'80 Days' Is National Hit
Murray Eagle, 1 August 1957, page 2
The Utah-Idaho-Nevada-Wyoming premiere of the Academy Award film "Around the World in 80 Days" is scheduled at Salt Lake City's Villa Theater today (Thursday).
For its exclusive and special engagement the Villa is installing a new seamless screen, 54 feet by 24 feet, the largest in Utah, and special lenses will be installed on the Villa's projectors.
"Around the World in 80 Days" is the first film to be produced by Broadway showman Michael Todd. The film received five Academy Awards including that as the "best picture of the year," an honor previously bestowed on the movie by the New York Film Critics, Associated Press, National Film Board, Hedda Hopper and the Hollywood Foreign Press.
"Around the World in 80 Days" is a $6,000,000 film version of Jules Verne's adventure classic. David Niven stars as Verne's hero Phileas Fogg who make a 20,000 pound wager that he can circle the globe in 80 days, quite a feat for 1872. The film makes the English language debut of Mexico's famous comic, Cantinflas, who plays Niven's faithful valet.