Blu-ray Review It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Extended Edition) Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

Awesome read Michael, thanks for sharing!

 

[Ray Faiola]

After watching the two episodes of TELESCOPE, seeing the incredible amount of effort that went into promoting the film and herding the press around; and having Fletcher Markle dwell on the lousy reviews, I was all the more sorry that Kramer didn't trim the film to it's shorter length for the world premiere.

So many people have spent decades trying to get this picture restored but the fact is, the comedy and pacing works much, much better in its tighter form. It's great to see all the trims but the film definitely, in my opinion, plays best at 161 minutes. All of that extended footage featured dialogue and, in a couple cases, action that was superfluous. Just enough to let the rhythm lapse. Since Kramer was not a filmmaker experienced in comedy, I wonder if another editor was brought in to help tighten the film and enhance the comic timing.

Even the Keaton scene, I thought, was a bit clumsy. A more casual set-up might have worked better.

The only bit I'm sorry he cut was Demarest bowing out of the 5'll get you 10 game. That was a nice little funny piece. The "You Satisfy My Soul" dance bit is great, too. I think they made the right choice, though, with going to a third cutaway to Sylvester.

As for TELESCOPE, it was interesting seeing Vince Barnett on hand at the first party. Too bad he didn't have a little role in the film.

BTW - we now see Phil Arnold in the extended version as the garage mechanic telling Terry-Thomas his jeep is in bad shape.

All-round a great package.

 

[Carl LaFong]

Gawd, I love this movie! Just got the set in January and I've watched it 3 times already!

Favorite extended sequence: the "recap" cross-cutting at the end of Act I, which gathers up all the story threads into one exhilarating montage, sort of like D.W. Griffith on laughing gas.

Favorite single bit: there are WAY too many to chose from, and it changes every time I watch it. But if I was forced to pick one it MIGHT be Peter Falk's first scene, the one Buddy Hackett rightly called "a gem." ("CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TALKIN' ON THE PHONE?!!") Anyone who grew up in New York City, as I did, couldn't fail to recognize the familiar archetype that's brilliantly caricatured here.

 

[Cineman]

Does anyone else get a chuckle from the very first opening credit? I'm not referring to the entire opening credit sequence, which is a mini-masterpiece in itself. I'm only talking about that first credit.

We've just heard an overture over a darkened screen, now we're looking at a very wide screen image in a no-nonsense sold color, all building a presentation and shown in the kind of large format that had up to then generally been associated with Very Big Deal biblical or historical epics. The music vamps a moment or two, actually slightly longer than seems normal and then..."STANLEY KRAMER PRESENTS a United Artists Release" appears dead center on that very wide screen in such tiny letters relative to the gigantic screen format and the Very Big Deal build up, dwarfed by the format and sheer screen size. And it pops onto the screen quite unceremoniously, almost clumsily, one might say "late", like it just rushed in at the last second and that's why the music vamped a bit longer than usual. And it is totally lacking in self-importance the way one might expect from, say, DAVID O. SELZNICK'S PRODUCTION OF... or SAMUEL BRONSTON PRESENTS. I don't know, but that opening credit has always pulled a chuckle out of me and placed a smile on my face from the get-go no matter how many times I've watched it! It is also one of the things that is a bit funnier in the general release version since there are fewer words in the general release version's opening credit vs the extended version (the extended version includes the words "IN CINERAMA" and doesn't appear to be as tiny relative to the screen format as it does in the general release version).

Intentional or not, that tiny opening credit on the huge screen format and after the big deal buildup is a pretty good visual joke to kick off this movie.

 

[Sumnernor]

In Munich, I just got the Mad World things. I found it outside my door this morning though it might have arrived yesterday late afternoon. The DVD is only region 1 and I assume NTSC. Later I will try out the BRs. It was sent out Jan 22 with the slowest speed. The BR is only region A.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

The reason the credit takes so long to appear is to allow time for the huge Cinerama curtains to fully open

 

[Techman707]

I've never been more disappointed in a (relatively expensive MSRP) Criterion Blu-ray disk set. I am intimately familiar with "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World", having run it at least a few hundred times as a projectionist, and more times if you include my 16mm print, my laser disc version, 2 plain DVD versions, the first MGM Blu-ray version....and NOW, this Criterion version.

In 1966 I recall a film booker telling me that when he tried to book the film, the only thing United Artists would say it that it was “out of service". In 1967, as a projectionist, I had the privilege of meeting Stanley Kramer at the premiere of “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” when it opened at the Victoria Theatre. Both the Astor and Victoria have since been demolished. While normally, the demolishing of Broadway theatres really upset me (Loew’s Capitol and State, Warner Cinerama, Rivoli, DeMille, etc.), these two theatres weren’t in the same league as the theatres mentioned above.

