IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD – Criterion Review

Cast

Credits

• Restored 4K digital film transfer of the general release version of the film, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New high-definition digital transfer of a 197-minute extended version of the film, reconstructed and restored by Robert A. Harris using visual and audio material from the longer original road-show version—including some scenes that have been returned to the film here for the first time—with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New audio commentary featuring It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World aficionados Mark Evanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul Scrabo
• New documentary on the film’s visual and sound effects, featuring interviews with visual-effects specialist Craig Barron and sound designer Ben Burtt
• Excerpt from a 1974 talk show hosted by director Stanley Kramer and featuring Mad World actors Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, and Jonathan Winters
• Press interview from 1963 featuring Kramer and cast members
• Excerpts about the influence of the film from the 2000 AFI program 100 Years . . . 100 Laughs
• Two-part 1963 episode of the TV program Telescope that follows the film’s press junket and premiere
• The Last 70mm Film Festival, a 2012 program featuring Mad World cast and crew, hosted by actor Billy Crystal
• Selection of humorist and voice-over artist Stan Freberg’s original TV and radio ads for the film, with a new introduction by Freberg
• Trailers and radio spots
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Lou Lumenick and new illustrations by legendary cartoonist Jack Davis, along with a map of the shooting locations by artist Dave Woodman

Original poster illustration by Jack Davis

Not so very long ago I wrote a review of the standard dvd version of It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as a tribute to Sid Caesar and other artists who have passed that were involved in this massive project and noted that unless a miracle happened we would never get to see the original Ultra Panavision Road Show version of Mad World.   As United Artists, in their wisdom, destroyed all the road show prints after the initial release.  What we have seen for years is the general release version with several minutes, the overture, intermission and exit music left out.

Well the miracle still hasn’t happened but thanks to the fine people at the Criterion Collection we now have the next best thing.  Their deluxe edition of this landmark comedy epic has five, yes FIVE discs.  You get two blu rays and three dvds.  The restored (as much as possible) Road Show version on one blu ray and one dvd and the restored general release version  on one blu ray and one dvd, each.  Also a fifth disc  has nothing but special features, each disc has its own special features and a booklet that details the history and aftermath of the film.  The discs are packaged in a beautiful slip case in which the lettering on each disc matches the lettering on the box which spells out the title of the film.

This set is expensive, I paid the SRP of about 50$, which works out to about 10$ per disc, which is not bad in my book.  Especially as a Christmas gift to myself, I cannot think of a special edition set I would rather have in my collection than this version of Mad World.

First, I have not watched the entire set, I do have to get out and earn a living, eat, sleep and do some other mundane tasks.  But I can say the general release version of Mad World has never looked better, on both the dvd and blu ray.  Colors are much better than I have ever seen them, the letter boxing looks better, the sound mix is incredible, it really gives your sound system a work out.

The restored Road Show version is another matter.  I am certainly glad to have it, don’t get me wrong, but for most movie geeks the restored sequences may not be worth seeing.  We have a very mixed bag here in what has been put back.  Some of the clips look ok, picture and sound are acceptable.  For instance the two cops who sit by and watch the gas station destroyed by Jonathan Winters look almost as good as the rest of the movie, other clips blend in well enough.  Other scenes have audio and no picture so the image is either still photos, both color and black and white, or screen grabs from other parts of the film.  Other clips have image but no audio so we get sub titles, some of the film is either black and white or very rough looking color at a different aspect ratio from the rest of the film.  And still other clips are apparently taken from a Thai laser disc, Thai subtitles are present and you can’t drop them.   With all that I’m glad to have the longer version available, but some people might not be so forgiving.

And what do we have restored?  Finally we get to see how Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett’s characters learn about the existence of the private airport and Jim Backus’ plane.  As an aside there is no scene where Jim Backus is talked into flying to Santa Rosita, we don’t witness his character’s motivation for joining in the chase, something I always assumed was missing.

