Review of Five Weeks in a Balloon

In desperate need of money to further his technical inventions "Professor Fergusson" (Cedric Hardwicke) is approached by "Randolph Hearst" (Raymond Bailey) who agrees to provide the necessary funding for a trip to East Africa provided that he take his playboy nephew "Donald O'Shay" (Red Buttons) with him in order to keep him out of trouble. Needless to say, Professor Fergusson agrees immediately. However, because of important British national concerns the trip becomes rerouted to encompass another part of Africa which adds several more weeks to the expedition. Not only that, but other passengers are also added during the course of the trip which complicates matters even more. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a fairly typical "family film" made during this particular time-period which was often viewed by that specific audience at either theaters or drive-ins across America. As such it was deliberately kept rather tame and inoffensive. That being said, although the overall plot isn't anything out of the ordinary, I thought the performance of Peter Lorre (as "Ahmed") and the presence of both BarBara Luna ("Makia") and Barbara Eden ("Susan Gale") helped to elevate it to a certain degree and for those reasons I have rated this film accordingly. Slightly above average.