film theme voyage

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The Best Movies With Voyage in the Title

How many movies with voyage in the title can you name? This list ranks the best movies with voyage in the name, whether they're documentaries, dramas, horror movies, or any other genre of film. Do you have a favorite movie with voyage in the title? Categorizing movies by words in their titles is kind of uncommon, but that's a big part of why this list is so fun to scroll through. There's probably one movie with voyage in the title you think of right away, but you might be shocked to see how many others exist as well.

Fantastic Voyage

• # 19 of 19 on If Someone Tells You They've Seen These Sci-Fi Movies, They're Probably Lying To You
• # 3 of 18 on All The Scripts Guillermo Del Toro Has Written, Ranked By How Much You Want To See Him Make Them
• # 155 of 404 on The 300+ Best Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

• # 46 of 200 on The 195+ Greatest Adventure Movies
• # 2 of 11 on 11 Classic Fantasy Movies Made Before CGI
• # 194 of 248 on The 200+ Best Fantasy Movies Ever

Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage

The Magic Voyage

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

• # 138 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• # 626 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 87 of 178 on The 150+ Best Movies With Aliens

Voyage with Jacob

Le voyage de mr. q, strange voyage, voyage of the damned.

The Last Voyage

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

• # 45 of 81 on The 75+ Best Fairytale Movies
• # 85 of 104 on The 100+ Best Third Movies In A Film Series
• # 50 of 88 on The 85+ Best PG Fantasy Movies

The Strange Voyage

Terminal Voyage

Invitation au voyage, ghost voyage, le voyage de la famille bourrichon.

Voyage to the Beginning of the World

Night voyage.

The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent

Perilous Voyage

Tabu: Final Voyage

The Voyage Of Herkules

Voyage of the Unicorn

Voyage au pays des nouveaux gourous.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

• # 26 of 52 on The 50+ Best Submarine Movies
• # 11 of 21 on Movies That Take Place Primarily Underwater, Ranked
• # 264 of 404 on The 300+ Best Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time

Un étrange voyage

Voyage of discovery.

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

• # 2 of 14 on 14 Movies Tim Burton Has Given His Personal Stamp Of Approval
• # 52 of 93 on The Best Kids Movies Of The 1970s
• # 202 of 248 on The 200+ Best Fantasy Movies Ever
• Entertainment
• Watchworthy

Look: There are hundred of thousands of movies out there for you to watch. All we're saying is that these are the ones you should put at the top of your list.

ARTS & CULTURE

A trip to the moon as you’ve never seen it before.

One of the landmark films in cinema can now be seen in color

Daniel Eagan

It’s one of the most famous films in cinema, a special-effects, science-fiction extravaganza that became an international sensation when it was released in 1902. Almost instantly it was pirated, bootlegged, copied and released by competing studios under different names. And for decades it’s only been available in black-and-white copies.

Now, after a 12 year project that approached a half-million euros in cost, Lobster Films , The Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage , and Fondation Groupama Gan pour le Cinéma are unveiling a new version of A Trip to the Moon , “resurrected,” in the words of preservationist Tom Burton, from an original, hand-colored nitrate print. For the first time in generations viewers will be able to see the color version of the film that stunned early 20th-century moviegoers.

Le voyage dans la lune , to use its French title, is one of over 500 movies made by Georges Méliès, perhaps the first filmmaker to fully grasp the potential of cinema. The son of a wealthy shoemaker, Méliès was born in 1861. Fascinated by magic and illusions, he left the family business in 1888. Buying the Robert-Houdin theater from his widow in Paris, he developed a successful act with illusions such as “The Vanishing Lady.” Méliès was in the audience when the Lumière brothers held their first public film screening on December 28, 1895, and within months was exhibiting movies at his theater.

Méliès made his first film in November, 1896, built his own studio in 1901 and formed the Star Film brand to market his work in France and internationally. He made movies about current events and fairy tales, replicated his stage illusions on screen and developed a highly advanced technical style that incorporated stop-motion animation: double-, triple-, and quadruple-exposures; cross-dissolves; and jump cuts. More than any of his contemporaries, Méliès made movies that were fun and exciting. They were filled with stunts, tricks, jokes, dancing girls, elaborate sets and hints of the macabre.

A Trip to the Moon had several antecedents, including the 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and A Trip to the Moon , a four-act opera with music by Jacques Offenbach that debuted in 1877. Méliès may also have been aware of a theater show at the 1901 Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York, called A Trip to the Moon . Filming started in May, 1902. It was released on September 1 in Paris and a little over a month later in New York City.

At the time exhibitors and individuals could purchase films outright from the Star Films catalog. Color prints were available at an extra cost. Probably not too many color prints of A Trip to the Moon were ever in existence, but it came out right around that time color became a real fad. Within a couple of years, the hand-painting was replaced by tinting and stencil process, so color became more prevalent and less expensive. Several color Méliès films survive, but it was believed that the color Trip to the Moon had long been lost.

But in 1993, Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange of Lobster Films obtained an original nitrate print from the Filmoteca de Catalunya . The only problem: it had decomposed into the equivalent of a solid hockey puck. In 1999, Bromberg and Lange, two of the most indefatigable of all film historians, began to try to unspool the reel by placing it in the equivalent of a humidor, using a chemical compound that softened the nitrate enough to digitally document individual frames. (The process also ultimately destroyed the film.)

Years later, Bromberg had some 5,000 digital files, which he handed over to Tom Burton, the executive director of Technicolor Restoration Services in Hollywood. In a recent phone call, Burton described how his team approached this “bucket of digital shards.”

“What we got was a bunch of digital data that had no sequential relationship to each other because they had to photograph whatever frame or piece of a frame that they could,” Burton recalled. “We had to figure out the puzzle of where these chunks of frames, sometimes little corners of a frame or a half of a frame, where all these little pieces went. Over a period of about nine months we put all these pieces back together, building not only sections but rebuilding individual frames from shattered pieces.”

Burton estimated that they could salvage between 85 to 90 percent of the print. They filled in the missing frames by copying them from a private print held by the Méliès family and digitally coloring the frames to match the original hand colored source.

“It’s really more a visual effects project in a way than a restoration project,” Burton said. “A lot of the technology that we used to rebuild these frames is the technology you would use if you were making a first-run, major visual effects motion picture. You’d never have been able to pull this off 10 years ago, and certainly not at all with analog, photochemical technology.”

For Burton, A Trip to the Moon represents the beginnings of modern visual effects as we know them today. “Seeing it in color makes it a whole different film,” he said. “The technique involved teams of women painting individual frames with tiny brushes and aniline dyes. The color is surprisingly accurate but at times not very precise. It will wander in and out of an actor’s jacket, for example. But it’s very organic. It will never rival the way A Trip to the Moon first screened for audiences, but it’s still pretty amazing.”

A Trip to the Moon was shown at the opening night of the Cannes Film Festival in May, and is screening on September 6 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Bromberg will be showing it at this year’s New York Film Festival , and on November 11 at the Museum of Modern Art , along “with the world premiere of my documentary about the restoration. An absolute must!” as he wrote in an e-mail. Was this his most exciting restoration? “One of them, of course,” he answered. “The best one is the next one!!”

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Daniel Eagan | | READ MORE

"Daniel Eagan is a film writer and author of America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry . "

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Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip To The Moon)

Film Details

Science Fiction and Fantasy, Short Films, Silent

No Dialogue

One of the first narrative films in cinema history, A Trip to the Moon is a playful sci-fi story from the silent era. A group of astronomers agree to take part in a dangerous exploration mission and are rocketed into space in a metal capsule. When they land on the moon, they encounter surreal plants, creatures and fantastical beings, all brought to life with inventive special effects. Director Georges Méliès is credited with having invented the jump cut, an editing trick for making objects and people ‘magically’ appear or disappear on film – a technique that has influenced generations of filmmakers and is still being adopted by today’s TikTok creators. This iconic short film is wildly imaginative, capturing audiences with the stark magic of the moving image to transport them to the moon.

• George Méliès

Cast (in alphabetical order)

• Victor André ,
• Bleuette Bernon ,
• Georges Méliès

Also available with  this film on  Into Film+

5 RESOURCES

Additional details, classification.

Contains very mild fantasy violence.

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Engaging for ages

Into Film recommend this film is engaging for this age range. Please refer to the BBFC guidance for further help in your film choice.

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60 Best Travel Movies to Inspire Wanderlust

Written By: The Planet D

Travel Movies

Updated On: February 14, 2024

What makes for great travel movies? We feel it is when the destination becomes the star. A movie that showcases beautiful cities , landscapes, and culture is a movie that inspires us to visit a destination or relive our time there when we get home. Dave and I love movies. We worked in the film business in our previous careers and lived for the cinema. So when we chose our list of the best travel movies, we took it seriously. 

Table of Contents

The Best Travel Movies

Our choices for the best travel movies are probably very different than yours, so leave a comment and let us know what you think the best travel movies are. We are always looking for new travel films to ignite our wanderlust. To rent or buy one of these travel films to inspire wanderlust right now, check out Amazon Instant Video

The Best Travel Movies to Inspire Wanderlust

1. in bruges.

This is by far the best travel movie. One of the characters actually carries around a guidebook! If you love a good caper set in an exotic location, you’ll love In Bruges. Collin Farrel and Brendan Gleeson star as two hit men who are sent to Bruges, Belgium to hide out after a job goes bad.

The more Colin Farrell’s character complained of hating Bruges (in Belgium), the more you took in the surroundings of Bruges and noticed just how picturesque the city is. While the film is primarily a crime drama and dark comedy it intertwines the city’s picturesque locations and cultural aspects with the narrative seamlessly.

Rent or Buy In Bruges on Amazon

2. banshees of inisherin trailer

I was so excited to see Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson reunite and this time, they share screen time in one of the newest travel films on our list, the Banshees of Inisherin. The movie takes place on the Aran Islands of Ireland and showcases the beauty of that destination as two friends go through some very dark times.

Gleessan’s character Colm decides he has wasted his life and cuts ties with his lifelong best friend Pádraic (Farrell) and all kinds of darkness begins. It had some of the best acting I’ve seen in years, and every one of the four main cast was nominated for Acadamy Awards.

3. One Week

One of our favorite travel movies of all time. And not because it is set in Canada. One Week follows a young man driving a motorcycle on a cross-country road trip across Canada after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. No movie has made me want to explore a country more than One Week. It showcases Canada beautifully.

I didn’t want to see this movie because of its morbid subject, but it ended up being an uplifting and enlightening film of self-discovery. It truly is the ultimate Canadian road trip movie. Rent One Week Here on Amazon

4. Secret Life of Walter Mitty

I had to watch this most popular of all travel films twice before deciding I liked The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and I can understand why it is at the top of most lists of best travel movies. This movie takes you from New York, to Iceland, Greenland and the Himalayas.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty shows how taking a risk and getting out of your comfort zone can lead to great things. The ending was my favorite, but I won’t spoil it for you. Rent it now .

5. Before Sunrise Trilogy

We have three of our favorite travel movies in one package! And each showcases the destination they are in. The Before Sunrise movies are about love but they are also very much travel films. They were filmed 10 years apart and they take place in three different locations around Europe – Vienna , Paris , and Greece .

The Before Sunrise trilogies capture the essence of each destination. And here’s a cool fact – Dave and I stayed at  Costa Navarino  in Greece where After Midnight took place!

It is probably the best of all romantic travel movies out there that literally spans three decades. (They film a movie every 10 years). Watch Before Sunrise and Sunset on Amazon Prime

6. Planes Trains and Automobiles

John Candy and Steve Martin take an unexpected cross country road trip from New York City to Chicago. This is Dave’s pick for the best travel movie.

This is considered one of the great comedy travel movies, but I look at it as a drama. John Candy’s character breaks my heart. You may think of it as a holiday film but it is also one of the funniest travel films out there. If you’re in the mood for a good heartfelt comedy,  rent it today.

7. Julie & Julia

Not only does Julie and Julia star the great Meryl Streep but this travel movie is based on blogging. It’s like it was made for us! I was surprised by how much I loved this movie based on the true story of Julia Child and I didn’t go in expecting much.

Julie & Julia follows the life of Julia Child during her time in Paris and cuts throughout to the present day in New York . It makes you crave French cuisine and a life of decadence in France. When it comes to choosing a  favorite travel movie this one is right up there. Rent it now

8. The Big Year

The Big Year follows Jack Black (who doesn’t love Jack Black?), Owen Wilson, and Steve Martin traveling around the United States with hopes of becoming the number 1 bird watcher in the world. It ended up being one of the most surprising travel films I’ve seen.

They are obsessed with spotting more species of birds than any other person in 365 days. I related to this movie because it is more about the journey and how having a great adventure can change a life. Rent it Now

Best Travel Movies for Adventure Lovers

9. into the wild.

The real-life true story chronicles the journey of  Christopher McCandless who went on a cross country road trip through the US and ended up in Alaska .

I read Into the Wild years ago and was mesmerized trying to figure out how someone could give up everything to go and live off the grid. John Krakauer dug into the psyche of McCandless and what motivates people to take risks.

Things don’t turn out as he hoped, and it is a lesson learned for would-be adventurers. Enjoy it now !

Wild is an adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s travel memoir, From Lost To Found On The Pacific Crest Trail. Based on a true story, it follows her journey about putting a life back together after it all falls apart.

Pushing the limits physically on the Pacific Crest Trail and stepping out of her comfort zone take her on a journey of self-discovery. A struggle and journey can change a life and Reese Witherspoon is excellant as usual. Check it out on Amazon

11. Everest

Everest by John Krakauer is the true story of the catastrophe that happened on Everest in 1996. It’s a first-hand account by Krakauer who was on Everest at the time. While the movie focuses on the events, it does showcase the psyche of why people climb mountains and it shows the culture and beauty of the Everest Region.

As far as travel movies go, even though it is based on a dark subject, it does make me want to go to Everest. So we did! Plus, it stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Brolin, so how can you go wrong?

• You can rent this movie made in Hollywood
• You can also check out the documentary.

Tracks is another travel movie base on a true story and I really enjoyed it. It’s a film about a young woman who walks across Australia from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean with four camels and her pet dog.

What I really liked is how the lead character Robyn Davidson learns the skills needed to survive. She is visited by a photographer from National Geographic who shared her story and was led through the sacred lands of the Outback by an Aboriginal elder. Watch this Amazing true story on Amazon ! 

13. World’s Fastest Indian 

From New Zealand to America, Anthony Hopkins takes his Indian Motorcycle to the salt flats to see how far he can go. The World’s Fastest Indian is one of my favorite performances by Hopkins and it is one of the great underrated travel movies.

He is vulnerable, lovable, and inspiring. This true story takes you on a fun road trip along the way until he reaches the Salt Flats of California and that is when you really start rooting for him to win! Rent it on Amazon Prime

14. Adventures of Pricilla Queen of the Desert

Adventures of Pricilla Queen of the Desert follows a group of drag queens taking a cross country road trip in a van named “Pricilla” from Sydney to Alice Springs where they are going to perform their drag show.

They meet a lot of characters along the way and this film introduced us to superstars Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce who joined the already-established Terrence Stamp.

15. Motorcycle Diaries

Ever since watching one of the best travel movies about South America, (you guessed it, the Motorcycle Diaries) wanted to do a road trip through South America. (PS. I’m still dreaming of that road trip through South America one day)

Gael García Bernal stars as Che Guevera and it follows his journey on a motorcycle trip through South America before he became a part of the revolution. This movie is based on a true story where Che traveled through the continent and I believe it was traveling through South America that Che saw what people were going through and that is what sparked him to take action in his own way.

• Check it out for yourself
• Rent it on Amazon

16. The Way

Dave and I have always wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. This movie is a bittersweet tribute to the epic hike. Acting legend Martin Sheen walks the trail to honor his son Emilio Estevez (also director) who died on the walk. This movie explores themes of grief, regret, and understanding.

Sheen’s character finishes what his son started helping him connect and understand his son while examining his own life and is one of the most moving travel movies on our list. You can watch it on Amazon

Best Classic Travel Movies

17. lawrence of arabia.

Lawrence of Arabia made us dream of the Arabian Desert and that is what travel films are meant to do. I would say that this is often considered one of the best travel movies of all time. It’s the original travel movie for sure and it really does capture the majesty of the Arabian Desert.

