Apparently, folks were chomping at the bit to make this film as soon as the copyright for this Jules Verne story expired...and both "Five Weeks in a Balloon" and "Flight of the Lost Balloon" came out a short time apart. I haven't seen "Flight of the Lost Balloon" but it's rated lower than "Five Weeks in a Balloon" and I didn't particularly like it...so it's unlikely I'll see both pictures.
The story is about a hot air balloon with an amazing new power source that will allow it to travel farther and safer than previous balloons. Soon the balloon and its crew are enlisted to explore the interior of Africa....a part of the world that was mostly unknown to Europeans back in the mid-19th century. Along the way, the crew and some unlikely passengers have some adventures...many of which seemed pretty limp...as well as some of the characters.
The acting and characters were an odd lot. Some came off very well in the film...such as Cedrick Hardwicke as the captain of the craft and his assistant (played by Fabian) actually came off very well and I liked them in the movie. A few I felt indifferent about and a couple were godawful and annoying. In particular, Richard Haydn and Red Buttons were terrible...which is shocking as they both were very good actors....but their parts were one-dimensional and stupid..yes, stupid. Haydn is supposed to be a general but seems dumber than a can of Spagehtti-O's...and you can't help but think no general can be this big an imbecile. As for Buttons, his character was a tough one to like as he seemed to like or at least actively condoned slavery and often said and did things to make the viewer hate him....hardly the sweet guy who got an Oscar in "Sayonara"! The dumbest part was when the crew found a young chimp and gave him a gun in order to help with guard duty...a chimp with a gun!!!
Overall, the film proves what is often the problem with Irwin Allen's films....they look great and provide a great spectacle...but also often have one-dimensional characters which are foisted upon good and respected actors. This one is pretty much for kids only as many adults will notice the film's many deficiencies...deficiencies the nice production values can't hide.
The story is about a hot air balloon with an amazing new power source that will allow it to travel farther and safer than previous balloons. Soon the balloon and its crew are enlisted to explore the interior of Africa....a part of the world that was mostly unknown to Europeans back in the mid-19th century. Along the way, the crew and some unlikely passengers have some adventures...many of which seemed pretty limp...as well as some of the characters.
The acting and characters were an odd lot. Some came off very well in the film...such as Cedrick Hardwicke as the captain of the craft and his assistant (played by Fabian) actually came off very well and I liked them in the movie. A few I felt indifferent about and a couple were godawful and annoying. In particular, Richard Haydn and Red Buttons were terrible...which is shocking as they both were very good actors....but their parts were one-dimensional and stupid..yes, stupid. Haydn is supposed to be a general but seems dumber than a can of Spagehtti-O's...and you can't help but think no general can be this big an imbecile. As for Buttons, his character was a tough one to like as he seemed to like or at least actively condoned slavery and often said and did things to make the viewer hate him....hardly the sweet guy who got an Oscar in "Sayonara"! The dumbest part was when the crew found a young chimp and gave him a gun in order to help with guard duty...a chimp with a gun!!!
Overall, the film proves what is often the problem with Irwin Allen's films....they look great and provide a great spectacle...but also often have one-dimensional characters which are foisted upon good and respected actors. This one is pretty much for kids only as many adults will notice the film's many deficiencies...deficiencies the nice production values can't hide.