Old ëDaysí And New; Around The World In 80 Days Set To Release On DVD On May 18, 2004

by Scott HettrickDaily Variety/Variety.com

24-Feb-04

Warner Home Video had to go around the world in 1,460 days looking for various pieces of the classic 1950s widescreen epic ìAround The World In 80 Days.î Now, a month before Disney releases a theatrical remake of the Jules Verne adventure story starring Jackie Chan and John Cleese, Warner will release May 18 the first widescreen presentation of the filmís entire 1956 edition on DVD. ì80 Daysî was only the second movie (the first was ìOklahoma!î) filmed in the Todd-AO widescreen format (named after ì80 Daysî producer Mike Todd) and the last to use the 30 frames-per-second system.Warner went to great pains and huge distances during the last four years to track down usable elements from various versions of the movie, which was shown in both 30 fps and 24 fps and in truncated roadshow copies, to get one complete 65mm negative master to use for the DVD, according to WHV Senior VP of Classic Catalog George Feltenstein.It will be the first time the movie - one of the most requested unreleased titles in the Warner library, according to Feinstein - will be presented outside theaters in letterbox form, a 2.40:1 aspect ratio.The two-disc set of the three-hour movie starring David Niven includes archival material as well as audio commentary by BBC radioís Brian Sibley, outtakes, a 1968 documentary on Todd narrated by Orson Welles, and excerpts from the 1957 live promotional telecast of ìPlayhouse 90: Around the World in 90 Minutes,î hosted by Elizabeth Taylor from Madison Square Garden.