When we got the chance to visit Jordan and walk in the footsteps of the real Lawrence of Arabia, we couldn’t believe we were living our own travel movie. This will make you want to go on an adventure and spend the night in a Bedouin tent. Rent it on Amazon Prime Now

18. Out of Africa

If you want another Meryl Streep vehicle that is often considered one of the best travel movies, you should try  Out of Africa. Out of Africa takes place in a different time, but it captures the heart of Africa beautifully.

Based on a true story, Meryl Streep stars as a married baroness in love with big game hunter Robert Redford. Their chemistry is unmistakable. She falls in love with Africa and you will fall in love with it too.

The cinematography is outstanding. It won 7 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Cinematography. Rent Out of Africa

19. Romancing the Stone

Who didn’t fantasize about an adventure in Colombia after watching Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone? As a kid I always thought about the line “ I need to get to Cartagena ” and while I had no idea where Cartagena was,(It’s in South America by the way) I knew it was exciting.

In the most romanticly fun of travel movies, Kathleen Turner transformed from a scared writer who merely writes about adventure, to a woman encountering an adventure and meeting a rugged mysterious man in exotic Columbia. Watch Romancing the Stone today

20. The Bucket List

With two of my favorite actors and a message to live life to the fullest, the Bucket List is one amazing movie and one of the best travel movies. I think it actually invented the term, The Bucket List. The phrase has been overused in recent years, but the message never gets old. The Bucket List is the original “live your dreams now” travel movie.

It’s beautifully acted, heartfelt, and showcases how life should be lived to the fullest. Rent or buy it here!

Most people say that Amelie is one of the best travel movies of all time. So this list wouldn’t be complete without it. I did love the views of Paris and the everyday life showcased in Montmartre.

I also enjoyed the uplifting message of a quiet young woman named, Amelie helping the people around her in the lovely district of Montmartre in Paris. If you want to watch sweeping scenes through Paris streets and if you love Paris, you can’t help but like Amelie. So check it out !

22. Roman Holiday

This did not age well in our opinion. We watched it recently and it is just downright bad. Many people will probably disagree. But as far as travel movies go, it is fun to see a princess posing as a regular young Woman zipping around Rome.

They should remake Roman Holiday, it would be fun. Rent it on Prime

23. Sideways

I admit it. After this movie came out, I didn’t drink Merlot for years! Sideways takes us on a road trip through California wine country and it really is filled with amazing performances by Paul Giamatti, Sandra Oh, Virginia Madsen, and Thomas Hayden Church.

We have been to Santa Maria, California, and this movie captures the feel of wine country perfectly. Rent or buy on Amazon Prime 

24. Up in the Air

Up in the Air makes you love the idea of travel but it shows the emptiness that the life of a vagabond can lead to if you don’t stay grounded with your family and friends. It’s not in the genre of typical travel films out there, but travel is the main theme.

I cannot go through airport security anymore without thinking of George Clooney as his character has the art of travel down to a science.

This movie also has a great message that Dave and I can relate to. We all become so consumed with our careers and our lives that we forget about what is important. Get it on Amazon Instant Video

Best Travel Movies Highlighting Destinations

25. ticket to paradise.

Our newest addition to our travel movies is from two legends, George Clooney and Julia Roberts who take us to Bali for their daughter’s wedding. The two divorced years ago, but agree that their daughter is too young to get married and decide to sabotage the wedding.

This movie showcases the culture and beauty of Bali while showing us once again how travel can be transformational and can change your life.

I love these two together, George and Julia, and great friends in real life and have amazing on-screen chemistry.

26. The Beach – Thailand

The Beach is the original backpacker slacker travel film. The Beach captures what Thailand was like before tourists started flocking to it en-masse. At one time, it was an off-the-beaten-path backpacker destination. We enjoyed the book more, but you can never go wrong with Leo.

If you want to get a sense of what it was like to travel to Thailand before mass tourism, this is a good movie for you. Plus it is beautiful and as far as travel movies go, it will make you want to go to Thailand. Not only are the people beautiful, but the scenery of southern Thailand is also out of this world.

Take in the journey as they search for a hidden beach that is pure perfection.

27. Lost in Translation – Tokyo

Tokyo is a bit strange. It is unlike anywhere else on earth, and Lost in Translation showcases the culture shock that one feels when staying in a different city.

There are different customs in Japan and the culture is much different than anywhere else and this movie captures that odd feeling you get when traveling there. Lost in Translation highlights some of the best spots in Tokyo.

The hotel where the movie takes place still has one of the best views in the city! And who doesn’t love Bill Murray? He is priceless and it’s one of Scarlett Johanson’s best performances. Check it Out

28. Slumdog Millionaire – India

We traveled to India in 2010 and Slumdog Millionaire seemed to capture the true slums of India while showcasing the heart of the people. Many of the rich cities are modern, but when traveling through rural India and the poorer areas, this is what it’s like.

Dev Patel stars as a young Indian boy who gets on a game show that could change his life. It’s heartbreaking, raw, and sometimes uncomfortable which is exactly what travel can be too hence why it made the list of our favorite travel movies. Download it here on Amazon

If you are a fan of Dev Patel (as we are) you will love him in another of our favorite travel films, Lion. Lion is based on a true story and is an emotional journey that takes audiences across India and Australia spanning cultures, and decades.

Patel plays Saroo Brierley, a young Indian boy who gets lost on a train in India at the age of five. After surviving several challenges on the streets of Kolkata and eventually being adopted by an Australian family, Saroo, as an adult, uses Google Earth to find his birth mother and the journey begins. The movie also stars Nicol Kidman.

30. Vicky, Cristina Barcelona – Spain

Admit it, we all want to go to Spain and run into beautiful people like Penelope Cruz and Javier Barden. I think this movie did so well because it inspired everyone to go to Barcelona. (That’s our criteria for choosing the best travel movies, how they inspired travel)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona makes us dream of the cities in Spain , the passion of the Spanish people and getting away for a summer in Spain.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona definitely is an inspiring travel movie and one of the best travel films out there. It really captures the energy and passion of Spain in Barcelona . Rent Vicky Christina Barcelona on Amazon

31. Under the Tuscan Sun – Italy

For the romantics out there, Under the Tuscan Sun is one of the best travel movies. Wouldn’t you just love to buy a villa in Tuscany and fall in love with a stranger?

This is one of my favorite romantic travel films and Under the Tuscan Sun based on a true story. After a bad divorce, her character takes a trip to Italy courtesy of her best friend, (The incredible Sandra Oh!) and buys a house!

This travel movie is based on a true story where our star shares the trials and tribulations of renovating a Tuscan villa. You can rent Under the Tuscan Sun on Amazon

32. Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – India

We always preach that you are never too old to try something new and you are never too old to travel and that is the premise of one of the most beloved travel movies, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It’s chock full of great legendary actors including Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, and Maggie Smith.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel follows a group of retirees who travel to India to live out their days at a crumbling retirement hotel. All mayhem and madness ensue as things can only in India. There’s romance, tragedy, and hope. Rent it now

33. A Good Year – Provence France

A Good Year made me want to go to Provence and live a simple life…on a multi-million dollar vineyard estate. That’s reasonable, right? And that’s what travel movies make you want to do…Pick up and go somewhere.

A Good Year makes life in Provence look like the Garden of Eden and I want a piece of it. Everyone is beautiful, everyone is a wine connoisseur, and everyone is pure and good. Who wouldn’t want to go to the south of France after seeing A Good Year? Rent it now.

34. Midnight in Paris – Paris

Looking for travel movies that combine time travel this movie night? Midnight in Paris captures the golden years of Paris as Owen Wilson walks through the streets at night in search of that romantic nostalgia of the city.

Blending time travel with traditional travel, this film showcases Paris’s rich history and examines how different eras appeal to different people.

He ends up meeting the famous patrons of the 1920s including Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and more! This travel movie makes me want to hop on a flight to Paris every time! Watch it on Amazon Prime or get it on DVD

35. Australia – Australia

This movie was crucified by the critics, but I loved it and its one of the best travel movies showcasing the beauty of Australia’s landscape. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman take her cattle across the Outback.

It also touches on the injustices of how Australia treated the Aboriginal People, reminding me of what Canada did with residential schools to our own indigenous communities.

It’s beautifully shot and is a love letter to Australia while highlighting the true story of the Aboriginal struggles. I think it deserved more love than it got. Check it out on Amazon

36. The Impossible

It took me forever to finally watch the impossible because it is based on the true story of surviving the devastating Tsunami in Southeast Asia. It follows a family from England who are vacationing in Thailand and are impacted by the Tsunami.

It showcases the huge hearts that the Thai people have. Even while going through their own trauma, they play a huge role in helping this family get back together and survive.

The movie stars Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland and it is one of the best performances I think Naomi Watts has ever done.

Lighthearted Travel Movies

37. eurovision.

This is one of the funniest travel movies out there. The movie kicks off (after a brief flashback) in Iceland showcasing its beautiful landscapes and waterfalls with sweeping drone shots of the stars performing.

It has all the stereotypes and cliches of Iceland, but it is done with heart and fun. It really is a love letter to Iceland. Follow Lars and Sigrit as they try to fulfill their dream of competing in Eurovision in Edinburgh. The movie gives a nice showcase of that city too making it two travel movies in one. Rent it on Amazon

38. Darjeeling Limited

This quirkiest of travel movies takes Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and Adrian Brody across India one year after their father’s death starting on the Darjeeling Express train. It’s strange, heartbreaking, hilarious, and pure Wes Anderson.

When they visit their mother in an Ashram, it makes me think of the strange people that run away to India to find themselves. Oh yeah, he gets it. Check it out on Amazon Prime

39. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Set in the very real Turtle Bay Resort in Oahu this pick on our travel movies list stars Jason Seigel as a Hollywood Writer who goes to Hawaii to heal his wounds after getting dumped by his girlfriend Kristen Bell. It turns out, she is there on vacation with her new boyfriend and shenanigans ensue.

This movie makes you want to book a plane to Hawaii and have your own stay at Turtle Bay which has now become very popular. Rent it on Prime

40. Last Holiday

If you are searching for comedy travel movies, this should be at the top of your list. This is the ultimate fairytale on how travel can change a life. And how we should all strive to live a better life. It’s too short to wait.

Queen Latifa is priceless as a woman who is diagnosed with a terminal disease, so she takes her life savings to enjoy her final holiday at a luxurious resort. She does everything from base jumping to snowboarding and indulging in decadent French cuisine.

If everyone took a holiday like this, we’d all live happier lives. Rent, Buy or Watch on Amazon Prime

41. The Holiday

It may be a Christmas movie, but The Holiday is one of the best travel movies out there. We watch it every year and it shows how travel is transformational. Starring Kate Winslett, Jack Black, Jude Law and Cameron Diaz, The Holiday flips back and forth between Los Angeles and England.

The two female stars have very different vacations as they house swap, but both have their lives changed through travel.

42. French Kiss

Meg Ryan plays a woman named Kate who is afraid to travel. When her fiance falls for another woman in France, she vows to win him back and travels there despite being terrified. Hilarity ensues when she meets con man Kevin Kline and they venture across the country together following the formula of travel movies galore.

My favorite scene is when she is indulging in cheese on the train. It’s that French moment that made me daydream about traveling by train across the French countryside. Watch French Kiss for yourself

43. My Life in Ruins

While not as good as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, My Life in Ruins is a nice comeback for Nia Vardalos in a fun-loving travel film.

She plays a tour leader taking stereotypical tourists through the sites of Greece. It’s fun, it’s romantic and the setting is beautiful. It’s not going to win any Academy Awards, but for a fun Saturday afternoon movie, this will transport you to Greece. Rent it or buy it on Amazon

44. The Hangover 2

The First Hangover was far better and it too is a travel movie taking you to Vegas. But when choosing travel movies from this trilogy, I had to choose the setting of Bangkok. It captures the crazy energy of the city.

My favorite scene is when Bradly Cooper has to go to the hospital and comes out with an absurdly low hospital bill. Dave and I have been to the hospital in Thailand and can attest, it is cheap. Rent it now! 

Blockbuster Travel Movies

45. star wars: the rise of skywalker & the last jedi.

One wouldn’t think of a movie based in outer space to be a travel movie that inspires wanderlust, but the last Star Wars Trilogy featured one of our favorite destinations on Earth, Skellig M ichael

This 6th-century monastery was a star unto itself as Luke trained Rey in the ways of the Force. It has now inspired many travelers and film buffs to take the hair-raising boat ride out to these rocky islands 12 km off the coast of Ireland. Check it out

46. Mama Mia

We actually learned where Mama Mia takes place while visiting the location where it was filmed, Pelion, Greece. The Greek islands are paradise, and Mama Mia follows the story of Meryl Streep who runs a hotel on the coast. We thought it was filmed somewhere like Santorini or Mykonos.

When her daughter becomes engaged, she invites three men who might be her father. It’s a rip-roaring good time of music, fun and beautiful scenery.

The Santorini blue and white houses, the crystal clear blue sea, and the music of Abba become those who watch to travel to Greece! Watch it on Prime today

47. Once Upon a Time in Mexico Trilogy

How sexy are Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayak together? You must watch the entire trilogy to really appreciate this series by Robert Rodrigues. Once Upon A Time In Mexico ends the trilogy with Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, and Cheech Marin. El Mariachi started it all starring Carlos Gallardo. My favorite of the 3 is Desperado , but they are all entertaining.

Once Upon A Time In Mexico is a fantasy and it is a stereotype of Mexico, but it makes you want to go to Mexico and have a great adventure. The scenery is gorgeous, the film is filled with cool style, and the music is fabulous. Watch the Trilogy today!

48. The Legend of Tarzan

The $180 million dollar budget makes sure to showcase the beauty of the African Savannah, the dense jungles, and the majestic wildlife. You feel as if you have entered the heart of Africa. Seriously, rent it, you’re going to like it a lot more than you think! Rent it on Amazon

49. The Tourist

It’s a little indulgent, and Angelina Jolie is a bit annoying to watch with how amazing she thinks she is in this, but it does capture taking an international trip to Europe beautifully.

It makes you want to have a romantic tryst in Venice . It makes you want to ride a train and have a mysterious encounter. It gives you a glimpse into how the rich live and travel the world.

50. The Thing

Recently we had someone write to us with a list of their favorite movies about travel. He mentioned the first Alien vs. Predator took place in Antarctica and I remember that being a pretty entertaining film. Then I thought about the classic Kurt Russel movie, The Thing .

This thriller takes place at a scientific base camp in the Antarctic and really lets you feel how claustrophobic and isolated researchers must feel when spending the winter at the bottom of the world. Watch it now!

51. Thelma and Louise

Who would have thought that Thelma and Louise would be heralded as one of the best travel films of all time, but it has. When researching this article, I saw that everyone had it on their list, so I had to include it. Besides, I love this film. I saw it at the theatre when it came out and it blew me away.

Brad Pitt makes his debut in this dark road trip adventure. Susan Sarandon and Geena Dave about female empowerment, friendship, and the transformative power of travel.

52. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Yes, this was a blockbuster film for teenagers. I remember working at YTV and this movie was going mad in the teen realm so I had to add it to my best travel movies list. The premise of the story revolves around four friends—Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen—who find a pair of jeans that, despite their differing body types, fits each of them perfectly. They decide to share these “magical” pants as they embark on their separate summer adventures, thus maintaining their connection with each other.

Where does the traveling come in? Well, Lena travels to Greece , Bridget goes to Mexico , Carmen visits her father in South Carolina, and Tibby stays in Maryland.

While not a “travel movie” in the traditional sense—where the main characters are often journeying together or the narrative revolves solely around their travel experiences—”Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” embodies elements of travel movies by incorporating different cultures, locations, and the concept of journeying (both physical and emotional) into its narrative.

53. Bourne Movies, James Bonds, Mission Impossible & Indiana Jones Movies

The Bourne movies, James Bond, Indian Jones, and Mission Impossible take us around the world with each movie and really are the best travel films to showcase the globe. These epic travel movies take audiences to a whole new level of taking an international trip with decadence, wealth, espionage, and romance.

I wanted to include them because if you are looking for some beautiful scenes from Europe and the Middle East, these travel films fit the bill. They are so good at taking you away to exotic places .

Our Favorites of These Epic Travel Movies are

54. the bourne identity.

The original takes us on an international trip from Switzerland through Paris. It’s the car scene in Paris that really captures the city but the entire movie is one big travel movie.

55. Casino Royal – James Bond

This makes us dream of living with the high rollers in Montenegro the beautiful people in the Bahamas. It’s as epic as epic travel movies get riding on trains, planes and yachts and it’s the best James Bond with Daniel Craig.

56. Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol

It’s not often that sequels are better than the original, but when it comes to the Mission Impossible series, each one out does the other. Tom Cruise loves to travel and push the limits creating the most epic travel movies on the planet. I chose Ghost Protocol because of its setting in Dubai and Cruise scaling the walls of the Burj Khalifa. (The tallest structure in the world)

Best Travel Movies in Fictional Settings

57. grand budapest hotel.

I can’t help it, I love Wes Anderson movies. He is offbeat and quirky. Grand Budapest Hotel is one of the best travel movies that isn’t set in any real place. This is all in a fictional setting.

I like this for a travel movie because it reminds me of the grand old hotels from another era. Well, it should because it is set in another era. The hotel is fictional, but it does take you away to another world. Rent it on Prime

58. Black Panther

Wakanda may be a fictional place in Africa, but this movie captures the spirit of East and South Africa. It embraces the African culture and many of the movie’s scenes were filmed in Africa.

We have been to Africa numerous times and this movie transported us there again. It may be fictional, but Black Panther is one fo the best travel movies to make you want to discover the culture and beauty of Africa. watch it now!

59. Lord of the Rings and Hobbit

They may be set in Middle Earth, but the Lord of the Rings movies are a love letter to New Zealand. As far as setting go, the trilogy makes for epic travel movies! Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit Movies make us want to go to New Zealand and these films capture its beauty perfectly.

Rent the trilogy on Amazon today

60. Eat Pray Love

And let us end with the mother of all travel movies, Eat Pray Love. Who doesn’t love Julia Roberts? However, Eat Pray Love wasn’t my favorite travel movie at all. But The book was okay but the movie starring Julia Roberts is dreadful. If you liked it, let me know. Maybe I’ll give it another watch in case I missed something. Rent it on Amazon

We’ll be updating this list regularly and we love finding new travel movies to watch. So, if you have suggestions for your favorite travel movies, leave them in the comments below and we’ll be sure to give them a watch!

Tell me what you think are the best travel movies and we will compare notes.

You May Enjoy these other inspiring posts:

• 44 of the Best Road Trip Songs
• Best Travel Songs Playlist
• Best Travel Books to Inspire Travel
• 60 of the Best Road Trip Songs to Rock the Long Drive
• 101 Best Travel Quotes in the World with Pictures

Disclosure:  The links above are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. We receive affiliate commissions, but it’s no extra cost to you!

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Dave Bouskill and Debra Corbeil are the owners and founders of The Planet D. After traveling to 115 countries, on all 7 continents over the past 13 years they have become one of the foremost experts in travel. Being recognized as top travel bloggers and influencers by the likes of Forbes Magazine , the Society of American Travel Writers and USA Today has allowed them to become leaders in their field.

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107 thoughts on “60 Best Travel Movies to Inspire Wanderlust”

Very interesting and thought-provoking list. Another film I think belongs in this company is “A Month by the Lake,” a 1995 work starring Vanessa Redgrave, Edward Fox, and Uma Thurman. Its setting, at the Villa del Balbianello on a peninsula in Lake Como, was used in scenes from a number of other movies, but here it gets starring role.

one of my favorite travel movies is “If it is Tuesday it must be Belgium”. it captures the travels and travails of some very uninformed American tourists on a guided tour. One of the wives, tired of the endless strings of cheese shops they visit heads back to their tour bus. The problem is it is the wrong tour bus. Hilarity ensues …

Thanks for the thoughtful list. Might I add a few more wanderlust-inducing movie recommendations/destinations that I have a hunch you will love?

Enchanted April (Italy) Shirley Valentine (Greece/Mykonos) Everything is Illuminated (Russia/Ukraine) Summer Lovers (Gene Siskel’s ‘guilty pleasure) (Greek Islands/Santorini) The Hundred Foot Journey (India/France) Local Hero (Scotland — and perfectly depicts how an enchanting location can change your view of what’s important in life) Anne of Green Gables — Kevin Sullivan version (Price Edward Island) Outsourced (India) Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring (Provence France) The Quiet Man (Ireland) A Passage to India (India)

These are fantastic suggestions, thank sfor sharing! I’ve been wanting to see The Hundred Foot Journey. I think that will be my weekend watching!

Hi , thanks for sharing the best travel movies.

I love to watch 72 hours is my best travel movie all time.

Brilliant! Some of my teal favourites and now a list to watch. …many, many thanks. Allison

Great movies list all movies are best and all movies have a good rating on IMDb actually my favorite movie is LORD OF THE RINGS AND HOBBIT. and next, I would like to watch Star wars series.

Great choices of movies you have given a big list a great work

Great article! I will definitely choose a few movies that I haven’t seen yet. I could add a movie called “The Hundred-Foot Journey”. This film is about a Hindu family who moves to France, where they open a restaurant.

I’ve been meaning to watch that one. I think I will have to check it out this weekend and add it to the list! Thanks for the reminder.

Very comprehensive list! lots of great movies, and some of my favourites such as Seven Years inTibet and Walter Mitty.

I have to disagree with you about The Darjeeling Limited though: “When they visit their mother in an Ashram, it makes me think of the strange people that run away to India to find themselves. Oh yeah, he gets it.”

I felt the most important scene in the movie is when the guys rescue the boys in the river, and one doesn’t make it. They take part ion the family grieving and funeral, and have a very life-changing, profound experience. I felt the movie actually validates people “running away to India.”

In these difficult times especially, finding a sense of purpose, or meaning, or spirituality, or whatever you want to call it, is more important than ever. I think we will see a lot more people “running away to find themselves” and in fact, I am working on offering spiritual itineraries.

How about Red Eye and Flight Plan? I think they both portrait (fear of) commercial flying experience pretty good!

We have already watched quite a few of these ? gotta love a great movie night! Thanks for a great list, that we will start to work our way through ?

Great choices for movies! Others that come to mind are “Before Sunrise” and “Into the Wild.”

LORD OF THE RINGS AND HOBBIT is my favourite. i had watch so many times but always loved

This list couldn’t have come at a better time as we currently shelter in place and travel only through our TVs! Thank you.

All movies are great and my fav <3

great films..i watched some movie

OOH Julie and Julia is one of my all time favorites! And Eat Pray Love…It’s a good time for movies at home for sure!

Love the list. Thank you for sharing. As a classic movie buff, however, you are so wrong about Roman Holiday. This movie is a classic. I recently saw it on the big screen for the millionth time and it was amazing. How can you not love Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn?! His voice alone is worth a listen! And the old scenes of Rome are wonderful. Have to truly disagree about this one. LOVE this movie.

Anyway, thanks again!

SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY movie motivates people to dare to make a decision.

I love this list!! You hit some of my favorite movies. I’ve watched a lot of these but I have a feeling I’ll be rewatching some of them in the coming weeks. Thanks for remind me!

GREAT list, thank you! I’ve seen some Bollywood films and loved them, and would love a best of list of them!

Great site for everything

Great list, guys — you really dug deep. If you love The Sounds of Music, you have to visit Salzburg, where you can see the actual places where they shot many of the scenes, including the palace in the middle of town. You can even stay in the Von Trapps’ house. And I may have missed it in your list, but The Year of Living Dangerously absolutely captures the exotic atmosphere and the beauty of Southeast Asia — the gamelan music stays in your head for days. Also, Gandhi for a virtual trip to India.

Very well collections, Really some of the names are not heard. This type of movies are oxygen for any traveler.

Great list of movie i like slumdog millionaire once upon a time in mexico

Secret Life of Walter Mitty for sure, this movie made me so pumped to travel while ‘into the wild’ made me a little depressed and not wishing to become a mentally ill person who goes eating dead animals and rejecting society

Lovely idea, great movies! Love your blog!

I really love this movies.

Each movie is an exciting adventure, felt from the film, emotions, as well as an impressive moment. Thanks for your collection!

Thank you for your list! Lawrence of Arabia for certain, but almost any film by Werner Herzog, especially Aguirre:The Wrath of God. But I am partial to “art” or “foreign” films over Hollywood.

I loved a movie I watched and I can’t remember the name and I can’t find it. It was about a woman, maybe in her 40’s maybe 50’s that traveled to India to meet up with her husband. Her husband was detained by work and sent his male Indian assistant to meet her. While waiting for her husband to arrive, the assistant showed her the sites of India. A romance developed with the assistant over many days, but never crossed the line. Would love to watch this again….

Maybe you’re thinking of the movie ‘Cairo Time’. It’s set in Egypt, not India, but has the exact plot you’re referring to.

All are attractive and I will watch each movie

I shared the movies I shared. The movie content is very interesting and interesting, I like it very much.

This is also a very good post which I really enjoy reading

For me Motorcycle diaries is best.Thanks for list. I will check other movies too.

Nice list, you got almost all of my favorite travel films! A couple additions I would make are “The Sheltering Sky”, and “Voyager”.

The Painted Veil – gorgeous!

I hope it will be show at CGV

Definitely a great list of movies that gets us thinking about travel. Everest was one that really took our breath away and told an amazing story. In Bruges is still one of my favorite. Thanks for sharing!

Loved the post and the films. I still didn’t see 9 films and already want see. Will try found they for this weekend. But the best is to see Indiana Jones in the list.. it’s my prefer film of life <3

the beauty of this movie list is that this in includes movies in Malayalam, Hindi English and believe me these movies are the very best travel movies I have seen . kudos?

Great Choices !

Always on the lookout for movies to watch on the plane!!! Thanks for the recos!!!!

Great choices for movies

I hate you after watching only 2 of these movies from your list i feel like travelling but unfortunately my my academics. By the way best list of travel movies I have seen on internet. Good going brother. wish to see more content in future.

Mr. Bean’s Holiday. A very ridiculous movie, but the cinematography is amazing, and it’s very inspiring.

Great article and awesome collection of movies. Red balloon is my favorite movie and it’s amazing storey

Film is called Before Midnight. Not after.

Thanks for the correction. I mixed up the Trilogy in my head, thinking “the one after Before Sunset.” – There is Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight.

Great article, many good informations

I love watching movies ahead of travelling and often find them inspirational. For Western Australia I found ‘Rabbitproof Fence’ a very good movie. You’ve chosen some good ones!

Great collection of movies to watch. I absolutely loved The Bucket List. As usual Morgan Freeman was awesome. Great movies about travel and for when traveling.

Can you believe that I never saw Stealing Beauty? Now I am going to have to check it out. I agree with Sideways too. Loved that show. It made me want to drink Pinot Noir.

Wild is a great book and the movie is pretty true to the book. Reece Witherspoon is really good in it. Based on true story of a troubled woman who decides to hike one of Americas longest trails with little money and not enough experience. Humbling and left me feeling the wanderlust pretty hard.

The Bucket List and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty are the best travel movies in my opinion. Iceland is on my travel bucket list, hope I can visit that place.

Best Movie Collection. my favorite movies also include in these. love to see the collection of movies thanks to sharing this information with us.

Nice article! inspiring people for Traveling

Thanks for compiling this list. It’s interesting to know the place where the movie was shot. I absolutely agree on what you said about James Bond movies.

Thanks for the post. Some I have seen and some I haven’t, and looking forward to (Especially ONE WEEK)

I’d like to add LOCAL HERO. There are some melancholic moments in the film accompanied by Mark Knopfler’s beautiful soundtrack. Would make anyone jump off the couch, dump all the COMFORTS OF CITY and visit rural Scotland and walk the beaches and witness the Aurora Borealis. One of my favourites alongwith The Motorcycle Diaries and Into the Wild.

Great choices

Excellent list, but Indiana Jones really is a wonderful trip. Note 1000.

Under a Tuscan sun is my favorite!!!! Been to Tuscany because of that movie!! 🙂 Jotted down a few to watch from your list! Thanks!

thank you guys. Into the wild is my favourite one on the list.

You named quite a few of my favorites but the two I’d like to recommend are Hector and the Pursuit of Happiness starring Simon Pegg, and The Way starring Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez.

The Way inspired me to walk the Camino de Santiago which turned into an incredible trip.

Great list of best all time travel movies. I must admit that there are still so many movies I have not yet seen. I need to work on that sooner rather than later!

Great list but would certainly add :

– The way (with Martin Sheen) , very inspiring movie about Camino de Santiago – Motorcycle diaries, simply a great movie about travel and life

Fantastic films, thanks for making this kind of film! Many people should watch it! Thanks for sharing this list.

Wow! This list is great! I will surely add these in my playlist. Hopefully, I will be able to watch most of these travel movies. I plan to travel soon, I’m juts looking for more inspiration and travel tips. Glad I came by your blog!

Whoa! You gave me a completely new set of movies to add to my list here! Into the Wild is one of my favorites and the Everest is a spine-chilling movie. A great list Dave & Deb!

Check out Maindentrip, the story of the youngest girl to sail around the world, Laura Dekker. I think my wife finally believed we could do it if a 13 year old can.

Thanks for the recommendation!

These ultimate travel tips for when they have a desired of lust.

What about “Blue Hawaii” and any of the Jurassic Park videos for Hawaii?

Thank you for your list – I am constantly looking for good travel movies.

Till the date bucket list is one of my favourite movie 🙂 Thank you for the information about other movies too

Thank you for this great list. I see some old favorites on the list but also a number of movies I need to see. I’ve added them my list. You’re right about movies inspiring travel. After seeing, Under the Tuscan Sun, I’ve always wanted to visit Tuscany. I’m finally making it there soon.

What a fantastic list full of excellent movies! There’s no doubt that these titles can help to light the spark of wanderlust in anyone. I was actually lucky enough to stumble upon the making of Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien Covenant movie in New Zealand’s Milford Sound. I’m very much looking forward to its release so I can see the spectacular panning shots of that breathtaking landscape. Movies are a great medium to translate the beauty of travel.

No way! That is so cool. I’m such a fan of Alien, it would be amazing to see them filming it. I love seeing landscapes of places I’ve been in movies.

Slumdog Millionaire and Secret Life of Walter Mitty are Good Movies

Nice list – a few of my favourites there: Everest, Into The Wild, Slumdog Millionaire, The Bucket List, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Nothing like a good movie for inspiring travel.

A few others to consider: The Beach, Midnight Express, Kundun, Seven Years in Tibet…

“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain

Hi, Oh wow I really love this list, seriously is so right! Holidays is another good one that invites you to discover surrey :), I enjoyed so much Amelie, unfortunately I cannot say the same of Paris, Je t’aime, which is other of the “must seen movies”, honestly… overrated… anyways, nice list I really enjoy it.

Great list… something a lot of people leave off the list is Julia and Julia. That movie is HUGE to foodies, chefs, etc… Makes me want to hop on a flight every time I see it! Julia Child was a machine, so glad you guys included that movie on this list!

I am a movie addict person, and I loved to travel. I enjoyed all of these films. Very Inspirational lists. Thank you, Dave, for this excellent Article. Loved it:)

A lots of movies that needed to add here. I watched a few of then not all and find very inspirational and heart touching. Slumdog millionaire is one of my favourite and very heart touching.

I love this list, but I’d add almost any movie filmed in San Francisco, even if they weren’t that good (like “The Wedding Planner” or the “The Rock”). They’d actually have to be filmed there and not just set there, like the last “Godzilla” movie 😉

Thanks for the additions. I loved the wedding planner. Although I just watched it again recently and realized what a schmuck Matthew Macoughnay’s character is. He totally led Jennifer Lopez’s character on and was a jerk to his fiancé. haha. But it’s a good lighthearted romantic comdey. They don’t make enough of those anymore..

I came to this article to ensure you had Romancing the Stone..and you didnt let me down. I used to love that movie growing up. I am totally with you, on thinking about Cartagena as some exotic far away place that I had to visit. I eventually found out the movie wasn’t actually filmed in Cartagena or Colombia because of the dire security situation at that time…but when i finally visited Cartagena, i found it even more magical and exotic than the film…love the film, and love the city even more now.

I am so glad we didn’t let you down! I am also so glad that you felt the same way about Cartagena. I always envision Kathleen Turner saying “come to Cartagena with me” It was such a grand adventure. We need more movies like that!

Cool list! I would add:

– Before Sunrise (Vienna) – Waking Ned Devine (Ireland, though filmed in the Isle of Man) – Lost in Translation (Tokyo)

Great additions. I loved Before Sunrise, I can’t believe I forgot about that one. I saw it in the 90s and then watched the whole trilogy. I haven’t seen Waking Ned Devine, I’m going to check that out and yes, Lost in Translation is a good one for Tokyo. I have to watch that again. I barely remember it, but I do remember loving Bill Murray

Just what I needed, thank you guys. Into the wild is my favourite one on the list.