We get more of Dick Shawn and the drop dead gorgeous Barrie Chase in her bikini dancing to the Shirelles.  The lighting and camera angles would lead us to believe these two are high on a bit more than some beer and a couple of dubes. Also we actually learn that Barrie Chase’ character is a married woman!  When Dick Shawn drives off to “save his Mama!”, Mrs. Halliburton (her name in the credits, we never hear her called by that name) actually gets upset and screams that he is driving off in her husband’s car!  This part is restored using black and white photos and I find it fascinating that her character was actually capable of being upset!  I always thought of her as “the girl in the bikini’ and could picture her as being totally dead pan her entire life.

Best of all the police radio reports during the intermission have been fully restored.  One of the police voices is unmistakably Spencer Tracy.  From these radio reports we learn that Phil Silvers character, in addition to being stuck in the river is having rocks thrown at him by the little kid who led him into that trap!  We also get quite a bit more of Captain Culpepper’s motivation for throwing his badge away and trying to get the money for himself.  Also we find out the relationship between Culpepper and Buster Keaton’s character.

There is so much to love here.  As many times as I have seen Mad World seeing it again in a close as possible restoration of the Road Show Version made me laugh out loud again and again and again.  I love Peter Falk on the pay phone telling somebody “the cops in this town are retarded!  I’m dealing with moronic people here!”  I love seeing Leo Gorcey as one of the cab drivers, Don Knott’s being suckered into giving up his car to Phil Silvers, the look on Jack Benny’s face, Buddy Hackett’s comment “it’s every man for himself, except you lady (Ethel Merman) may you just DROP DEAD!”  Followed by Jonathan Winter’s comment “Now that’s something we can all agree on!”

I treasure every moment of this movie:  easily William Demarest’s finest moments as an actor, probably the biggest movie many of these (mostly) television personalities ever were in.  I admire whoever flew that Beechcraft airplane in such a daring and reckless manner.   At the very end when the women of the group march into the hospital ward where the men are all confined to beds I love how they march in unison and how good Edie Adams and Dorothy Provine look in blue jail frocks, and the expression on Dorothy Provine’s face!  Priceless!  Who else but Jimmy Durante could make a death scene funny?  Who would have thought that Terry Thomas and Milton Berle would make such a great comedy team?

The only issue I have ever had with Mad, Mad World is the fleeting glimpse of The Three Stooges at the airport.  If any comics were more identified with this type of knock about, slapstick comedy, it’s the Three Stooges.  A couple of lines or a bit of business would have been nice, but why quibble?

As I said I have not looked at all of this box set but look forward to exploring  Mad, Mad World again and again. The booklet written by Lou Lumenick and with new illustrations by Jack Davis, is invaluable in giving a history of the film and how it influenced many films made after its release.  Mad, Mad World paved the way for many multi character, multi story line movies like 1941, Rat Race (an uncredited remake), the Right Stuff, Magnolia, American Graffiti and many others.  It also points out the sheer genius of Stanley Kramer, (who had no back ground in comedy,) in putting together such a massive project with so many talented artists (all of them different but very talented) and devising a screenplay that gave them all freedom to move but also corralled them into the biggest comedy team in movie history.

I have referred to Mad, Mad World in the past as a comedy King of the Hill game, with each participant fighting to get to the top of the hill.  I declared Jonathan Winters the winner with Dick Shawn and Phil Silvers close behind.  But Mad, Mad World can also be described as an epic comedy relay race, with each runner passing the baton to the next player or group of players with each edit from one location and situation to another, and keeping the momentum going nonstop until the finish line. You don’t so much watch Mad, Mad World as experience it, it grabs a hold of you and will not let go for the full 3 hour running time.  Mad, Mad World is more like a force of nature, unstoppable, unbeatable, with multi talented comic actors running amuck in the high and low deserts of California, chasing a dream, Mad with greed.

This is one blu ray that belongs on every Movie Geeks shelf.  And now I need to figure out where Smiler Grogan hid that money, and I am out of here.