I had the opportunity to tell Mr. Kramer how I (and all my friends and everyone I knew) thought It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was, if not THE BEST, the funniest picture ever made. In the brief time we spoke (Katharine Houghton was also there but I didn't have an opportunity to speak to her.), I finally learned the reason it had been "out of service", Mr. Kramer was in litigation with UA claiming they cheated him (which was probably true). It would be another three years before Mad World would finally be re-released. IMO, they did a poor job advertising the re-release of the funniest picture ever made, but that's water under the bridge at this point. I also asked about the time differences between the Roadshow and final General Theatrical Release versions. While some film companies would cut a film’s running time to allow for 5 or 6 shows a day plus 10 to 15 minute intermissions between shows, that WAS NOT the case for Mad World. While the answer wasn’t totally clear to me, he lead me to believe that HE MADE THE CUTS and that they weren’t just hacked by some film company editor purely for time. My own personal opinion is that whoever made the cuts knew exactly what they were doing. It IMPROVED the picture and took out some scenes that gave this great comedy a dark feeling. Some of the trims added were NEVER EVEN IN THE ROADSHOW and should never have seen the light of day (or should I say "light of arc).

While everyone is entitled to their opinion on what version they like best, assuming every scene was perfect and you couldn’t tell the difference from the rest of the film, I would STILL CHOOSE the 156 minute version, it's perfect.

The ONE THING IMHO that is inexcusable by Criterion is leaving improper color on some titles. The first color on the opening main title, the intermission color and the end title color. I have complained of this since the FIST DVD came out and I can’t understand why they couldn’t find any Technicolor IB reference print for the correct color? It's been run on TV in the past (1.33:1) and they had perfect color, so I can't understand WHO IT IS that thinks "their color choice" is better than THE ORIGINAL COLOR.

The only thing left in the Criterion Collection Mad World that had ANY VALUE for me was a few of the late interviews, which were too new to be on the laser disc version or possibly even the first Blu-ray disc, which Walmart sold for $10.00 and looks either identical or BETTER than the Criterion disc. However, in the end, it’s STILL one of the greatest pictures ever made, no matter what they do to it!

 

[John Maher_289910]

I prefer the quality of the Wal-Mart exclusive, but just barely. I had the laserdisc, and haven't watched it in years, so it was nice to see the additional scenes, again; and fun to hear the police dispatch that I thought was so cool during its roadshow engagement at The Boyd, in Philadelphia.

 

[Longdist01]

Over a year ago I never thought this film would get the Deluxe treatment and yes, from Criterion! Sure there's still a debate and discussion on this film Classic. Thank you Robert Harris first, Team Criterion for the packaging, and special Bonus features.

This film is a joy still!

 

[Mike Boone]

I am somewhat disappointed in Home Theater Forum's review of the extended version of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as released on the Criterion label. Certainly I do think that Mr Harris, and his associates, should receive every bit of credit due to them for the superb restoration efforts they applied toward some terrifically challenging elements in order to bring us the highest quality extended version of Mad World that available technology allowed.


But, the HTF review should have made it clear, via a brief statement, that those fans of the film who are simply looking for the highest quality version

of the shorter, general release edition of the film, will gain nothing in video quality by going to the extra expense of the Criterion edition vs the less expensive, (if bare bones) single disc MGM blu-ray release. Of course the authors of posts # 28 and 29 even go so far as to indicate that the Wal-Mart exclusive Blu-ray release (which I understand is the same encode as the MGM release) may even look better than its Criterion counterpart, although I seriously doubt it. I mean, what could account for Criterion managing to come up with a lower quality encode than an earlier Blu-ray release? I don't think that the high-def digital master used as the source for Criterion's release could have deteriorated.


One thing that does really piss me off (though certainly, no fault of anyone at HTF) is the way that you will find the Criterion Blu-ray release of Mad World discussed on Amazon. One customer reviewer while seeming to go into fine detail about every facet of the Criterion release, in a very long review, actually makes the claim that thanks to Criterion, the film finally became available in high definition, for the first time. Really makes you wonder if that supposed customer review was simply a Criterion plant to promote Criterion.


And, BTW, my purpose here was not to attack Criterion, since our Blu-ray collection already includes more than a dozen Criterion editions, and I'll continue to buy such editions when my interest in a film warrants the extra expense. Rather, I mainly sought to point out that Home Theater Forum's review of the Criterion edition of Stanley Kramer's epic comedy could have done a better job by mentioning that those whose only interest is viewing the

general release version of the film in its highest video quality, would be better off saving some money by getting the MGM release.