I don’t think any movie has made us want to travel more than Amelie.

2 Days In Paris, on the other hand, was kind of a turn off.

Amelie celebrated Paris, but 2 Days kinda made fun of it. .-= The Jetpacker´s last blog .. UFO Hotspots — 11 Best Places To See UFOs In The World =-.

I don’t need a movie to inspire me to travel. I always want to travel, but some movies make me want to travel more I guess is how to put it. BTW. I thought Up in the Air stunk and don’t get why it was so popular. I loved In Burges which many people have never seen. Guess I’m just weird. .-= Gwen´s last blog ..Kids Grease Costumes =-.

You’re not weird at all! That is what makes watching movies so great. Everyone has different opinions on them all. We didn’t love Amelie and I have never met another person that didn’t like it. We were more into the quirkiness of Two Days in Paris and nobody liked that one:-)

Great choice, I never really fancied visiting Bruges until watching the hilarious In Bruges (and I agree the film also did Colin Farrell a huge favour). Tuscany is still on my must see list after the gorgeous ‘Stealing Beauty’ and being from the UK, Sideways and Swingers always made me want to go to California.

OK, I obviously need to get myself to the nearest pirated DVD place since I’ve only seen 3 of these movies! Thanks for the advice. .-= Audrey´s last blog ..Couch Surfing with KGB Agents =-.

Fantastic post, though most of these movies I haven’t seen (yet) but Vicky Christina Barcelona has really made me want to see Barcelona. I’m really bad for being easily suggestible when it comes to travel. If a place is featured on a movie or tv have a sudden desire to go there. Like I watch a John Waters movie and I wanna go to Baltimore, or the way Shirley Valentine made me really want to go to Greece. Even places that were never really on my travel to do list, like watching Dexter has made me want to visit Miami (even though most of the show is filmed around LA). .-= Alouise´s last blog ..List 9 – How To Have A Cheesy Time At West Edmonton Mall =-.

Wonderful list! I’ve seen a few of these and just loved them (Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Julie & Julia, In Bruges, Up in the Air, and Romancing the Stone)…..and I still dream of someday going to Cartagena, Columbia because of that movie! There are so many great movies that inspire travel that I’m sure it must have been hard to winnow it down to just eight. The rest of your list I’ll have to add to my Netflix queue! .-= Trisha´s last blog .. PR-Blogger Relations Manifesto =-.

I love that you think of Cartagena because of Romancing the stone. There were so many movies that I had on a list. I could have just listed about 50 and that could have been good enough. Maybe I will do that for a post one day when I am out of ideas:) It was very difficult to narrow it down to eight, we were trying to be a little unique in our choices, but then again, it is hard to be unique when it comes to choosing great travel movies. I guess, it was more of a reminder post. Everyone thinks of the choices like The Beach, The James Bond Movies and the Bourne Movies, but we haven’t thought about Romancing the Stone or Once Upon a Time in Mexico in a while.

Great list! We think movies and books add so much to travel that we brought a bunch with us on our open ended world tour. We’re in France now, so tend to watch French ones here and ones that are family friendly since we travel with a kid. 😉 I think we love the Red Balloon and Chocolate best for France.

Two that really stick out on our trip were Troy ( watched again and again through out Greece while reading Homer, including also while we were in Troy in Turkey) and “The Medici, Godfathers of the Renaissance” a thrilling PBS special series that we watched in Florence before we toured. .-= soultravelers3´s last blog .. Captivating Colliore- France on Bastille Day =-.

Thanks for the additions. I forgot about Chocolate. I loved that movie and Johnny Depp and Juliet Binoche were both so charming. I haven’t seen Red Balloon, I will check it out. It is wonderful to watch movies for inspiration before, after and while you are at that place.

Great choices for movies! Others that come to mind are “Before Sunrise” and “Into the Wild.”

Des idées pour voyager au bout du Monde

Les meilleurs films de voyage et d'aventures (histoires vraies)

Dernière mise à jour : 6 sept. 2022

Voici ma sélection des meilleurs films d'histoires vraies sur le voyage ! Pour vous évader derrière votre écran, suivre les traces des épopées réelles les plus folles et récits de voyage les plus trépidants; Si vous êtes en manque d'aventure et de dépaysement, empressez-vous de regarder ces œuvres cinématographiques qui vous garantissent une immersion à l'autre bout du monde. Des explorations, des défis et des combats d'hommes et de femmes qui ont souhaité s'aventurer hors des sentiers battus et qui se sont confrontés à la dure loi de la nature et à l'hostilité de certains territoires. Des films d'aventure à voir et à revoir pour vous évader, parcourir des kilomètres et frissonner dans la jungle, les canyons, les glaciers et les déserts, sans quitter votre canapé.

Pour vous inspirer et vous donner envie de partir à la découverte du monde ou vivre des sensations fortes par procuration, voici la liste des films de voyage et d'aventures tirés d'histoires vraies qui vous conduisent sur la trace de destins hors du commun, dans des grands espaces ou sur des routes dépaysantes.

Into the wild

La mort suspendue

Carnets de voyage

Une histoire vraie

Dans les forêts de Sibérie

Un monde plus grand

Gorilles dans la brume

Histoire vraie d'une traversée de l'Australie

Réalisé par john curran.

Nationalité : Australie - Durée : 1h52 - Année de sortie : 2013

Adaptation cinématographique du récit "Tracks" écrit par Robyn Davidson en 1980

Notre Imdb : 7,1 / 10

Le film de voyage "Tracks" raconte l'incroyable histoire de Robyn Davidson qui a décidé d'abandonner sa vie citadine à ses 27 ans pour une traversée du désert Australien avec des chameaux !

En 1977, avec pour seuls compagnons son chien et ses 4 chameaux, la jeune Robyn Davidson a marché pendant 2 700 kilomètres, depuis la ville d'Alice Springs jusqu’à l’océan Indien. Sa solitude a été troublée par un photographe du National Geographic qui a souhaité la suivre sur une partie de son expédition. Un film qui m'a complètement emportée, superbe témoignage du désir de solitude, de l'appel du désert et de la quête de sens. Lors de ce périple extravagant, Robyn surnommée " La Camel Lady" teste ses propres limites en quittant le monde moderne pour vivre au rythme de la société aborigène traditionnelle.

Bande annonce de "Tracks" :

2. Into the Wild

Histoire vraie d'une traversée des etats-unis, réalisé par sean penn.

Nationalité : Etats-Unis - Durée : 2h28 - Année de sortie : 2007

Adaptation cinématographique du récit "Into the Wild" ("Voyage au bout de la solitude" en français) écrit par Jon Krakauer en 1996

Notre Imdb : 8,1 / 10

Le film de voyage "Into the Wild" raconte l'épopée courageuse du jeune Christopher McCandless qui a rejeté le rêve américain moderne qui lui tendait les bras pour vivre une vie nomade faite d'aventures et de petits boulots.

Après avoir rejeté les principes de la société moderne et envoyé valser la brillante carrière qui l'attendait, Christopher McCandless a traversé l'Arizona, le Grand Canyon, la Californie, le Dakota du Sud, le Colorado et le Mexique en finançant son périple par des jobs en tout genre. Il a finalement décidé de partir à la découverte de l'Alaska car ce territoire représentait pour lui la paix spirituelle et l'aboutissement de sa quête. Ce film de plus de deux heures est une aventure prenante, la passion qui dévore ce jeune intrépide m'a fait vibrer du début à la fin. Vous serez pris par l'élan de ce jeune homme qui parvient à vivre en marge de la société avant de se retrouver confronté à ses limites et à l'hostilité de l'extrême nord de l'Amérique.

Bande annonce de "Into the Wild" :

3. 127 heures

Histoire vraie d'un accident de randonnée aux etats-unis, réalisé par dany boyle.

Nationalité : Etats-Unis et Royaume Uni - Durée : 1h34 - Année de sortie : 2010

Adaptation cinématographique du récit autobiographique "Plus fort qu'un roc" écrit par Aron Ralston en 2004.

Notre Imdb : 7,6 / 10

Le film "127 heures" relate le combat d'Aron Lee Ralston, un alpiniste qui s'est retrouvé coincé dans une crevasse du Blue John Canyon pendant 6 jours.

A 27 ans et en pleine forme, Aron Lee Ralston est parti pour une randonnée en solitaire dans les gorges de l’Utah. plus précisément dans le Blue John Canyon du parc national des Canyonlands. Cet alpiniste expérimenté qui collectionne les plus beaux sommets de la région s'est retrouvé pris au piège par une roche qui se détache du canyon. Menacé de déshydratation et d'hypothermie, il frôle la mort et fait preuve d'un incroyable sans froid pour se sortir d'une situation à priori désespérée. Un film haletant qui m'a donné une extraordinaire leçon de courage et sensibilisé sur les accidents de randonnée.

Bande annonce de "127 heures" :

4. La mort suspendue

Histoire vraie d'alpinisme dans la cordillère des andes au pérou, réalisé par kevin macdonald.

Nationalité : Royaume-Uni - Durée : 1h46- Année de sortie : 2003

Adaptation cinématographique du récit autobiographie "Into the Void" écrit par Joe Simpson en 1988.

Notre Imdb : 8 / 10

Le film d'aventure "La Mort suspendue" est un docudrame qui relate l'histoire véridique de deux jeunes alpinistes expérimentés qui ont gravi en 1985 la face ouest du Siula Grande dans la Cordillère des Andes au Pérou. L'un deux a frôlé la mort et a repoussé ses limites à l'extrême pour survivre.

Ce film a un format moitié film et moitié documentaire car il mêle des reconstitutions très réalistes avec des interviews des protagonistes du drame. Il raconte l'histoire de Joe Simpson et Simon Yates, deux alpinistes enthousiastes et en pleine forme qui ont décidé de gravir en 1985 la face ouest du Siula Grande qui culmine à 6 356 mètres dans la cordillère des Andes au Pérou. Après trois jours, ils sont parvenus au sommet et furent les premiers alpinistes à avoir réalisé cet exploit. Lors de la descente, en pleine tempête, Joe se casse la jambe et se retrouve condamné à mort ! Son compagnon décide de le faire descendre en le tenant à une corde mais Joe fait une chute de plusieurs dizaines de mètres et atterrit dans une immense crevasse. Ce film est un incroyable témoignage de la force mentale de certains aventuriers, chaque seconde est d'un suspense insoutenable car on se demande comment l'alpiniste va se sortir d'une situation visiblement sans issue.

Bande annonce de "La mort suspendue' :

Histoire vraie d'une randonnée de 3 mois aux etats-unis, réalisé par jean-marc vallée.

Nationalité : Etats-Unis - Durée : 1h56 - Année de sortie : 2014

Adaptation cinématographique du récit Wild" écrit par Nick Hornby et Cheryl Strayed en 2012

Le film de voyage "Wild" raconte le périple en solitaire de Cheryl Strayed qui est parti réaliser, sans aucune expérience, le "Pacific Crest Trail", une randonnée extrême qui va de la frontière mexicaine à la frontière canadienne.

En 1995, pour guérir des tragédies de sa vie (dépression, divorce, deuil, drogue), la jeune Cheryl Strayed s'est lancé à l'assaut du "Pacific Crest Trail", la route des crête de la côte pacifique, un itinéraire pédestre extrêmement difficile pour une novice ! Elle a marché 1700 kilomètres, a affronté ses plus grandes peurs, repoussé ses limites, frôlé la folie et découvert sa force insoupçonnée. 94 jours de randonnée qui m'ont plongée dans ce défi qui témoigne avec force du pouvoir de guérison du voyage et du dépassement de soi.

Bande annonce de "Wild" :

6. Carnets de voyage

Histoire vraie d'un voyage à moto en amérique du sud, réalisé par walter salles.

Nationalité : Brésil, Chili, Etats-Unis, Pérou et Argentine - Durée : 2h06 - Année de sortie : 2004

Adaptation cinématographique des carnets de voyage d'Ernesto Che Guevara et d'Alberto Granado

Notre Imdb : 7,8 / 10

Le film "carnet de voyage" (Diarios de motocicleta) raconte le périple à moto à travers l'Amérique du Sud effectué par Che Guevara et son ami dans leur jeunesse

En 1952, Che Guevara a 24 ans et il effectue un voyage à moto avec son ami argentin avec dans l'idée de faire le tour de l'Amérique du Sud. Au bout d'un bon nombre de kilomètres parcourus, leur moto rend l'âme et les voilà condamnés à continuer leur périple à pied, en auto-stop et même en radeau. Ce périple prend alors une autre tournure et est ponctué de rencontres qui mettront les deux voyageurs face aux injustices sociales et à la misère. Une traversée qui transformera radicalement le jeune Che Guevara.

Bande annonce de "Carnet de voyage" :

Histoire vraie de l'ascension de l'Everest au Tibet

Réalisé par baltasar kormákur.

Nationalité : Etats-Unis, Royaume-Uni et Islande - Durée : 2h01 - Année de sortie : 2015

Adaptation cinématographique de l'histoire d'une expédition sur le sommet de l'Everest le 10 mai 1996.

Le film de voyage "Everest" raconte la tragédie survenue sur l'Everest les 10 et 11 mai 1996, causant la mort de huit personnes dans deux expéditions menées par Rob Hall et Scott Fischer.

Lors de ces deux expéditions sur l'Everest, les aventuriers préparés depuis des mois à ce périple, ont été confrontées à l'une des plus violentes tempêtes de neige de l'histoire. Luttant contre l'extrême sévérité des éléments, le courage des grimpeurs a été mis à l'épreuve par des obstacles toujours plus difficiles à surmonter. Pour les marcheurs, c'est le rêve de toute une vie qui se transforme en un combat acharné face aux éléments déchainés. Un film qui montre la folie de ces expéditions, l'incroyable investissements des hommes et des femmes qui se lancent ce défi surhumain.

Bande annonce de "Everest" :

Histoire vraie d'une expédition en jungle bolivienne

Réalisé par greg mc lean.

Nationalité : Australie, Colombie et Royaume-Uni - Durée : 1h55 - Année de sortie : 2017

Adaptation cinématographique du livre autobiographique "Jungle" écrit par Yossi Ghinsberg en 2016.

Notre Imdb : 6,7 / 10

Le film de voyage "Jugle" raconte l'histoire de trois voyageurs qui partent au cœur de la forêt amazonienne en Bolivie à la recherche d'une tribu qui vit isolée, coupée du monde moderne. Une aventure qui démarre par un grand rêve d'exploration mais qui tourne rapidement au cauchemar.

Aidés d'un pseudo-aventurier appelé Karl, Yossi Ghinsberg et ses deux amis vont parcourir des parcelles inexplorées de la forêt amazonienne. Ce film nous montre combien l'homme est petit et fragile face à la puissance d'une jungle où tout lui est hostile. Une réalisation qui n'a rien d'exceptionnelle mais qui vous immerge dans cette expédition palpitante.

Bande annonce de "Jungle" :

9. Une histoire vraie

Histoire vraie d'un road trip américain en micro- tracteur, réalisé par david lynch.

Nationalité : Etats-Unis, Royaume-Uni et France - Durée : 1h51 - Année de sortie : 1999

Adaptation cinématographique de l'histoire d'A lvin Straight qui a effectué un road trip sans permis de conduire

Ce film de voyage raconte le road-trip d'Alvin Straight, un homme de soixante-treize ans qui entreprend un voyage de plusieurs centaines de kilomètres avec sa tondeuse à gazon-tracteur !

Après une mauvaise chute, Alvin Straight décide de quitter l'Iowa pour retrouver son frère ainé avec lequel il est fâché depuis dix ans. Son frère vit dans le Wisconsin à 386 kilomètres de lui. Ne disposant plus de permis de conduire valide, il se résout à prendre la route sur son micro-tracteur tondeuse à gazon, tractant son barda sur une remorque. S'ensuit pour lui un périple de plus de 240 milles de l'Iowa au Wisconsin. Sur la route, il fait de nombreuses rencontres. Un film touchant qui nous met face à la détermination !

Bande annonce de "Une histoire vraie" :

10. Dans les forêts de Sibérie

Histoire inspirée d'une expédition en sibérie, réalisé par safy nebbou.

