Question: Queen Victoria made Phileas realize that he won the wager because it was still day 79. If she knew that Phileas arrived a day early, how come everybody else in London, including Lord Kelvin, thought it was actually day 80 and that he lost the wager when the tower bells began to ring?
raywest
16th Mar 2015
Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Answer: None of the people besides the main trio thought that it was Day 80. The only thing Lord Kelvin said was, "By the time you get out of jail, you'll have lost the wager." The only characters that react to the noon bell are the trio. Presumably, Lord Kelvin intended to keep Fogg in jail for 24 hours. The dialogue is deliberately vague in order to mislead the audience.
Answer: In reality, it would be impossible that so many people would make this mistake. However, it serves the movie's plot for the error to be discovered by one person at the last moment because it provides an unexpected upset to a perceived outcome. In this case, it was by Queen Victoria, which added an additional twist.
raywest ★