 

[benbess]

This title, as well as several others, are today available for c. $15 when using the promo code "GOLD." I got this one today, along with a few others. I lived near and often visited the area of the W as a kid, although even in the 80s the W was gone....

 

[Patrick McCart]

I am somewhat disappointed in Home Theater Forum's review of the extended version of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as released on the Criterion label. Certainly I do think that Mr Harris, and his associates, should receive every bit of credit due to them for the superb restoration efforts they applied toward some terrifically challenging elements in order to bring us the highest quality extended version of Mad World that available technology allowed.


But, the HTF review should have made it clear, via a brief statement, that those fans of the film who are simply looking for the highest quality version

of the shorter, general release edition of the film, will gain nothing in video quality by going to the extra expense of the Criterion edition vs the less expensive, (if bare bones) single disc MGM blu-ray release. Of course the authors of posts # 28 and 29 even go so far as to indicate that the Wal-Mart exclusive Blu-ray release (which I understand is the same encode as the MGM release) may even look better than its Criterion counterpart, although I seriously doubt it. I mean, what could account for Criterion managing to come up with a lower quality encode than an earlier Blu-ray release? I don't think that the high-def digital master used as the source for Criterion's release could have deteriorated.


One thing that does really piss me off (though certainly, no fault of anyone at HTF) is the way that you will find the Criterion Blu-ray release of Mad World discussed on Amazon. One customer reviewer while seeming to go into fine detail about every facet of the Criterion release, in a very long review, actually makes the claim that thanks to Criterion, the film finally became available in high definition, for the first time. Really makes you wonder if that supposed customer review was simply a Criterion plant to promote Criterion.


And, BTW, my purpose here was not to attack Criterion, since our Blu-ray collection already includes more than a dozen Criterion editions, and I'll continue to buy such editions when my interest in a film warrants the extra expense. Rather, I mainly sought to point out that Home Theater Forum's review of the Criterion edition of Stanley Kramer's epic comedy could have done a better job by mentioning that those whose only interest is viewing the

general release version of the film in its highest video quality, would be better off saving some money by getting the MGM release.

I'm pretty sure that anyone uninterested in the extended cut and extras isn't going to buy a Criterion over a $10 MGM Blu-ray...

 

[TonyD]

I am somewhat disappointed in Home Theater Forum's review of the extended version of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World as released on the Criterion label. Certainly I do think that Mr Harris, and his associates, should receive every bit of credit due to them for the superb restoration efforts they applied toward some terrifically challenging elements in order to bring us the highest quality extended version of Mad World that available technology allowed.


But, the HTF review should have made it clear, via a brief statement, that those fans of the film who are simply looking for the highest quality version

of the shorter, general release edition of the film, will gain nothing in video quality by going to the extra expense of the Criterion edition vs the less expensive, (if bare bones) single disc MGM blu-ray release. Of course the authors of posts # 28 and 29 even go so far as to indicate that the Wal-Mart exclusive Blu-ray release (which I understand is the same encode as the MGM release) may even look better than its Criterion counterpart, although I seriously doubt it. I mean, what could account for Criterion managing to come up with a lower quality encode than an earlier Blu-ray release? I don't think that the high-def digital master used as the source for Criterion's release could have deteriorated.


One thing that does really piss me off (though certainly, no fault of anyone at HTF) is the way that you will find the Criterion Blu-ray release of Mad World discussed on Amazon. One customer reviewer while seeming to go into fine detail about every facet of the Criterion release, in a very long review, actually makes the claim that thanks to Criterion, the film finally became available in high definition, for the first time. Really makes you wonder if that supposed customer review was simply a Criterion plant to promote Criterion.


And, BTW, my purpose here was not to attack Criterion, since our Blu-ray collection already includes more than a dozen Criterion editions, and I'll continue to buy such editions when my interest in a film warrants the extra expense. Rather, I mainly sought to point out that Home Theater Forum's review of the Criterion edition of Stanley Kramer's epic comedy could have done a better job by mentioning that those whose only interest is viewing the

general release version of the film in its highest video quality, would be better off saving some money by getting the MGM release.

Mike I’m guessing this is the first time you’ve read an amazon review.
They are often hyperbolic. Often wildly inaccurate and often not even about the specific movie that is on the listing.

Amazon reviews are the last thing anyone should use to gauge what the content of a Blu-ray or dvd.

 

[Tino]

Mike I’m guessing this is the first time you’ve read an amazon review.
They are often hyperbolic. Often wildly inaccurate and often not even about the specific movie that is on the listing.

Amazon reviews are the last thing anyone should use to gauge what the content of a Blu-ray or dvd.

Absolutely especially in regards to film.

