. It is lightweight entertainment, but perhaps a little too lightweight. As adventure and comedy it never quite takes flight and the end result is fun but a bit bland.
Loosely based on Verne's 1863 novel of the same name Five Weeks in a Balloon finds an unlikely crew of adventurers, including explorer Fergusson (Cedric Hardwicke), his youthful assistant (popstar Fabian) and US newspaper hack Donald O'Shay (Red Buttons), set sail for Africa in a hot air balloon with a gondola inexplicably shaped like a unicorn! Picking up kidnapped teacher Susan (Barbara Eden) and slave trader Ahmed (Peter Lorre) en route. Getting into scrapes involving various tribes-people, the odd slave and a pipe-smoking chimp, expect some outdated racial stereotypes and some decidedly pre-feminist representations of women. Nothing overtly offensive, however, be warned it is very much a product of its time!
Five Weeks in a Balloon was a conscious attempt by 20th Century Fox to repeat the success of their adaptation of Journey to the Center of the Earth. A decent, if not exactly starry, cast were assembled. Buttons and Eden make for attractive romantic leads. Fabian is thrown in to attract the teens, similar to the casting of Pat Boone in Journey to the Center of the Earth. A little extra gravitas comes courtesy of Hardwicke and Lorre, but nothing particularly demanding is asked of any of the performers.
Irwin Allen would seem a natural choice for director, having previously helmed the hit adventure movies The Lost World (1960) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), both for Fox. Later in the decade he would provide the company with successful television sci-fi series Lost in Space (1965-68) and Land of the Giants (1968-70). Sadly, Five weeks in a Balloon would prove to be a disappointment, both artistically and commercially. It certainly isn't terrible, but it lacks the scope and grandeur of Journey to the Center of the Earth and even the more modest The Lost World. A smaller budget is evident; while there is nothing essentially wrong with the effects, the balloon for example is impressive, it just seems light on spectacle compared to earlier Verne adaptations.
Ultimately, Five Weeks in a Balloon is too slight a movie to be considered the epic adventure is promises to be. Neither is it the schlocky fun that so much of the Allen oeuvre is. It is lightweight entertainment, but perhaps a little too lightweight. As adventure and comedy it never quite takes flight and the end result is fun but a bit bland.
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