IT's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World Restoration (1 Viewer)

[Sumnernor]

I thought the VHS and Laserdisc were the same, my bad.
2:35:1? I thought It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was 2:55:1, that's what the DVD release from 2001 is formated in.

I just looked at my DVDs. My 1st was the german Pal (R2) and it states 2.35:1. My US (R1) with the flipper disk with the 1 hour of cuts) is 2:55:1! Never noticed the difference before!

 

[widescreenforever]

Even then you're still wrong, the correct aspect ratio is 2.76:1.

Ben Hur may be 2.76 but not IAMMMMW.,, correct Super Panavsion aspect is indeed 2.55 .., always was.., .
Maybe the roadshow theatrical prints were screened at 2.76 but not Mad World . The '91 3 disc laser disc set, '01- DVD, and the '92 VHS two pack 188 min version is all 2.55:1 ., .

 

[Paul Rossen]

Ben Hur may be 2.76 but not IAMMMMW.,, correct Super Panavsion aspect is indeed 2.55 .., always was.., .
Maybe the roadshow theatrical prints were screened at 2.76 but not Mad World . The '91 3 disc laser disc set, '01- DVD, and the '92 VHS two pack 188 min version is all 2.55:1 ., .

The main reason for this thread is the restoration but let's get things right..
IAMMMMW was indeed filmed in ULTRA Panavision and screened in Cinerama Theatres at close to if not at 2:76. This was the same as Mutiny on the Bounty, 2001, Ben-HUR etc. SUPER Panavision was exhibited at 2:20 and a good example is Lawence of Arabia among others. The IAMMMMW vhs, laser disc and dvd's have one thing in common. None are in the original correct ratio.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

The exposed negative area for Camera 65/Ultra Panavision after unsqueezing is indeed 2.76:1, but that doesn't mean the "correct" aspect ratio is 2.76:1. Go over to the American Widescreen Museum to see 35mm prints of Ben-Hur that were 2.5 or 2.55:1. The first DVD of Ben-Hur was 2.76:1 extracted from one of these prints, thus showing less image area than intended. This was corrected in the newer release, but you can see on that DVD that some could have been trimmed off either side with no damage to the composition.
AWSM will also advise you that the correct A/R for a Cinerama presentation is 2.59:1. Granted, that's three panel, but I doubt Cinerama theatres would have added onto their existing screens for the sole purpose of showing "single-strip Cinerama.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Cinerama or not, the film's original aspect ratio is 2.76:1, and it was probably shown in that ratio in non-Cinerama corrected 70mm engagements.
We've had this argument before with Ben-Hur and will probably have it again when Raintree County comes out. Let it die will ya.

 

[Carter of Mars]

And of course the widescreen VHS release was nowhere near 2.55:1, but rather 1.85:1 or so.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Cinerama or not, the film's original aspect ratio is 2.76:1, and it was probably shown in that ratio in non-Cinerama corrected 70mm engagements.
We've had this argument before with Ben-Hur and will probably have it again when Raintree County comes out. Let it die will ya.

2.55:1 is fine for Ultra Panavision films, especially on DVD. It's a myth that these films absolutely require the entire 2.76:1 width to be shown. By the time It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World came out, 2.55:1 was pretty much dead since CinemaScope/Panavision had switched to 2.35:1 a few years earlier.

 

[Charles Ellis]

My head is spinning from all this ratio talk! Let's get back to the main point of this thread- what's the current status of a possible restoration?

 

[Mark Anthony]

It should be 2.76:1, and there is no restoration happening, unfortunately!

 

[Stephen_J_H]

My only concern is that with all this "it should be 2.76:1" talk, we'll get a replay of the Ben-Hur debacle with any future version of IAMMMMW that gets released, restored or not.

 

[widescreenforever]

And of course the widescreen VHS release was nowhere near 2.55:1, but rather 1.85:1 or so.

That's right too,, I forgot I Had erased my 1:85 verison and re-recorded the laser disc print on top of that VHS Garbage ratio...
LOL

 

[darkrock17]

Now that we got I'ts A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World's right ratio out of the way, lets get back to what we wanted from this thread.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Which is falling on the deaf ears @ MGM/Fox.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

As far as I know, this isn't the fault of Fox.
Fox is distributing MGM product, but the actual decisions
about restorations and such are being done through MGM.
I'm telling you, you couldn't havea great movie such
as this be under the control of a worst studio. I have been
pleading with their video people for years to do something
with this title, and they just don't see the importance in it.
Meanwhile, you have a studio like Warner Brothers who truly
understands the worth of a film like this, and wishes it was
under their control so they can do what is needed to be done.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I belive you're right, Ron. Keep in mind that when I refer to MGM/Fox, it is only to differentiate Fox's distribution from when it was MGM/Sony. I agree that if Fox had any input, we would have seen some restoration going on.
Anybody know where John Kirk is at? When he was handling the restoration of things like the Sergio Leone films, MGM's output was pretty good.

 

[darkrock17]

MGM doesn't see the importance of this film?

It's is the longest running comedy that I know of, as well as one of the longest running movies of all time.

WB isn't a bad studio, especially when it comes to restoring films, but WB owns quite a lot of MGM titles already and they haven't been given such titles a special edition treatment yet. Poltegiest's "25 Anniversary Edition", was the worst DVD edition I have ever seen, this had basically zero feature's, besides the documentary and that was it. Their pervious "bare bones release" at least had the trailer, 25 did not.

WB likes to release DVD from their vast library that they have, but give it no real special feature's, just stuff thrown on it and call it deluxe or special edition and have a price range of $19.99 or $25.00.

 

[SilverWook]

There is a Southern California screening coming up next month, if anyone's interested...
http://www.insomniaccinema.com/soon/insom_soon.htm
I swear I've seen that awful 1:85 version playing on TCM more than once!

 

[Steve JD]

Has anyone else heard about the plans for a sequel?
Go to the bottom of this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Mad,_Mad,_Mad,_Mad_World
And in Upcoming Projects at this site:
http://www.edwardbassfilms.com/
Who knows, maybe if this happens, MGM might decide to go ahead with a restoration on the original... (fingers crossed!!)

 

[TonyD]

rat race was essentially a remake.

 

[Haden]

There's no such thing as a sequel to this film since most of its cast is dead. Anything claiming to be a sequel will just end up being yet another remake inspired by the original. We've already got several of those over the years such as Rat Race, Midnight Madness, and Million Dollar Mystery, the last two of which both feature Eddie Deezen in the cast. Funny how he's done TWO MMMMW ripoffs over the years.