Nationalité : France et Russie - Durée : 1h39 - Année de sortie : 2016

Adaptation cinématographique du récit autobiographique éponyme de Sylvain Tesson

Notre Imdb : 7 / 10

Le film de voyage "Dans les forêts de Sibérie" met en scène l'expérience de l'aventurier Sylvain Tesson qui a choisi de vivre en ermite dans une cabane isolée du reste du monde.

Si ce film est inspiré de faits réels, le scénario a été écris avec une grande part de fiction "pour ne pas ennuyer le spectateur". L'histoire raconte que, pour assouvir son besoin de liberté, le protagoniste nommé Teddy décide de partir loin du bruit du monde. Il s’installe seul dans une cabane, sur les rives gelées du lac Baïkal. Une nuit, perdu dans le blizzard, il est secouru par Alexei, un Russe en cavale qui vit caché dans la forêt sibérienne depuis plusieurs années. Entre ces deux hommes que tout oppose, l’amitié va naître aussi soudaine qu’essentielle.

Bande annonce de "Dans les forêts de Sibérie" :

11. Kon-Tiki

Histoire vraie d'une expédition en radeau sur l'océan pacifique, réalisé par joachim rønning et espen sandberg.

Nationalité : Royaume-Uni, Norvège et Suède - Durée : 2h05 - Année de sortie : 2012

Adaptation cinématographique de l'expédition du Kon-Tiki menée par Thor Heyerdahl en 1947.

Notre Imdb : 7,2 / 10

Le film de voyage "Kon-Tiki" raconte l'histoire de Thor Heyerdahl, un explorateur norvégien qui a traversé l'Océan Pacifique en 1947 sur un simple radeau pour démontrer que les incas d'Amérique du Sud avaient exploré la Polynésie.

Le Kon-Tiki est le nom du radeau construit par l'anthropologue norvégien Thor Heyerdahl pour réaliser une traversée de l'océan Pacifique. En dérivant et avec l'aide d'une voile rudimentaire, l'embarcation et son équipage partent du Pérou et parviennent à rejoindre l'archipel des Tuamotu après 101 jours et 8000 km de navigation en 1947. L’expédition avait pour but de vérifier l'hypothèse de l'exploration inca de l'océan Pacifique. Thor Heyerdahl avait en effet une théorie qui défendait le fait que habitants d'Amérique du Sud avaient probablement traversé la mer pour s’installer sur les îles de Polynésie. Un film qui fait l'éloge de la détermination, le courage, le dépassement de soi et l’entraide des hommes face à l'hostilité des mers.

Bande annonce de "Kon Tiki" :

12. Un monde plus grand

Histoire vraie d'une française qui devient chamane en mongolie, réalisé par fabienne berthaud.

Nationalité : France - Durée : 1h40 - Année de sortie : 2019

Adaptation cinématographique du livre autobiographique de Corine Sombrun "Mon initiation chez les chamanes"

Notre Imdb : 6,3 / 10

Corine qui ne se remet pas du décès de son mari, part en Mongolie pour une mission professionnelle. Elle rejoint une communauté d'éleveurs de rennes pour enregistrer des chants traditionnels. Pendant ce voyage au bout du Monde, Corine jouée par Cécile de France, apprend qu'elle a reçu un don rare et qu'elle doit être initiée aux rites chamaniques.

Bande annonce du film "Un monde plus grand" :

13. Gorilles dans la brume

Histoire vraie d'une défenseuse des gorilles en afrique centrale, réalisé par michael apted.

Nationalité : Etats-Unis - Durée : 2h05 - Année de sortie : 1988

Adaptation cinématographique de la vie de Dian Fossey qui s'est engagée en Afrique centrale pour la protection des gorilles des montagnes.

Notre Imdb : 7,4 / 10

Le film de voyage "Gorilles dans la brume" raconte le combat d'une femme de 35 à ses 50 ans pour sauver les gorilles des montagnes au Rwanda et en RDC.

Ce film raconte la vie de Dian Fossey qui a décidé de consacrer sa vie à la défense des gorilles des montagnes au Rwanda et en République Démocratique du Congo. Préoccupée par le braconnage dont les gorilles sont victimes, elle mène de nombreuses actions pour lutter contre leur menace d'extinction. Elle crée plusieurs patrouilles anti-braconnage et mène une campagne presque violente contre les villageois mais elle connaître une fin tragique à 53 ans. Un film dont l'image a vieilli mais qui vous plonge au sein de la jungle d'Afrique centrale et qui inspire un grand respect pour cette femme qui ne recule devant rien.

Bande annonce de "Gorilles dans la Brume" :

A découvrir maintenant.

Les meilleurs films de survie en milieu naturel

Les vidéos de tour du monde

Préparer un long voyage

Voyager avec un sac à dos

Les meilleurs livres de voyage

Les vêtements à emporter en voyage

Mots-clés :

• Esprit Voyageur
• Infos Voyageurs

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Adventures in Fantasy Literature

Isaac asimov’s fantastic voyage from film to novel, thursday, march 25, 2021 mark r. kelly comments 4 comments.

Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov First Edition: Houghton Mifflin, March 1966, Cover art Dale Hennesy (Book Club edition shown)

Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov Houghton Mifflin (239 pages, $3.95, Hardcover, March 1966) Cover art Dale Hennesy

Isaac Asimov’s early novels were published over a period of just eight years, from Pebble In the Sky in 1950 to The Naked Sun in 1957, with linked collections like I, Robot and the Foundation “novels” along the way. Some of his early short stories, published in magazines as early as 1939, weren’t collected into books until the 1960s, but for the most part Asimov had stopped writing science fiction by the late 1950s, perhaps because of the collapse of the SF magazine market, or perhaps because he’d discovered that writing nonfiction books was more lucrative and easier. As Asimov fans were painfully aware of at the time, a spell of some 15 years went by before he published his next original novel, The Gods Themselves in 1972, to great acclaim and awards recognition. (And then yet another decade went by before Asimov returned to regular novel writing, with Foundation’s Edge and a string of following novels derived from his Foundation and Robot universes.)

—Except for a book called Fantastic Voyage , in 1966, which was a novelization of a movie script. Such novelizations are by now a virtually extinct species, I think, but they were quite common in the 1970s especially where, once a movie left theaters, there was no way to experience it again except via proxy novel versions (and perhaps revival house movie theaters), especially of SF films. (Until the 1980s, when Video Cassette Recorders became widespread, and lots of old movies were issued on videotape, and novelizations became redundant.)

The year 1966 was early in the history of movie novelizations. Theodore Sturgeon had done Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea back in 1961, and by 1967 James Blish was doing narrative versions of Star Trek episodes, gathered into collections of 6 or 8 per book. There were other books associated with several TV shows in the mid-1960s, by Murray Leinster, Keith Laumer, and others, but these were not based on actual scripts and so are better described as “ties” or “tie-ins.” (If “novelizations” passed in the 1980s, there remain to this day hundreds of such “ties,” especially set in the Star Trek or Star Wars universes.)

Anyway, Isaac Asimov did the novelization of Fantastic Voyage , a big-budget film with spectacular special effects for its time. Why? The story is recounted in various places, but essentially his publisher asked, and talked him into it. Despite that Asimov had not written a novel in years. Despite that Asimov considered the job essentially hackwork. Nevertheless, Asimov agreed, on condition the book be published in hardcover (not just as an original paperback), and on the condition he could correct various scientific impossibilities in the film’s plot. He wrote the book quickly and so it was published some six months before the film opened, leading some to believe the film was based on Asimov’s novel. But it was the other way around.

Unlike my post about Richard Matheson’s The Shrinking Man , another story about miniature people, here I will explicitly revisit both the film and the book. Both to reconsider the idea of how miniature people makes sense or not, and to examine to what extent Asimov improved or otherwise changed the film’s narrative and rationale.

With that in mind, I’ll step through the film, and along the way comment on where Asimov expanded scenes, provided additional background, and offered scientific rationalization.

Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov Bantam Books, October 1966, Cover art from movie poster (Scholastic Books edition shown)

Full disclosure: According to my records, the paperback edition of Asimov’s novel, shown here, was the first science fiction book I ever purchased. It’s an edition from Scholastic Book Services that provided, back in 1966, mail-orders from school classrooms, with delivery several weeks later. Editions for Scholastic at that time were identical to the publishers’ (paperback) editions, except that the price and publisher ID numbers were left off. I didn’t see the film until years later, in the VCR era.

To destroy a blood clot in the brain of a scientist whose mind holds the key to breaking a Cold War stalemate, a submarine with a crew of five is miniaturized to microscopic size and injected into the scientist’s body. As the sub travels to the brain to destroy the clot there with a laser, it experiences a series of accidents and attempted sabotages; the suspense is as much whether the mission will succeed (of course it will) but who of the five is the saboteur.

The film has spectacular special effects in its depictions of the interior of the human body, impressive even now, though the story is a suspense thriller with a one-crisis-a-minute plot. The Asimov novelization tries to rationalize the implausibility of miniaturization, expands on the mild sexual innuendo of the film (involving the one female crewman), adds analysis of the potential motivations of the saboteur, and finishes with a couple scenes confirming the success of the mission and about a potential romantic relationship.

Walkthrough of film and novelization, with [[ comments ]]

The film Fantastic Voyage ( Wikipedia ) was announced as “the most expensive science-fiction film ever made” (as of 1964 or 1965), with a budget of $5 million; its box office was $12 million. The film was notable not just for its special effects, but for the appearance, early in her career, of “international sex symbol” Raquel Welch ( Wikipedia ), and for its atonal score by Leonard Rosenman, with no music at all in the first four reels of the film, until the submarine enters the scientist’s body. Other stars in the film were Stephen Boyd, Edmond O’Brien, Donald Pleasance, Arthur O’Connell, and Arthur Kennedy, all familiar from other films of that era.

For this walk-through I’ll use Asimov’s chapter headings as dividers, but describe the film first, then Asimov’s version of the same scenes. A summary of the principal differences between film and book is at the end.

