Around the World in 80 Days: True Story, Movies & Summary

Jules Verne’s 1872 novel sparked a real-world race that two American women turned into a media sensation. In 1889, Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland set off on the same day, racing in opposite directions around the globe. One finished in 72 days, the other in 76—both beating Phileas Fogg’s fictional record. Here’s what the record-setting journey looked like, and which movie adaptation actually captures it best.

Publication Year: 1872 ·
Author: Jules Verne ·
Protagonist Wager: £20,000 ·
Nellie Bly Trip: Real person ·
Elizabeth Bisland Trip: 76 days

The table below consolidates key facts about Jules Verne’s novel and its most notable real-world inspiration.

Is Around the World in 80 Days Based on a True Story?

Jules Verne’s novel is fiction, but it arrived at a moment when global travel had become genuinely possible. The Suez Canal opened in 1869, the First Transcontinental Railroad began that same year, and Indian railways linked across the subcontinent around 1870—creating the infrastructure that made an 80-day circumnavigation theoretically plausible. Verne assembled these pieces into a wager-driven adventure, but he didn’t base Phileas Fogg on a specific person.

The real inspiration came from two pioneering journalists who read the novel and proposed their own races. Nellie Bly, then 25 years old, pitched the New York World on beating Fogg’s record; she departed November 14, 1889, on the steamship Augusta Victoria, heading east. Elizabeth Bisland, 28, received a competing assignment from Cosmopolitan magazine the same day—traveling west to beat Bly home. According to HistoryExtra (BBC History Magazine), Bly learned of Bisland’s competing trip in Hong Kong, where Bisland had passed through days earlier.

Bly covered 2,577 miles on her final US leg aboard the “Miss Nellie Bly Special” train in just 69 hours, arriving back in New Jersey on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 pm after 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, and 14 seconds. Bisland finished four days later, completing her westward journey in 76 days.

Phileas Fogg Origins

Verne never confirmed a direct inspiration for Fogg, though scholars note the wealthy Victorian eccentric archetype was common in Victorian literature. The character wagering £20,000 (roughly £2.7 million today) from London’s Reform Club represents the era’s confidence in mechanical progress.

Nellie Bly’s Real Journey

Bly prepared for just three days before departure. She carried minimal luggage and wore a practical skirt she could lift for climbing. According to Business Insider, thousands cheered her at US train stops, tracking her progress in newspapers. Jules Verne himself met her in Amiens, France during her journey.

Elizabeth Bisland’s 76-Day Trip

Bisland had only five hours to prepare after Cosmopolitan editor John Brisben Walker sent her westward to beat Bly. The Heinz History Center reports she was “practically stupefied with astonishment” when given the assignment. Her westward train reached record speeds despite passenger protests. On New Year’s Eve 1889, Bly was between Hong Kong and Yokohama while Bisland was in Ceylon—roughly opposite ends of their respective journeys.

What is the Best Movie Version of Around the World in 80 Days?

The novel has spawned multiple adaptations, though none directly dramatize the Bly-Bisland race. The most notable versions span nearly seven decades, each reflecting different production values and cultural attitudes toward Verne’s source material.

The comparison below summarizes major theatrical and television adaptations released over the past seven decades.

The 1956 adaptation starring David Niven as Phileas Fogg remains the most critically acclaimed theatrical version, winning Oscars for cinematography and editing. Audie Murphy, a decorated WWII veteran and prolific 1950s leading man, played the French detective Fix pursuing Fogg. The production employed massive location shooting across 15 countries—a feat that would be prohibitively expensive today.

1956 Adaptation

This version captured the grand-spectacle era of Hollywood filmmaking, though some modern critics note dated racial portrayals. The story compresses Verne’s episodic journey into a streamlined narrative, sacrificing some cultural nuance for pacing.

2004 Jackie Chan Version

This action-comedy repositioned the story as a globe-trotting adventure with martial arts sequences. Jackie Chan’s Passepartout brought physical comedy to the valet role, but the film departed significantly from Verne’s plot structure.

David Tennant Miniseries

The 2023 BBC miniseries offered the most faithful adaptation in decades, running approximately 4.5 hours across six episodes. Tennant’s Fogg brought Victorian eccentricity to life with more psychological depth than previous film versions.

1999 TV Movie

A modest television production that failed to find the scale or budget of competing adaptations. Primarily notable as a footnote in the adaptation history.

Is Around the World in 80 Days Racist?