 

[deepscan]

Just yesterday I saw the extended cut of MAD WORLD again on blu ray, and IMHO there is absolutely nothing wrong with that cut, having also seen the 182 min. VHS/LaserDisc version. To me, and I may have said this before elsewhere, the 197 min. extended is the only cut I will see on home video or any format. It is closer in spirit, if not in content, to the original roadshow version. Robert Harris & co. are to be commended for the effort that was put into this version of the film, for bringing the film back into the mainstream, and for digitally preserving this version for future generations. Sometimes longer is indeed better.

Somewhere on the Other Side, Stanley Kramer would be proud that this film can once again be seen as it was intended. Great epic comedy that only one film could match...Spielberg’s 1941.

 

[benbess]

As a kid of about 11, which was in 1976, I first saw It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World on TV. Like everyone else here I've had several first movie watching experiences that were and are transformative—and this was one of them. Even in the version cropped for television I could sense the astonishing epic quality of the movie in its first few minutes, and I was riveted while watching a car chase on a winding desert mountain road that I think my family had actually been on during a family trip just the previous year. The fact that even as a kid I'd been to some of the real locations found in this movie made it amazingly vivid. I realize in retrospect that I transformed It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World into something even beyond what I saw on the screen. And also, and perhaps even more important in those days decades before CGI, when you saw a car crash like that found at the start of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World you knew that it was real—a moving image of metal and physics that taught you something about the world, even in this fantasy of Hollywood.

Soon I was both transfixed and laughing at the same time as Jimmy Durante, who I recognized already from some other old movies I'd seen, gave his crucial clue and then "kicked the bucket." Almost everyone on screen I vaguely recognized, but for me this movie was and remains their most memorable roles—with the exception of Spencer Tracy, of course. The characters in the movie had me both on the edge of my seat and laughing almost the whole way. It happened that my parents were having a dinner party that night in our house in Newport Beach, California, and I'm ashamed to say that although I turned the volume down I kept the movie playing while they ate dinner in the next room—and that in a house with an open floor-plan. My parents, as well as their guests, were indulgent about this kid clearly enraptured by this movie in the mellow mid-1970s. And, in fact, soon I heard (as I got my dinner plate to eat by the tv) from two or three of my parents' guests (but not my parents) that they knew the movie, and were amazingly fans of it. The movie was already a "legend," and they in their small way were part of the cult of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

The most astonishing thing that happened that night of my first viewing was that one of the guests told me was that the scenes with the palm trees forming a giant W were filmed in a park that we'd been to just a short while before for a beach bbq. I realized when the movie got to that scene that yes, I'd been there! I was in awe, and a tiny part of my childhood mind was wondering if somehow we would find treasure at that spot with the palm trees. I knew even at 11—"not really"—but I enjoyed the magic realism of that idea mixed with Hollywood magic. And yet I also, even at that age—because it was so obvious—recognized that with all the comedy that the main point of the movie was the destructive power of greed. Anyway, as I'm finally watching the Criterion release of the extended version of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with the delightful audio commentary (with people who care about the movie somehow even more than I do) it's brought back these memories that I thought I'd share....

 

[PMF]

Part of the genius involving "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" was how Stanley Kramer successfully broke the rules of a film comedy. By this, I am referring to its running time as, ideally or traditionally, most comedic films are usually half the length. Now, add to the mix that Mr. Kramer had never before directed a film comedy, either; let alone on this mammoth scale. Everything works on every level.
I mean, really, how many comedies do we know of that also looks and sounds so beautiful without ever distracting from the comedy, itself?

I pity anyone uninformed consumer who doesn't end up with the Criterion edition.

 

[jim_falconer]

I recently purchased this criterion version thanks to B&N’s 50% off sale. What a masterful restoration! I was just happy to see the 30 minutes of trims added back into the film...but the image and sound are miles above my previously owned MGM Blu-ray Disc. Thank you RAH for such a wonderful job in bringing this timeless film to such a glorious HD viewing experience!

 

[Tino]

but the image and sound are miles above my previously owned MGM Blu-ray Disc.

I believe they are both based on the same transfer. The trims are from various elements but the rest of the film is the same as the mgm Blu. To my eyes they looked identical. Someone correct me if I’m mistaken please.

 

[Jeffrey D]

I used to have the laserdisc that had some of the extended scenes that the Criterion release has. The laserdisc has a little more consistency in video quality between the theatrical and extended scenes. There are differences between what’s on the laserdisc (as well as the deleted scenes that are on the MGM BluRay) and the Criterion release. I wish I kept that laserdisc now.

I’ll have to give this Criterion another spin in the near future- a great piece of entertainment, and a great package of supplements from Criterion (they don’t disappoint in the supplements department very often).