• Movie: We see an airline in the night sky, descending toward landing.
• General Alan Carter [Edmond O’Brian in the film] talks with Colonel Donald Reid [Arthur O’Connell]. Each wears a CMDF insignia. They fret about there being only 72 minutes before the plane lands. The agent in charge is Grant [Stephen Boyd]; the target is Benes . Both sides are evenly matched [[ this is very Cold War-ish, but only in terms of “Ourselves” and the “Others” ]]. Benes is bringing new knowledge to end the stalemate, if he makes it.
• [[ Since I’d read the book first, I’d thought that Benes was pronounced “beans.” I was 11 years old! In fact it’s an eastern European name, pronounced in the film as “ben-esh.” ]]
• Reid then visits Dr. Michaels [Donald Pleasance], of the medical division, who babbles about the complex circulatory system. He has heard of Benes’ research and is skeptical. Maybe lying, maybe mistaken. They discuss the surgeon Duval [Arthur Kennedy] as an arrogant son of a bitch. He’s a brain surgeon, always busy with his work. His assistant is Miss (Cora) Peterson [Raquel Welch], 25yo. Her specialty is laser work. They debate whether Benes’ work is for good, or if it would just increase the probability of world destruction.
• [[ This is a running theme in Asimov, unexamined in the film. What is the greatest danger? For both sides, or only one side, having this miniaturization technology? ]]
• Cpt William Owens [William Redfield] rides in a limousine flanked by motorcycle escorts, coming to the airfield. He chats with the secret service agent, Gonder. Owens is confident he will recognize Benes, rather than a double agent impersonating him.
• With no dialogue (and no music), we see the plane land, then two big trucks with troops move in, along with motorcycles and three limos.
• Out of the plane come two men: and old man, Benes; and the younger agent, Grant. Benes shakes hands with Grant in thanks, then rides away in a limo. Grant remains behind.
• The cars and motorcycles drive through the dark city, a warehouse district. Suddenly an attack car emerges from an alley, hits the corner of the limo containing Benes, and then bursts into flames. Frantically, the agents drag Benes to another limo, while gunshots are heard as the agents attack the enemy.
• Asimov: Benes greets Owens, recalling a drinking episode some years ago (which Grant sees as confirming Benes’ identity). And then the attack scene as in the film.
• We see Benes, from above, unconscious in a hospital bed.
• Then we get the film credits. Titles appear with teletype sounds. We hear electronic pings — very much like the electronic pings we heard in ‘60s TV shows like Lost in Space . There’s even a steady sound like that used for the Jupiter 2 flying in space, heard here as the Proteus shrinks. As in films of this era, full credits run at the beginning of the film. (As film credits became increasingly bloated, they’ve moved to the end of films, for decades now.) We never hear these electronic sounds again in the rest of the film.
• Since I haven’t mentioned until now, the film credits four writers, most notably Jerome Bixby (author of SF novels and stories, such as “It’s a Good Life”), along with Otto Klement, David Duncan, and Harry Kleiner.
• We fade to a city street at night. Finally we hear some dialogue: Grant is riding in a limo, accompanied by an agent, who apologizes for waking him up so early. In a deserted warehouse area, the limo stops, the other men in the car step out, Grant told to stay inside. The limo, on a hidden elevator pad, descends into the ground.
• The elevator stops; a large door slides open, and we see a huge underground complex of well-lit corridors and people busily walking around. A man on a scooter appears; Grant gets on board, and they ride through the facility. The initials CMDF are everywhere. The scooter drives up ramps that parallel escalators. They pause at a security station, then Grant is dropped off at an office. General Carter greets him, takes him into an observation room, where they look down at Benes in a hospital bed on the level beneath them. Carter quickly explains that Benes has a brain injury and they have to operate. He turns on two monitors to introduce Duval and his assistant on one, Dr. Michaels on the other. Grant is needed for security purposes — Duval is suspected of being an enemy agent. Carter tells Grant to take orders only from Dr. Michaels. Grant remarks about Miss Peterson’s good looks
• Follows the film closely, except that Grant is not told to follow Michaels’ orders; Asimov develops this differently in the next chapter.
• Grant wonders what CMDF stands for. Consolidated Mobilization of Delinquent Females? Grant explains: Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces. They can reduce anything, put an army in a match box. Both sides have it, but it can’t be controlled. That was Benes has discovered.
• Grant, flabbergasted, tries to refuse; he doesn’t want to be miniaturized!
• They come to a briefing room, where Dr. Reid is objecting that Duval insists on taking his assistant along; a woman doesn’t belong on a trip like this! Duval says she volunteered. “So did every male technician in this unit!” Reid gives in, but disapproves.
• Michaels proceeds with the briefing, turning on an overhead projector to display a crude diagram of Benes’ body on a screen. The injury can’t be reached from the outside, so a submarine will be reduced to the size of a microbe and injected into the body. Benes’ body will be slowed down, lowering heartbeats and respiration. No danger of turbulence, because they’re not going through the heart. Michael indicates their path, where the laser will be used, and then where the sub will head for removal. Communication will be by wireless, and since the sub is nuclear-powered, it can be tracked from outside. But they must be out in 60 minutes, when the miniaturization reverses; as they grow, there’s danger from white corpuscles and antibodies.
• [[ I’ll note that during this scene, and many later scenes in the Control Booth, we see General Carter and one other character light up cigars, just as so many Asimov characters did in his early novels. ]]
• Grant’s guess about CMDF is Consolidated Martian Dimwits and Fools.
• Asimov attempts some rationalization of the miniaturization process, giving Michaels some long speeches about the miniaturization controversy some time back, how the idea was dismissed on theoretical grounds. There were two ideas for how to reduce size: push the individual atoms closer together; or discard a certain proportion of atoms. Neither is plausible, Michael explains; another technique was developed, and the idea went underground (thus the secret CMDF facility): “We are miniaturized, not as literal objects, but as images; as three-dimensional images manipulated from outside the universe of space-time.” He goes on about hyper-space. (p40)
• Whereas the film states flatly that the miniaturization lasts only 60 minutes, Asimov explains that the length of miniaturization is proportional to its degree. To get as small as required for a mission inside the body, the miniaturization will begin to revert after 60 minutes. (Benes’ discovery is that he can beat this limitation, to maintain miniaturization indefinitely.)
• The briefing room scenes proceed, with Grant twice trying to decline the mission, and being told he’s not a volunteer. Asimov states that the ship will be reduced to three micra, just under a ten-thousandth of an inch. And significantly, Grant is given the authority to make executive decisions. (Rather than merely keep an eye on Duval, who is not specifically suspected in the book.)
• The crew walks out, crosses a concourse, passes through a big security door and into a computer room overlooking the operating room. [[ The TV monitors are ovoid and black and white, very primitive looking; meanwhile the computers flash patterns of meaningless white lights, like every other Hollywood computer of this era. ]]
• The crew passes through a purple-lit sterilization corridor, then into a big room where the sub awaits. It’s white, horseshoe-shaped with an upright tail and a glass dome on top. They climb a ladder and enter from the top.
• Inside is a chart table, a wireless station, and four seats beneath the captain’s perch under the dome.
• Grant helps Cpt. Owens lower a heavy, battery-sized device into a niche in the floor — a “particle,” Owens explains, a microscopic bit of nuclear fuel that will be all they need to power the ship once miniaturized.
• Owens explains how the sub was built as a research vessel to study the spawning of deep sea fish.
• [[ And yet with all those windows and a glass dome, this sub doesn’t seem to be designed for deep-sea work. ]]
• Grant then makes a remark about needing to “spawn” a message on the wireless. Miss Peterson, who has been determinedly business-like in attitude so far, notices the wordplay and smiles, just slightly.
• So Grant sends out a message, and in the control room it’s read out: “Miss Peterson has smiled.”
• Asimov omits the planting of a nuclear “particle.”
• As they settle inside Michaels, who admits himself he likes to talk, speculates to Grant about who might be a secret agent — not Owens, because he would never sacrifice his ship. The least suspicious is him, Grant.
• Asimov plays up the attempted innuendo between Grant and Cora; he keeps making remarks that allude to her looks, or just the fact that she’s a woman. She reproves him and tells him to treat her like any other crewman. But when she tests her laser and asks him to move his hand, he says “When near you hence-forward I shall be careful where I place my hand.” And she smiles, just a bit. So he sends the message, “Miss Peterson has smiled.”
• Cpt. Owens shows Michaels a “repeater” in the cockpit, which will display whatever chart Michaels has out below.
• Grant asks Miss Peterson about how she is around the house, if she can cook. She ignores him and tests the laser. [[ Asimov moved the laser test into the previous chapter. ]]
• They prepare for miniaturization. They all strap in. Outside, the miniaturizer, a huge disk at ceiling height, is slid in above the sub.
• From the Control Room, Reid orders Phase One. We hear whining. From above light glows onto the ship.
• From inside, the crew sees the world through the windows expanding and growing farther away.
• The sub becomes matchbox-sized on the red tile, the “Zero Module,” in the center of the room.
• Much the same, though Asimov adds further interchanges between Grant and Cora, especially as she discusses her place in a man’s world. [[ Gradually as the novel proceeds, “Miss Peterson” becomes “Cora” both in the narrative and in Grant’s speech. ]]
• While Michaels and others are nervous about all this, Duval blandly remarks that he has “the consolations of religion. I have confessed, and for me death is but a doorway.” The film has a scene or two in which Duval expresses near-religious awe, even presuming the existence of a creator, but Asimov makes Duval’s religious faith explicit.
• Phase Two. A precision handling device is slowly wheeled in. Zero Module is elevated — the hexagonal tile slides up from the floor, to chest height. Carefully, a technician guides a fork at the end of an arm of the device underneath the ship, and lifts it. Zero Module descends, and in its place a huge glass cylinder rises. The handling device lowers the sub onto the surface of the water.
• Inside, Owens orders Grant to open a couple valves, for the ship to submerge.
• Outside, we see the tiny sub drifting downward in the glass cylinder.
• Michaels has a panic attack, saying he can’t breathe, climbing up to the hatch and trying to open it. The others pull him down; he calms down, and apologizes.
• Phase Three. Now the entire cylinder shrinks. Full reduction is achieved. The timer on the wall starts: 60 minutes and counting. Inside, the ship powers up.
• Asimov refers to the handling device as a waldo, and alludes to a 1940s sf story without naming it.
• Asimov has the sub crew perceive the people outside as slowly-moving, as if the subjective time at miniaturization may be longer than an hour. [[ Perhaps Asimov’s way to make more plausible how many events the crew endures in a single hour. ]]
• Phase Four. Zero Module is elevated again; the handler moves in, and in two steps, a plunger and then a needle are attached to the ends (by nurses wearing white uniforms with caps).
• The handler moves over to Benes, whose bald head is now lined in a grid, and who has a big X marked on his throat. An array of tiny radar antennas is positioned around his head.
• Asimov has the crew recognize that the slight vibrations they feel are Brownian motion.
• Cora is optimistic they can wrap this up in 15 minutes, then it doesn’t matter (if the ship suffers from the vibrations). Michaels angrily explains that it *does* matter, because if they wreck the ship before being extracted from Benes, he would still be killed by the expanding debris. [[ This is Asimov’s first allusion to they key flaw of the film, which Asimov takes pains to correct. ]]
• Grant accepts Owens’ assurance that the ship will survive 60 minutes of such vibrations. So they will proceed. [[ This is Grant’s first executive decision, given the role Asimov assigns him. ]]
• We see the ship sliding down through the water, at a downward angle, with a gushing sound – and then they’re out, into relatively calm waters, inside the body.
• [[ —And here is where the film’s music begins. It’s by Leonard Rosenman (composer of many films from East of Eden to Star Trek IV ), and it’s atonal, though not 12-tone (there’s a repeated four-note motif in almost every scene). It’s appropriately otherworldly for a science fiction film about a place no one has ever seen before. There’s an 11-minute suite of the score at YouTube here , complete with electronic pings and teletype noises. (The first instance of the four-note motif is at 1:10)
• (YouTube also has this 17-minute documentary about the making of the film here , which reveals where those various electronic sounds came from: created by a sound editor named Ralph Hickey for a 1957 Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn film called Desk Set , as sounds an advanced computer would make.) ]]
• The ship’s crew looks out at huge red and blue blobs floating around them—corpuscles. Duval gets philosophical: “…man is the center of the universe. We stand in the middle of infinity between outer and inner space.” He sees something he doesn’t recognize — maybe a protein? — and wants to stop for a sample, but they have no time.
• They expect a branch in the artery in two minutes, but Cpt. Owens finds himself struggling against some kind of current. The ship plunges into a whirlpool. The crew straps in, but are pressed outward by centrifugal force.
• Abruptly, the sub emerges through an arterial wall into calm. But where are they?
• In the book Duval calls the view “God’s handiwork.”
• At the end they realize they’ve passed through an arterio-venous fistula, a small connection between artery and vein, perhaps caused by the initial accident Benes was in.
• Michaels is the expert on Benes’ circulatory system; shouldn’t he have known this fistula was there? Or perhaps it was too small to be noticed?
• Control realizes Proteus is off course, in the jugular vein.
• In the sub, Michaels explains about the fistula. They’re headed for the heart, and they can’t go through it. Michaels wants to call off the mission, at 51 minutes. In Control, the General insists they keep going, and asks about stopping the heart. How long can it be stopped? And how long for Proteus to get through? 60 seconds, and 57 seconds respectively. He orders the surgical team to prepare for cardiac shock.
• As the sub approaches the heart, the crew hears heartbeats, and feels the ship jerking with each one. As they reach the valve — a huge three-sided thing — Owens hits the gas and they enter the abruptly quiet heart.
• Outside the General watches his stopwatch. Inside the sub glides through the calm, through tendrils, spotting the semi-lunar valve, and just as the heart starts again, is whisked into the pulmonary artery.
• No significant difference.
• So now the sub is headed toward the lungs. They enter a capillary, and watch how corpuscles release CO2 in return for oxygen; refueling, and changing color.
• Duval: “One of the miracles of the universe.” Michaels: “Just an exchange of gases; the end product of 500 million years of evolution.” Duval: “You can’t believe that all that is accidental, that there is a creative intelligence at work?”
• But then an alarm sounds. The air pressure is dropping, due to a short that Owens quickly fixes. But they’ve lost too much air to go on. Grant observes they’re right along the lung, plenty of air there. Are there snorkels on board? Yes. Michaels, always ready to abandon the mission, reluctantly agrees to Grant’s plan.
• Then Grant notices the laser has half fallen out of its cradle. How did that happen? Cora is sure she strapped it down.
• But for now the four of them put on suits to go outside. The camera lingers on Raquel Welch as she partially disrobes.
• Outside, the ship lowers legs to sit on the capillary wall.
• In Control, they wonder why the sub has stopped again.
• In the capillary, two of the crew, and then another two, exit the bottom of the sub.
• Duval: “Look at the God-given wonder of it.” And so on, the exchange a bit expanded, the time period changed to 3 billion years.
• Asimov realizes there’s a problem with miniature people breathing un-miniaturized air. (Which is to say, the movie implicitly presumes all the atoms and molecules are the same size and can interact with each other.) Asimov imagines, rather implausibly, that the sub has a small miniaturizer on board, and the crew jury-rigs a system of tubes to get full-sized air through it before refilling the sub’s tank.
• Outside the sub, in snorkeling gear, Grant pulls on a big rubber hose attached to the sub. They see the lung through a thin wall, with bits of rock (dust).
• Duval ties Grant’s lifeline to the sub; we see him doing it.
• Grant pushes through the wall into the lung, pulling the hose. Sound of wind. In the sub, the pressure meter rises until full. In the lung, Grant slips and is blown away from the ledge where he pushed in. He tumbles through the air, lands, climbs back up, and pushes through.
• The sub sails on (this scene as on the cover of the hardcover, top).
• Essentially the same.
• Back in the sub, Cora finds a broken trigger wire in the laser. End of laser. Michaels, yet again, suggests ending the mission immediately.
• But Grant has an idea: he can get a replacement wire from the wireless. Michaels of course objects; they’ll be cut off from the outside world! The others calm him down, and a last message is sent to Control: “Cannibalizing wireless to repair laser.”
• Cora holds up the replacement wire. It’s too thick. Duval, the surgeon, will try scraping it down to size.
• This location or term wasn’t mentioned in the movie; Asimov has the crew mention they can move forward through the pleural lining.
• As Duval and Cora work to repair the laser, Michaels wonders to Grant if Cora herself sabotaged the laser. And what about the lifeline? Did Duval try getting rid of him, Grant, for paying attention to Cora? Michaels admits he might have known about the fistula. Clues here seem to point everywhere.
• The sub sails on. Grant confides to Michael: there have been attempts at sabotage. Could it be Duval?
• The sub is going through the lymphatic system, which looks like a tunnel of netting, with fibers draping over the ship, like seaweed. They observe antibodies destroying the invaders.
• [[ Of all the otherworldly landscapes and objects the film imagines as the inside of the human body, the antibodies are especially striking effects: little bundles of fibers that skitter quickly through the water, clinging and shaping themselves to the perceived intruder. ]]
• Is there another route, to avoid these fibers? Duval suggests the inner ear. Michaels warns it’s dangerous — any noise from the outside world would be a disaster for the sub. Grant points out, they’re tracking the sub, they’ll see where we’re going and will understand.
• Asimov has Cora explain what the lymph system does, what antibodies do. The fibers cause the engines to overheat. They watch as antibodies attack a bacterium and squeeze it to death. They acknowledge the risks of going through the ear, but figure those outside will understand. Grant specifically makes the decision to go ahead.

Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov Bantam Books, October 1966, Back cover image from film (Scholastic Books edition shown)

• In Control, realizing where the Proteus is heading, Reid makes an announcement (over a loudspeaker) that everyone is to remain completely silent.
• The sub heads along a blue-green tunnel, settling onto a ledge. The vents are clogged with puffy seaweed. Grant, and then Michaels and Cora, suit up to go outside and pull the fibers off the ship. Duval stays inside to repair the laser. [[ The sub on the ledge as three pull off fibers is shown on the back cover of the paperback edition, above. ]]
• In Control, the frazzled general, drinking cup after cup of coffee, reaches out to crush an ant, hesitates, and withdraws.
• As the surgical team stands silently, one man’s forehead twitches with sweat. A nurse, seeing this, reaches out for a towel behind her, and as she pulls it off the table, knocks a pair of scissors onto the floor.
• In the ear, chaos ensues, as the sounds echoes through the ear, sending the sub crew tumbling. [[ But why for so long? The sound was sharp but not reverberating. ]] Cora, tossed away, gets caught in some kind of fibers (the Cells of Henson, Michaels later mentions), which in turn attracts antibodies. Grant pulls her out, but the antibodies catch up to them, clinging to Cora. The two climb inside the sub, Cora gasping that she can’t breathe. They open the airlock prematurely; water pours onto the deck, as three of the men struggle to pull the antibodies off her. And discover they quickly crystalize, and snap into shards.
• At the end of this last scene, Asimov has Cora burst into tears.
• Asimov has Reid hand-write a warning to be completely quiet, which is carried around to each member of the surgical crew.
• Later, when Carter and Reid realize the sub has stopped, they have a nurse put cotton in Benes’ ears.
• Asimov omits the ant scene.
• Here, as in some earlier scenes, the panic with the antibodies brings to Grant phrases from his college years: peptide chains, Van der Waals forces.
• In Control, the General notes 12 minutes left. He runs out of sugar.
• Inside, the sub glides through green light; they realize it’s light from the eardrum.
• Duval has repaired the laser and Michael argues that it must be tested. Duval refuses; it will or will not work, he says, and perhaps only for a short period, and he doesn’t want to waste any of its capacity on a test.
• They enter the brain: an enormous lacework with flashes of light moving up and down.
• Duval is moved to quote: “Yet all the suns that light the corridors of the universe shine…”
• A quote which Grant finishes.
• Duval goes on about the soul and the infinite and God.
• A Google search suggests that the lines of verse in the film were made-up. Asimov substitutes lines from Wordsworth: “Where the statue stood of Newton with his prism and silent face…” Which Duval begins and Grant, belying his military background, completes.
• The sub crew sees the blood clot ahead — a huge dark red mass amid the latticework of the brain. Michaels as usual warns they don’t have time; they have only 6 minutes left, and it takes 2 minutes to reach the removal point. Michaels insists on abandoning the mission, heading for the removal point at once. Cpt. Owns says, OK, since Michaels is nominally in charge. But Grant, in response, flips switches on a control panel to depower the sub, and directs Duval to get his laser.
• Michaels and Grant argue as Duval and Cora exit.
• Duval begins firing the laser at the clot. Pieces of the clot, like moldy cloth, fall away.
• Inside the sub, Michaels tells Cpt. Owens that there’s something wrong with the escape hatch. Owens comes down to investigate, and as he leans over, Michaels picks up a wrench and clubs Owens on the head. (At last, Michaels is revealed as the saboteur.)
• Michaels quickly turns on power, climbs into the control dome, and pilots the sub toward the clot.
• Duval, Cora, and Grant have seen the clot is sufficiently destroyed. Cora notices the sub is moving quickly toward them. Grant grabs the laser and fires it at the sub, cutting a swath through its hull that sends water flooding the inside. The sub lurches and crashes into a bundle of fibers. White corpuscles appear, converging on it. Can Michaels and Owens be saved? If not they’ll be ingested.
• Grant climbs into the wrecked sub, finds Owens conscious, and Michaels trapped in the dome by machinery trapping his hands. Overhead, a white corpuscle, a huge mass of white foam, penetrates the dome and engulfs Michaels’ head, as he screams. Grant and Owens escape.
• As the ship arrives at the clot, Michaels insists Duval is the enemy agent; Grant fires back that he, Michaels, is the enemy agent.
• Owens escapes the sub by himself — actually Michaels suits him up, allowing him to escape — and joins the others. Michaels calls the others from the sub, ranting about saving mankind (from the danger of both sides having controllable miniaturization technology), before being taken out by the laser.
• The ship crashes and the survivors realize they have to leave now. What’s the quickest way? Out through the eye.
• The survivors swim to the corner of the eye. The sub has been engulfed by the white corpuscle.
• In Control, time is up, the sub crew has to be removed. The order comes: trepanation. The radar rack is removed, and a surgical team gathers around Benes’ head.
• And then the general stops them. He thinks the ship may already be destroyed, and the crew is on their way to the nearest exit point, the eye.
• Reid walks down to the operating room, leans over Benes, and looks into his eye. He sees a spot. He asks for a glass slide, pulls a teardrop with that spot onto the slide, walks it over to the red hexagon in the miniaturization room, sets it down, stands back. And the four survivors grow from nothingness to full size as everyone watches.
• [[ The music here becomes more tonal, complete with chimes. ]]
• As the crew reaches full-sized, Reid smiles and nods to them. They shake hands. In the control room, all the staff sitting at those computer consoles get up and rush down to the operating floor, forming a crowd, welcoming the crew back. Then end.
• [[ Thus, we presume Benes is OK and the mission was a success, but we’re not told or shown so. ]]
• At this point Asimov addresses the problem of the wrecked sub, and the dead Michaels, a problem the film ignored. They will deminiaturize too, or their fragments will, and would kill Benes. So Asimov has Grant attract the attention of the white cell that engulfed the ship by stabbing it with a knife, and so lures it to follow him as he swims with the others toward the eye.
• As they swim, and start de-miniaturizing, they see their surroundings getting small; they are getting bigger. They escape through a duct, the white cell following.
• The survivors then expand to full size next to a heap of metal fragments. Where’s Michaels? Grant explains: “Somewhere in [the wreckage] you’ll find whatever’s left of Michaels. Maybe just an organic jelly with some fragments of bones.”
• And then, past where the movie ends, Asimov provides some concluding, confirmational scenes.
• Grant wakes after sleeping 15 hours. He speaks with Grant and Reid, discussing how Michaels wasn’t a story-book villain; he was sincere in his way, worried about the spread of dangerous technology. There have been people like this since the atomic bomb; yet his mission was futile because Benes’ secret would have been discovered eventually by someone else.
• Grant explains how he came to suspect Michaels. How each apparent accident wouldn’t have been sabotage by the obvious suspect. Michaels always argued for the end of the mission after each accident. His initial fear gave way to calm, since he figured the mission would fail; then he got angry as each accident was overcome. [[ This is the kind of analysis typical of most Asimov novels. ]]
• Grant decides to find Cora. She is just leaving Duval’s office. Grant appears. Still “Cora”? And he’ll be Charles. May they admire each other? Of course.
• They visit Benes, eyes open. He remembers what he came here to say. His secret is secure.
• And so Grant and Cora depart, “hand in hand, into a world that suddenly seemed to hold no terrors for them, but only the prospect of great joy.”

Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain by Isaac Asimov Doubleday, September 1987, Jacket illustration Ron Miller

To summarize film and book and the changes Asimov made:

• A sub enters a human body to repair a clot in the brain, and suffers one calamity after another, some perhaps accidents, some perhaps due to the work of a saboteur or double agent. But the mission to destroy the clot succeeds.
• Asimov addresses the problem of how miniaturization would work, dismisses two obvious methods, and settles on familiar sfnal double-talk about hyperspace. (Asimov wrote a later novel, Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brian , not a sequel to the movie or his novelization of it, but his own independent treatment of the idea. But it’s twice as long as the novelization here, and I haven’t checked to see what its miniaturization rationale is.)
• Asimov adds scenes at the beginning (to introduce characters) and end (to confirm the success of the mission), but otherwise follows the movie’s plot very closely.
• Asimov ramps up Grant’s sexual innuendo with Cora, to a point that would be unacceptable today; but as the story goes on, their relationship becomes more respectful, and by the end of the book is the implication of a serious relationship.
• And Asimov considers the motives of the saboteur: not a cartoon villain, but whose motives are sincere, if misguided.
• Finally, despite the one-crisis-a-minute plotting, both film and novel remain impressive as an imaginative journey, and for the film’s visualizations of the interior of the human body (which much of the time looks like paintings by Paul Lehr).

Mark R. Kelly’s last review for us was of Richard Matheson’s The Shrinking Man . Mark wrote short fiction reviews for Locus Magazine from 1987 to 2001, and is the founder of the Locus Online website, for which he won a Hugo Award in 2002. He established the Science Fiction Awards Database at sfadb.com . He is a retired aerospace software engineer who lived for decades in Southern California before moving to the Bay Area in 2015. Find more of his thoughts at Views from Crestmont Drive , which has this index of Black Gate reviews posted so far.

I also read that fairly early in my SF reading career. I still have never seen the movie.

Too bad you didn’t have Seinfeld to give a hint to the pronunciation of Benes’ name! (Or, in my latter day case, Cardinals’ pitchers Andy and Alan Benes.) Of course those Americanized names are pronounced BEN-uhs, with an “S” sound, not “Sh”.

I don’t know when movie novelizations became very popular, but I have novelized editions of plays (from the first decade of the 20th Century), and of movie serials (or series of shorts) from 1915 or so. I think the earliest feature film novelization can be traced to the very early ’20s. I do think they became far more popular by the ’60s.

Point taken — Paul Di Filippo emailed me about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoplay_edition .

Another great, detailed review! A real trip down memory lane for me, too: when sf films were thin on the ground, it was an event any time this was broadcast on TV. And that was even before I was old enough to realize why Raquel Welch was a big deal.

I had a few novelizations on my regular reread list as a kid, and this was one of them, partly because I was an obsessive Asimov fan. But I think Asimov was actually good at capturing the dry, worldly tone of spy novels and mysteries. His plain, matter-of-fact style is the prose equivalent of Jack Webb’s radio voice.

I remember thinking that this book almost seemed like a prequel to Asimov’s “Let’s Get Together”, a robot espionage story set in a future where the Cold War never ended. Although I haven’t read either for a long time.

About the history of novelizations… There was one by Achmed Abdullah of the 1924 Thief of Bagdad. King Kong got one in 1933 and I know of one to The Creature From the Black Lagoon in 1954, so I’m guessing there were probably quite a few early ones.

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35 classiques du cinéma qui vont vous donner envie de voyager

Hostelworld Blog | Publié le avril 24, 2019 |

Les meilleurs films de voyage sont ceux qui vous donnent la bougeotte et stimulent votre esprit avec des envies d’évasion ou d’aventure. Ils vous poussent à sortir du canapé et à foncer à l’aéroport, comme le fait si facilement le héros de l’histoire. Et s’il le peut, vous aussi. Voici donc une liste de films de voyage pour vous inspirer dans votre recherche de nouvelles expériences.

35. Eat Pray Love (2010)

La quintessence même du film “pour renouer avec son moi intérieur” ou juste un énième cliché ? Peu importe votre avis sur la question, aucun autre film ne fait aussi bien la promotion d’une fabuleuse année de voyage.

Note : 5.8/10 sur IMDb

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34. Bonjour les vacances (1985)

L’authenticité n’est pas de rigueur ici, mais le road trip de la famille Griswald de Londres en Bavière, en passant par Paris, est un classique de la comédie américaine.

Note : 6.4/10 sur IMDb

33. The Inbetweeners 2 (2014)

Vous ne pouvez pas penser ne serait-ce qu’une minute embarquer pour un visa vacance-travail en Australie sans penser aux gars de la série et à tous les spots impressionnants qu’ils visitent.

32. Very Bad Trip 2 (2011)

La bande de potes est de retour dans ce second opus, à Bangkok, pour vivre un voyage légendaire après une soirée un peu trop arrosée en l’honneur du mariage de Stu.

Note : 6.5/10 sur IMDb

31. La Plage (2000)

Existe-t-il un film pour baroudeur plus important que celui-ci ? Dans La Plage, Leonardo DiCaprio incarne un voyageur en quête d’un paradis rêvé sur des îles en Thaïlande.

Note : 6.6/10 sur IMDb

30. Sous Le Soleil de Toscane (2003)

Qui n’a jamais eu envie de tout envoyer valser pour s’offrir une maison de rêve en Toscane ? L’écrivaine jouée par Diane Lane le fait et finit par tomber follement amoureuse, et pas seulement de la très jolie campagne italienne.

29. Eurotrip (2004)

Alors celui-là, c’est un peu comme American Pie mais en Europe. Et quoi de mieux pour un film du samedi soir ? Quatre lycéens américains, voyagent en Europe pendant leurs vacances d’été juste avant leur entrée en fac.

28. Lettres à Juliette (2010)

Voici l’un des meilleurs films romantiques de notre siècle. Lettres à Juliette commence à Vérone, sur le balcon rendu célèbre par Shakespeare, puis se poursuit dans toute la Toscane, à la recherche d’un amour perdu.

27. Mamma Mia : Here We Go Again (2018)

Après le succès de Mamma Mia, ce sequel retrace les aventures de Donna en voyage. On suit donc ses exploits de Paris jusqu’en Grèce, sur une île quasi paradisiaque.

Note : 6.8/10 sur IMDb

26. Une Grande Année (2006)

Russel Crowe joue ici un puissant businessman londonien, reconverti en propriétaire viticole. Le film consiste à le voir apprécier cette nouvelle vie plus calme (et du bon vin) sur fond de campagne française.

Note : 7/10 sur IMDb

25. P.S. I Love You (2007)

Cette histoire d’amour tragique – avec dans les rôles principaux, Gerard Butler et Hilary Swank – se situe dans les plaines irlandaises, et tout particulièrement sur les très pittoresques Wicklow Mountains.

24. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Dans ce film, vous aurez la preuve que pas tout le monde ne revient forcément grandi d’un voyage d’une vie, mais Vicky et Cristina profitent d’un été dans la capitale catalane qu’elles n’oublieront pas de sitôt.

Note : 7.1/10 sur IMDb

23. Wild (2014)

Cheryl Strayed est à un tournant de sa vie lorsqu’elle décide de faire le Pacific Crest Trail le long de la côte Ouest américaine et d’expier ainsi la douleur due à la mort de sa mère et à son récent divorce.

22. Au Bord du Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Trois frères espèrent faire l’expérience d’un “réveil spirituel” lors d’une traversée de l’Inde en train. L’utilisation d’un tel cliché du voyage, nous pousse à regarder le film en toute détente.

Note : 7.2/10 sur IMDb

21. Copenhague (2014)

William, qui est à moitié danois, voyage à Copenhague à la recherche de sa famille paternelle. La capitale danoise est tellement présente dans la trame du film, qu’elle en est quasi l’héroïne.

20. Tracks (2013)

Basée sur une histoire vraie, ce film retrace la vie de Robyn Davidson, en randonnée dans l’Outback australien. Là-bas, il affronte la maladie, la déshydratation afin de développer une réelle prise de conscience de la nature dans laquelle il vit, et qui fait la richesse de son pays natal.

19. The Way, La Route Ensemble (2010)

Martin Sheen prend la place de son fils défunt pour le pèlerinage de Santiago dans le nord de l’Espagne. Ce film nous montre non seulement les magnifiques paysages galiciens, mais aussi que l’on n’est jamais trop vieux pour une grande aventure !

Note : 7.3/10 sur IMDb

18. La Vie Rêvée de Walter Mitty (2013)

Faisant de ses rêves une réalité, Walter Mitty voyage du Groenland, en Islande, jusqu’à la chaîne de l’Himalaya à la recherche d’un morceau de pellicule photo. Tout au long du film, le personnage trouve le courage et la force intérieure requise pour faire face à l’inconnu.

17. Easy Rider (1969)

Inspiré d’un paradis pour fans de deux roues, Easy Rider est LE film de motos où deux gars voyagent d’un bout à l’autre des Etats-Unis pour dealer de la drogue.

Note : 7.4/10 sur IMDb

16. Le Talentueux Mr. Ripley (1999)

L’un des meilleurs thrillers de ces 20 dernières années. Le personnage interprété par Matt Damon fait son petit bout de chemin entre Rome, la Sicile, Sanremo et Venise.

15. La main au collet (1955)

Alfred Hitchcock s’attaque à la riviera française avec un crime époustouflant et à l’affiche, Grace Kelly et Cary Grant. Le film a pour toile de fond la principauté de Monaco, la ville de Nice et celle de Cannes.

Note : 7.5/10 sur IMDb

14. Priscilla, folle du désert (1994)

Un drag queen, nommé Priscilla qui traverse l’Outback australien tout en chantant du Abba dans un vieux bus déglingué ? Ca ne devrait que fonctionner !

13. La saga Indiana Jones (1981-2008)

C’est juste impossible de regarder les 4 films de la saga sans vouloir être un archéologue, muni d’un lasso, qui voyage en Egypte et au Népal pour découvrir des trésors secrets.

Note : 7.6/10 sur IMDb

12. Midnight in Paris (2011)

L’un des meilleurs films pour planifier un futur voyage. Parce que vous n’aurez qu’à suivre les traces du héros, interprété par Owen Wilson, pour visiter Paris ! Une comédie merveilleuse dont on se délecte volontiers!

Note : 7.7/10 sur IMDb

11. Lost in Translation (2003)

Scarlett Johansson et Bill Murray sont largués dans ce drame très acclamé de Sofia Coppola. Ce film nous montre comment les rencontres que nous faisons en voyage sont souvent bien plus importantes qu’on ne le pense.

Note : 7.8/10 sur IMDb

10. Carnets de Voyage (2004)

Bien avant de devenir Che Guevara, Ernesto voyage à travers la Bolivie, le Pérou, le Chili et le Venezuela. Ce voyage à moto n’est pas qu’un film sur un road trip mais montre comment voyager peut changer à jamais le cours d’une vie.

9. Bons Baisers de Bruges (2008)

Les personnages principaux n’apprécient peut-être pas leur voyage à Bruges, mais ce film dépeint à merveille la beauté de cette ville médiévale belge… A visiter si vous n’êtes pas trop occupés après avoir commis un meurtre (on plaisante).

Note : 7.9/10 sur IMDB

8. Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Timothée Chalamet et Armie Hammer jouent des amoureux peu ordinaires durant des vacances d’été en Lombardie.

Note : 7.9/10 sur IMDb

7. La Trilogie Before (1995-2013)

Before Sunrise, Before Sunset et Before Midnight nous présentent comment un simple amour de vacances peut être bien plus profond dans un cadre magnifique des villes de Vienne, Paris et Messine en Grèce.

Note : 8/10 sur IMDb

6. Vacances Romaines (1953)

Ce classique hollywoodien met en scène Audrey Hepburn en princesse à la recherche d’une expérience authentique et inoubliable dans les rues de Rome, telle une simple touriste. Et c’est Gregory Peck, qui joue ici un journaliste, qui devient son guide touristique.

Note : 8.1/10 sur IMDb

5. Into the Wild (2007)

Le film ultime du « laisser tout derrière soi et voyager ». Ce film est paradoxal : il vous introduit dans un univers merveilleux tout en développant un récit sur les risques de nos faiblesses intérieures et sur l’intérêt d’apprécier ce que l’on a.

4. Lion (2016)

Saroo, âgé de 5 ans, est séparé de sa famille en Inde et se retrouve adopté par une famille australienne. Un film magnifique sur l’union de deux nations et cultures.

3. Lawrence d’Arabie (1962)

Le chef-d’œuvre de David Lean nous porte sur les traces d’une incroyable épopée à dos de chameaux dans les déserts du Moyen Orient.

Note : 8.3/10 sur IMDb

2. Forrest Gump (1994)

Voici le meilleur des films de voyage à regarder si vous comptez faire un tour aux USA. Forrest Gump traverse tout le pays et nous fait partager un moment de vie absolument magnétique.

Note : 8.8/10 sur IMDb

1. La saga Le Seigneur des Anneaux (2001-2003)

Hobbiton doit se trouver sur toute liste de choses à voir d’un voyageur. Vous ne pouvez certes pas voyager en Terre du Milieu mais vous pouvez vous rendre en Nouvelle-Zélande, ce qui est tout aussi cool si vous voulez mon avis.

