Flight Of The Lost Balloon

A quickie rip-off of the popular AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1956) with a low-cost cast, this period piece features Thompson in the unflappable David Niven role. Theater patrons were advised upon entering the lobby that the wild, erratic flight of the title balloon, as depicted on the screen, might require them to consume antinausea pills. The thought was a sound one, but for reasons other than those stated by the promoters. Playing the comic villain is Lanphier, in what is basically the Cantinflas part--an acquisitive Hindu who journeys to Victorian London to persuade the directors of the Geographic Society to mount a rescue mission to save famed explorer Kennedy...