This question surfaces regularly in contemporary reviews of Verne’s novel and its adaptations. The book was written in 1872 and reflects Victorian-era assumptions about race, colonialism, and global hierarchies that many modern readers find uncomfortable.

Verne’s narrative portrays various cultures encountered during Fogg’s journey through a Eurocentric lens. Some scenes depict indigenous peoples in ways that reinforced Victorian stereotypes. The novel also contains passages that justify British colonialism as civilizing mission.

Historical Context

Verne wrote within the racial science assumptions of his era. Fogg’s journey passes through British India, Hong Kong, and other colonial territories, and Verne’s descriptions often prioritize European perspective. This reflects the cultural moment rather than exceptional prejudice.

Content Warnings

Modern editions sometimes include editor’s notes addressing dated content. Several streaming platforms have added content warnings to the 1956 film adaptation. According to Britannica (authoritative reference publisher), the novel remains taught in schools but educators increasingly pair it with contextual materials.

Modern Reviews

Contemporary critical responses to adaptations note which versions perpetuate and which challenge the source material’s dated elements. The 2004 film updated some cultural portrayals, while the 2023 miniseries attempted to interrogate colonialism directly.

What is a Summary of Around the World in 80 Days?

Phileas Fogg of London lives a rigidly scheduled life at the Reform Club, measuring every minute against pocket chronometers. When club members debate whether 80 days suffices for circumnavigation, Fogg wagers £20,000 and hires French valet Passepartout the same day.

They depart immediately on steamships and railways, pursued by Detective Fix, who suspects Fogg of robbing the Bank of England. The journey circles the globe eastward—through France, Egypt, India, Hong Kong, Japan, America—and Fogg arrives believing he’s won the wager, only to discover he’s lost a day crossing the International Date Line.

Plot Overview

Fogg’s mechanical precision versus chance encounters drives the episodic structure. Each location presents obstacles: storms, jungles, gambling debts, an Indian princess escape. The resolution hinges on geography’s hidden rule—traveling east, Fogg gains hours he doesn’t account for.

Key Characters

Phileas Fogg embodies Victorian confidence in systems and schedules. Passepartout provides comic relief and human warmth. Aouda, the Indian princess Fogg rescues, becomes his love interest and represents the novel’s limited female agency.

Journey Highlights

The Suez crossing, an Indian elephant rescue, a Pacific ocean rescue, and American railroad duels form the novel’s set pieces. Britannica notes Verne’s technical accuracy in describing 1870s transportation made the novel partly educational for contemporary readers.

Around the World in 80 Days: What We Know Now

Verne’s novel captured the era’s excitement about shrinking distances, but real women soon surpassed his fictional record. The race between Bly and Bisland demonstrated what the novel only theorized—80 days was possible, and women could do it faster than any man.

According to Alabama Humanities, the race highlighted the fight for women’s financial independence. Both journalists retained control of their narratives and earnings—unusual for the era.

Real-World Inspirations

Palle Huld, a 15-year-old Danish Boy Scout, circled the world in 44 days in 1928 via the Trans-Siberian Railway—beating both Fogg and the women. Wikipedia notes this modern attempt used aviation and rail that Verne could only dream of.

PBS Insights

PBS has covered the Bly-Bisland race as an example of Gilded Age journalism innovation. According to HistoryExtra (BBC History Magazine), the race demonstrated how new transportation networks enabled unprecedented human achievements.

Legacy and Adaptations

Matthew Goodman’s book “Eighty Days” details the race day-by-day, drawing from primary sources. The novel itself has never been out of print, spawning films, television series, games, and at least one cartoon adaptation.

“Women set the record for Fastest Trip Around the World. No man did it first.” — Behind Everyday

“Bly had bested Fogg’s fictional journey time by over seven days.” — HistoryExtra (BBC History Magazine)

The real story behind Around the World in 80 Days is arguably more compelling than the novel itself. Two young women—Bly and Bisland—proved that Victorian infrastructure could enable human endurance and media spectacle simultaneously. The fact that neither film adaptation has tackled their race directly suggests Hollywood’s preference for the familiar Verne template over the messier, more political real history.

For readers today, the choice is clear: enjoy the novel as a period artifact and Victorian optimism, or seek out the documentary and book accounts of the journalists who turned fiction into a record-setting reality.

Related reading: For Whom the Bell Tolls summary

Verne’s adventure novel, inspiring Nellie Bly’s feat and films, delivers a captivating summary facts characters myths that unpacks Phileas Fogg’s journey and myths.

Frequently asked questions