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Fantastic Voyage

• When a blood clot renders a scientist comatose, a submarine and its crew are shrunk and injected into his bloodstream in order to save him.
• Scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val), who knows the secret to keeping soldiers shrunken for an indefinite period, escapes from behind the Iron Curtain with the help of C.I.A. Agent Grant (Stephen Boyd). While being transferred, their motorcade is attacked. Benes strikes his head, causing a blood clot to form in his brain. Grant is ordered to accompany a group of scientists as they are miniaturized. They have one hour to get to Benes' brain, remove the clot, and get out. — Brian Washington <[email protected]>
• The battle being waged by the super powers is who can perfect miniaturization. Now both sides are stumped as to how to control it. So far, they can miniaturize anything, but up to sixty minutes only. Scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val), who is believed to have solved it, was about to give it to the Americans when an attempt is made on his life. Fortunately, he is not dead, but he is in a coma and any conventional means to operate on him could be fatal. So a plan is made to miniaturize a vessel, send a team of doctors into his body, and that they will go to the damaged area and fix it. The problem is that there is a report that someone on the team could be working for the other side. So they send C.I.A. Agent Grant (Stephen Boyd) to make sure everything goes okay. — [email protected]
• Brilliant scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) develops a way to shrink humans and other objects for brief periods of time. He, who is working in Communist Russia, is transported by the C.I.A. to America, but is attacked en route. In order to save him, who has developed a blood clot in his brain, a team of Americans in a nuclear submarine is shrunk and injected into his body. They have sixty minutes to fix the clot and get out before the miniaturization wears off. — Jwelch5742
• A commercial airliner lands at JFK Airport in New York. A Secret Serviceman (Ken Scott), backed by a large Army contingent, greets the plane. After it taxis to a stop, Lieutenant Charles Grant USN (Stephen Boyd) steps out onto a mobile boarding ramp, verifies the Secret Service escort, and then signals to the other passenger, Jan Benes (Jean Del Val), to deplane with him. Benes walks down and gets into the Secret Service car, but not before warmly shaking Grant's hand one last time. But as the motorcade enters a run-down section of New York, a car hurtles out of an alley and broadsides Benes' car. Hastily the Secret Service transfer Benes to another car, which then must make a quick escape as the Secret Service contingent fights a gun battle with several other assailants in the surrounding buildings. Benes is taken to the underground headquarters of the Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces (CMDF) and given a full physical examination, including an EEG. The results are dire: he has suffered a stroke on the left side, in an inoperable spot. The doctors induce a coma so that his brain will not damage itself, while they decide what to do. The original Secret Service man then picks up Grant and delivers him to an alley, instructing him to stay in the car and wait. Then the car, with Grant alone in it, descends to an underground complex. A small scooter bearing the CMDF logo, which he does not recognize, picks him up and delivers him to the Medical Section. There, Grant meets CMDF's commandant, Lieutenant General Alan Carter USA (Edmund O'Brien). General Carter first shows him Benes, in a coma and on a litter. Then he introduces him to the surgeon, Dr. Peter Duval (Arthur Kennedy), and his assistant Cora Peterson (Raquel Welch), who will operate on Benes, and also to Dr. "Mike" Michaels (Donald Pleasence), who is somehow expected to watch Duval to make sure that Duval does not try to kill his patient while operating. Then Carter explains what CMDF means, and about the miniaturization technique that is at the heart of it all. The problem: the USA (and the USSR) can miniaturize any object, to any size, but cannot hold an object miniaturized for more than 60 minutes. Benes knows how to extend the time, and Grant is the one who brought Benes out when he sought to defect. Now Carter reveals why Grant is there: CMDF will reduce a small submarine to microscopic size, and deliver Duval, Miss Peterson, Michaels--and Grant--into Benes' body, to operate on Benes from the inside. Grant hates the idea. Worse yet, CMDF Medical Officer Col. Donald Reid (Arthur O'Connell) does not want a woman to go along on such a hazardous mission. Duval insists that he will have Cora or no one at his side. Grant also meets Captain Wilfrid Owens (William Redfield), designer and pilot of the submarine. The plan: reduce the submarine with all aboard and inject it into the left carotid artery. They will follow this to the site of the stroke, where Dr. Duval will use a hand-held laser to dissolve the clot. Then they travel back along the left internal jugular to the base of the neck, where they will be removed. The problem: if they stay in longer than 60 minutes, they will grow to a size that the immune system will notice, and Benes' own defenses will mobilize to destroy them. Grant barely has time to take in a briefing before Michaels leads him, Duval, Cora, and Owens to a "sterilization room." There they dress in white SCUBA wetsuits, with white overalls over this, all bearing the CMDF logo, and pass through a corridor that irradiates them gently with UVA to kill any germs on their bodies. As Carter and Reid make their preparations, the crew then climbs aboard their submarine (USS Proteus, U-91035) and make preparations for getting under way. Owens and Grant install a tiny reactor containing a microscopic radioactive particle, that will power the sub once they are shrunk. (Radioactive material cannot miniaturize.) Grant tests the ship's wireless, which will be his station. Owens tells Michaels how he will be able to read Michaels' details charts of Benes' circulatory and lymphatic systems. Cora mounts and tests the laser, while also teasing Grant about his still-obvious fear of being "shrunk." (Grant has, throughout, tried to cover his fear with bad jokes and worse innuendo, and doesn't fool Cora for one second.) Cora also reveals that she is a five-year veteran of CMDF and has worked with Duval all that time. Carter radios them to "prepare for miniaturization." So the crew pull out their seats, strap in, and settle in. Everything goes well, except for the time that Michaels, suffering an attack of claustrophobia, tries to get out through the topside hatch (after they are already submerged in an outsized hypodermic syringe), forcing Duval and Grant to restrain him and calm him down. (Duval and Grant have taken their first shot at working together, as they cooperate with Owens to accomplish the submersion.) With the second miniaturization step, the Proteus can now generate its own power. Eventually, the surgical team injects them into the carotid artery. And then the problems begin. At first the view is fascinating, But then Proteus drifts into a strong current, then into a whirlpool. It catches the crew unaware, so that though Michaels and Duval can regain their seats, Grant and Cora cannot. Michaels' shoulder belts pop, and Duval struggles to hold him in. Cora is dragged into a bulkhead, and only Grant's iron grip on her stops her from breaking her neck. Finally the Proteus comes out of the whirlpool--but now the blood cells surrounding them are blue, not the red they remembered. They realize (as do Carter and Reid, watching from outside) that Proteus has gone through an arterio-venous fistula from the carotid artery into the jugular vein. Now they are headed toward the superior vena cava, and will go through the heart--which will smash them. Michaels urges immediate removal, but the authorities, under Carter's leadership, have another idea: to put Benes into cardiac arrest and let Proteus swim through as fast as her drive can propel her. This they do, and Proteus dives into the right ventricle and goes out through the pulmonic valve, with three seconds to spare. Now they head into the lungs, where they observe oxygenation of the blue corpuscles that surround them. Just then, Proteus develops an air leak, which Owens stops, but only after Proteus has lost so much air that she cannot continue. Grant offers a solution: he will take the boat's snorkel and enter an alveolus to take the air that Benes breathes. Owens insists that everyone else aboard except himself join Grant in the dive, for safety reasons. As they put on their SCUBA gear, Grant discovers that the laser has broken loose and gotten knocked around. He firmly tells Duval and Cora to wait on testing the laser until after Grant finishes his snorkel operation. Grant succeeds in pulling in the air--but then his safety line snaps and he finds himself sucked into a bronchiole with Benes' next breathe-out. When Benes breathes in again, he luckily finds the original alveolus, after which he races to safety, with Duval strenuously pulling him back out into the bloodstream. Proteus gets back underway, heading into the pleural cavity. During this time, Cora disassembles the laser and discovers a smashed transistor and a broken trigger wire. Grant supplies replacements for both by cannibalizing the wireless and sending one last message, to the consternation of Carter and Reid. The transistor is of a good size, but the trigger wire is far too large--but Duval believes that he can scrape it down. Grant also takes time to discuss with Michaels a hard reality: someone has tried to sabotage the mission at least twice. Grant knows that Cora had indeed fastened the laser securely--so someone must have unfastened it, just as someone tampered with Grant's safety line. Michaels protests that he cannot think so ill of Duval, the logical suspect. Proteus enters the lymphatic system and passes through a lymph node. The boat blunders into several reticular fibers, and Owens warns that if they keep running into the seaweed-like fibers, they'll block the water jet intakes, and Proteus' engines will overheat. The crew also observe a stray bacterium, and antibodies attacking it and squeezing it to death. Grant is frustrated with the delay and the slow progress. Duval then suggests going to the inner ear--a very hazardous path, because the slightest noise will kill them, and they cannot warn the operating team. Grant expresses confidence that the surgical team, once they see where they are headed, will keep the required silence. Michaels is still dubious, but reluctantly agrees to navigate to Benes' left ear. Inside the ear, Owens must stop--the engines have overheated. Grant, Cora, and Michaels make another dive to pull the reticular fibers out of the intakes. Topside, a nurse (Shelby Grant) gets the idea of plugging Benes' ear with cotton--but then drops a pair of scissors to the floor. With the result that Proteus and her crew are badly shaken up. Cora gets the worst of it--she is carried into the Organ of Corti and finds herself trapped among the Cells of Hensen. She cries out for help, and Michaels and Grant race to her rescue--but Grant orders Michaels back aboard Proteus when he cannot go any further. Grant frees Cora from the hair cells, and they race back to the airlock--but as they wait for it to re-flood (after Michaels used it), antibodies attack Cora and fasten onto her. Grant hastily guides her into the airlock, closes the hatch--and then raps on the door when Cora makes plain that she simply cannot breathe. Michaels, Duval, and Owens open the airlock before it is fully evacuated, pull Cora out, and, with Grant's help, start pulling the antibody molecules off her body. Soon they start crystallizing and come off easily, so Cora is saved. Proteus gets back under way, passes through the middle ear, and then passes through the endolymphatic duct back into the vascular system. Now they penetrate into the brain and reach the clot. During that passage, Michaels and Duval argue about whether Duval, having repaired the laser, should test it. Duval insists on using the laser as-is, not wanting to strain it. Eventually they reach the clot. But with so little time remaining, Michaels wants Owens to take Proteus back out. But now Grant shuts down the power and insists that Duval and Cora go out and operate. Michaels strenously objects, but Grant firmly overrides him, saying that Duval simply does not fit the profile of a fanatic. Now Grant makes his near-fatal mistake: instead of remaining aboard, he goes out to see if he can "help" Duval and Cora. Duval manages to clear the clot, at least enough to get the blood flowing again and relieve the pressure on a key nerve. But aboard Proteus, Michaels knocks out Owens, and then restores power, takes the helm, and sends Proteus on a collision course for the nerve. Grant asks for the laser, and fires a wide-angle beam at Proteus, raking her port side and sending her away from the nerve and into several nearby dendrites. White corpuscles respond immediately, so Grant slips back aboard, through the tear in the hull, to rescue Michaels and Owens if he can. Owens is only now regaining consciousness, so Grant tells him to suit up as fast as he can. But when he tries to untangle Michaels from the wrecked helm station, a white cell settles over the helmsman's dome, breaks through, and suffocates Michaels. Grant and Owens then abandon ship, before the white corpuscles crush it. Duval keeps the white cells at bay long enough for Grant and Owens to escape, before the laser quits for good. Topside, Carter and Reid reluctantly order the removal of Proteus, because time has run out. Inside Benes' body, the four remaining crew swim as fast as they can along the optic nerve, toward Benes' left eye. Carter allows the attending surgeon to make preparations for a trephination procedure--and then deduces what the crew might do and stops the attending in mid-motion. Reid, too, realizes how they crew can still escape, and rushes down to the operating room and asks for a large magnifier. Through this, he looks into Benes' left eye, in time to make out four members of the crew swimming in Benes' tears. He calls for a microscope slide and uses it to lift out a teardrop, with the crew inside. Then he asks the staff to open the door, and as quickly as he dares, walks out into the miniaturization room and sets the slide gently down on the center hexagon. The crew then grows to full size, and the rest of the staff warmly greet them and assure them that the operation is a complete success. NOTE: The film, as it played, had a number of scientific inaccuracies and plot holes. Isaac Asimov, who wrote the novelization from the final shooting script, repaired these and at least tried to produce a scientifically consistent narrative. The key differences are: * The time limit on miniaturization is not a uniform sixty minutes. Instead, the rule is that energy of miniaturization (which is a function of the proportion of normal size to reduced size), when multiplied by duration of miniaturization, is equal to Planck's constant divided by two times pi. In simpler terms, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle governs the maximum time of miniaturization at any given size. Benes' secret is another set of variables that the original pioneering scientists overlooked. The sixty minutes that apply to this narrative are a special case of that model. * Grant's role and authority are broader than as depicted in the film version. In the novel, Grant, not Michaels, has the ultimate authority on policy decisions, and is another brain and pair of hands in an emergency. Cora, sensing right away that the CMDF brass put him on board because they suspect Duval of murderous intent, at first resents him bitterly, and then softens toward him and almost pleads with him to understand Duval's politics, that have caused CMDF to doubt him. Those politics are that the Two Sides in the Cold War ought to share scientific discoveries freely, without regard to strategic sensitivity. But Duval is not the saboteur, a thing Grant comes to deduce by process of elimination. * When Grant makes his first dive with the snorkel into Benes' lungs, Owens uses the on-board miniaturizer that Proteus carries, to reduce the air to a size compatible with Proteus and her crew in their shrunken state. Otherwise, Grant would have been trying to draw in oxygen molecules large enough to see. * When Grant's safety line parts, sending him up the bronchiolar tree, Duval suggests that Owens orient the Proteus to face the alveolar wall and shine the boat's headlight into it. That allows Grant to find the right alveolus again. Otherwise he would have been hopelessly lost. * As Carter and Reid watch Proteus enter the inner ear, they do not use their PA system to announce to the surgical team the hazard against making noise. Instead, Carter writes a note and sends an orderly to walk into the OR in his stockinged feet to hand it to the attending. When, later, he wants to suggest plugging Benes' ears, he sends another note the same way. (The nurse does not take that upon herself, but acts only when she gets Carter's second note. And when the scissors fall, she steps on them so that they won't rattle and thus risk more damage than they might already have caused.) * When Cora falls into the organ of Corti and finds herself wedged among the hair cells, the antibodies take time to "taste" her before they come swarming. Benes' body would never have had antibodies specific to her at the moment of contact. This is still a stretch, because the immune system is now known to take much longer than that to raise antibodies to anything, and through a process that is much more complex than that depicted in film or novel. * When the crew pull Cora back aboard, they only have to give one good tug at one clinging antibody molecule, before realizing that all the antibodies crystallize at once, and all they need do is brush them off. The air on board "hits" the antibodies and denatures them immediately. So the dramatic (and suggestive) grabbing procedure is not necessary. * When Duval and Cora make their dive to attack the clot with the laser, Cora wears her wetsuit inside out, in order not to present a recognizable target to any stray antibodies that might be lurking about. Benes might not have been "immunized" against her before, but he is now. * After clubbing Owens, Michaels, unaccountably, bundles him into a wet suit and drops him out the airlock. Perhaps Michaels takes no chances that Owens might come to himself and try to take his ship back. With the result that Grant's quick rescue operation becomes unnecessary. * After the Proteus crashes into the dendrites, Duval worries that the damage that Michaels has done might start a new clot. This apparently does not happen, but at least Asimov acknowledges the possibility, which the original script does not even talk about. * After the white corpuscles eat the Proteus, Grant knows that they can't just leave her in place. Even when crushed, Proteus will grow to a size to kill Benes. (Michaels also realizes this at the last instant of his life, which is why he bursts out laughing as the white corpuscle collapses the glass dome over his head.) So Grant takes out his dagger and slashes at the white cell to attract its attention and induce it to follow them out. Of course, that releases chemotaxins that bring a swarm of white cells, so the crew must swim for their lives to get out ahead of them. (Furthermore, the medical team topside do not stop tracking Proteus even as they prepare for the trephination procedure. When the monitoring techs realize that Proteus seems to be moving again, Carter stops the preparations. That's when Reid realizes that the crew are using an escape route he did not at first consider.) * The crew, swimming toward the eye, do not drop the laser. Instead, Cora tries to carry the laser out. When Cora inevitably starts flagging, Grant takes the laser and its power pack away from her so that she can swim unencumbered. * Finally, when Col. Reid extracts the crew, he does not try to walk with the slide into the miniaturizer room. Instead, he sets the slide on the operating-room floor where he stands and orders everyone out of the room, including Benes, whom the staff wheel out on his litter. When the crew re-magnify, General Carter takes a quick muster with his eyes and realizes, with a sickening feeling in his gut, that Michaels and the Proteus are both missing. Grant stops him and assures him that the pile of metal fragments next to the crew is what's left of both. The novel has a few more dramatic differences--offering a more detailed explanation of the science of miniaturization, and making more of the professional (or personal) relationships between General Carter and Colonel Reid, between Reid and Michaels, between Grant and Benes on the flight in, between Duval and Cora, and especially between Cora and Grant during and after the trip. (See above.) Grant also has a scene with Carter and Reid in which he acknowledges his mistake in going out on the dive with Duval and Cora, instead of remaining on board after he, in effect, had placed Michaels under arrest. The novel ends with an inspiring scene in which Grant, fully grown once more, pays a visit to Benes, who by now has regained consciousness and can even talk to him. BENES: And now I must remember what I came here to tell. It's a little fuzzy, but it's still all in there. GRANT: You'd be surprised to know what's in you, Professor.

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