Spaniards and Mexicans

Here is a review for "Around the World in 80 Days":

What we have here is a vital and compelling story that the screenwriter for some reason decided to tell in hopelessly stitled passages of incidental dialogue so he could get on with what he apparently believed were the important bits, by which I mean (a) interminable travelogue shots, and (b) inexplicable cameo bits for celebrities you've never heard of. The director then decided to mess things up a bit further by casting a Spaniard as Jean Passepartout (don't ask me why) and Shirley Maclaine as an Indian princess (which actually could have worked quite well, if he had given her something interesting to do and if she could have kept the accent consistently). Also, although whist is a major theme throughout this movie, no-one seems to know how to play it; in three hours, we never hear anybody bid, and Fogg, when he's playing solitaire rubbers with himself, apparently thinks you're supposed to turn up one hand at a time, instead of keeping them all exposed at once the way every bridge columnist in the world does. In short, it's a ponderous, tendentious, badly-paced mess, and the only reason you could possibly want to check it out is if you've always had a secret craving to see the young Shirley Maclaine in a sari (which I could understand, actually).

I agree with the reviewer that the movie isn't particularly good and some actors are definitely miscast but here are the two things from this review I have a problem with:

1) the "inexplicable cameo bits" by "celebrities you've never heard of"

- personally I was able to identify the majority of the celebrities that had cameos in this movie and I had a lot of fun spotting them, however I hope to become a film historian so I am more familiar with the actors that were around during the making of this film than most people are so I can see how that might be annoying to some. What this reviewer doesn't seem to realize is that this film was made for 1956 audiences who were extremely familiar with these celebrities.

2) "casting a Spaniard as Jean Passepartout"

-last time I checked the part of Jean Passepartout was played by the MEXICAN actor Cantinflas. Why do I find this unforgivable? Because I am a HUGE fan of this talented comedian (Charlie Chaplin once called him "the greatest comedian in the world"). I understand if the reviewer doesn't like the fact that Cantinflas was cast as Passepartout but at least get the actor's ethnicity right =P (yes, I know sticking out my tongue is rather juvenile but right now I dont care ^_^)

Fortino Mario Alfonso Moreno Reyes aka "Cantinflas"