Five Weeks in a Balloon is a genuinely warm family film that remains an entertaining watch more than fifty years after its first release.
Jules Verne's story is brought to life as a relatively modest studio production with plenty of painted backdrops, back projection, a gondola lifted by a crane and some very dubious miniature work. That aside, Irwin Allen concocts a story with varied locations and amusing characters brought to life by a cast clearly sympathetic to the material.
It is that cast that a viewer remembers long after seeing the film. Their work includes well modulated performances from Cedric Hardwicke (in a less than flattering wig), Richard Haydn selling divine prissiness with an acid tongue and precise comic timing, Peter Lorre clearly more engaged than in some of his latter day parts and from Red Buttons who overacts but to grand comic effect. Irwin Allen clearly liked Buttons as he used him again in a comic turn in When Time Ran Out (1980) nearly two decades later.
Even the smaller parts are worth watching out for with the likes of Herbert Marshall as the British Prime Minister, the always taciturn Henry Daniell as an incongruous sheik (given the character lives in what must be sub-Saharan Africa) and Mike Mazurki lending his considerable villainous presence to the near-silent role of the slave trader.
Carrying a theme from Fox's earlier Verne success, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1959), the travellers are required to be accompanied by a cute animal companion - in this case a monkey. Thankfully the monkey does not get a huge amount of screen time.
The film straddles some interesting issues relating to race and empire. On the one hand it is clearly set during the Victorian era when the United Kingdom was spreading its empire across Africa, yet it also features a British government fighting to prevent slave trading in the continent. This is contrasted with the presentation of the African characters, most of whom are played by anglocentric actors in blackface. It is not helpful either that most of these characters are presented purely as comedic villains and speak dubious made-up languages that do little for their dignity.
With that noted this film is clearly not seeking to make any cogent political points and plays as a fun adventure romp. With that perspective foremost it is a fun indulgence and well worth the viewer's time.
The title song is also very catchy, easily hummed and will stay in the mind long after first listening.
Jules Verne's story is brought to life as a relatively modest studio production with plenty of painted backdrops, back projection, a gondola lifted by a crane and some very dubious miniature work. That aside, Irwin Allen concocts a story with varied locations and amusing characters brought to life by a cast clearly sympathetic to the material.
It is that cast that a viewer remembers long after seeing the film. Their work includes well modulated performances from Cedric Hardwicke (in a less than flattering wig), Richard Haydn selling divine prissiness with an acid tongue and precise comic timing, Peter Lorre clearly more engaged than in some of his latter day parts and from Red Buttons who overacts but to grand comic effect. Irwin Allen clearly liked Buttons as he used him again in a comic turn in When Time Ran Out (1980) nearly two decades later.
Even the smaller parts are worth watching out for with the likes of Herbert Marshall as the British Prime Minister, the always taciturn Henry Daniell as an incongruous sheik (given the character lives in what must be sub-Saharan Africa) and Mike Mazurki lending his considerable villainous presence to the near-silent role of the slave trader.
Carrying a theme from Fox's earlier Verne success, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1959), the travellers are required to be accompanied by a cute animal companion - in this case a monkey. Thankfully the monkey does not get a huge amount of screen time.
The film straddles some interesting issues relating to race and empire. On the one hand it is clearly set during the Victorian era when the United Kingdom was spreading its empire across Africa, yet it also features a British government fighting to prevent slave trading in the continent. This is contrasted with the presentation of the African characters, most of whom are played by anglocentric actors in blackface. It is not helpful either that most of these characters are presented purely as comedic villains and speak dubious made-up languages that do little for their dignity.
With that noted this film is clearly not seeking to make any cogent political points and plays as a fun adventure romp. With that perspective foremost it is a fun indulgence and well worth the viewer's time.
The title song is also very catchy, easily hummed and will stay in the mind long after first listening.