It hardly seems possible that I was in the fourth grade when this lavish spectacle came out. I can still clearly recall the massive p.r. Blitz and the hype surrounding its release. There was a special air of adventure around the movie that was more common in those days, when Hollywood was striving for increasingly fabulous and star-loaded vehicles, to compete with television's increasing inroads into viewership. This special quality has been completely lost in these days when cinematic 'product' is churned out in an undifferentiated stream. It's impossible to imagine, except in a few rare cases , that kind of aura surrounding a contemporary movie.
When our family went to see it (yes, there was a time when families went to the movies together! Yes, there was a time when there were movies suitable for the whole family to watch!) I remember being completely swept away by the spectacle, the romance, the sheer sweep of the thing. I was too young at the time to recognize many of the actors who put in the plethora of cameos, but it's fun to do so today. The movie's main theme quickly entered the popular music repertoire and became practically ubiquitous. The problem in evaluating the movie now is not to allow fond nostalgia to interfere with an objective assessment.
The movie is a tad dated, but not, I think, fatally so. It still stands up as a fast-paced adventure yarn with a touch of tongue-in-cheek comedy and a certain archness (as witness the very final closing words in an aside to the audience) bestowed by David Niven's strong lead. The chemistry between him and Cantinflas works well, and Robert Newton provides a good foil as Mr. Fix. Shirley Maclaine, however, is miscast. (For a real hoot, by the way, click on the 'full cast and crew' link of this movie in IMDB, where each and every actor, including ALL the minor cameos, is listed alphabetically. What a riot!)
One previous viewer complained about a lack of character development. Yes, and one doesn't go to a hardware store to buy hamburger, either.
And the exotic locales have lost none of their appeal. One quibble would be the Spanish scenes, where Jose Greco's Flamenco routine and the overly long subsequent bullfight sequence impede the flow.
There is no question that the super-wide screen format of Todd-AO, which used a special fish-eye lens for the scenery shots, and which was shown on a special curved screen in the theaters, was essential for the travelogue atmosphere of the flick. To see it on a tv-sized screen degrades the movie's impact considerably. I had looked in vain for years for this to be broadcast or re-released in letterbox and I am happy to see TMC has done so as of August, '03 ! As predicted, the letterbox format, and the rejuvenated print, reinvigorates this nearly unique film, which I somewhat hesitantly venture to call a classic.
