There's a lot to love in this film, especially the majestic photography that had this odd looking balloon flying through gorgeous but dangerous mountain ranges and landing in various unexplored parts of the world, many filled with danger. Handsome Fabian is given top billing as a crew member of Sir Cedric Hardwicke's floating ship where a variety of different personalities gather together for a journey they'll never forget. Richard Haydn goes back to his pucker voiced eccentric of "Sitting Pretty" as a rather prissy guest, and they are joined by stowaway BarBara Luna, the smug Red Buttons (annoying as always), pretty Barbara Eden, a chimp and, as he describes himself, Peter Lorre as "an honest slave trader".
Among the great moments are their journeys to an Arabic kingdom (with veteran comic Billy Gilbert as the caliph), the landing in the African outback, chased off by natives, and their fight against a sandstorm. Veteran British actor Herbert Marshall emulates veteran villain Douglas Dumbrille who played similar roles in several films in the 1940's. It's nice to see the characters played by Luna and Eden actually becoming friends rather than pulling out hair as rivals over one of the men, obviously since this was meant as a family movie.
Eden is paired with Buttons whose character seems to calm down and become more humble as the film goes on. Lorre gets some great lines ("I'm not a slave. I sell them"), and it's impossible to not chuckle when he first appears wearing a fez. Irwin Allen directs with his flair of the visual. In fact, those visuals grab you from the opening, a test run of this ship which barely manages to miss crashing into the jagged rocks beneath them. I can guarantee that this looked stunning on the big screen because it looks fantastic on a digital TV screen. Well worth seeing over and over!
Among the great moments are their journeys to an Arabic kingdom (with veteran comic Billy Gilbert as the caliph), the landing in the African outback, chased off by natives, and their fight against a sandstorm. Veteran British actor Herbert Marshall emulates veteran villain Douglas Dumbrille who played similar roles in several films in the 1940's. It's nice to see the characters played by Luna and Eden actually becoming friends rather than pulling out hair as rivals over one of the men, obviously since this was meant as a family movie.
Eden is paired with Buttons whose character seems to calm down and become more humble as the film goes on. Lorre gets some great lines ("I'm not a slave. I sell them"), and it's impossible to not chuckle when he first appears wearing a fez. Irwin Allen directs with his flair of the visual. In fact, those visuals grab you from the opening, a test run of this ship which barely manages to miss crashing into the jagged rocks beneath them. I can guarantee that this looked stunning on the big screen because it looks fantastic on a digital TV screen. Well worth seeing over and over!