Criterion ready to release IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (1 Viewer)

[Moe Dickstein]

I think the tenor of the conversation in this thread could be reflected in the title by simply adding a question mark.

That wouldn't be accurate as it implied some doubt as to if it is coming. It most surely is.I think the delay is probably vastly more mundane than people are starting to make it out to be.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Actually, the question mark would reference the readiness, not whether or not it's actually coming.

 

[haineshisway]

Again, there is NOTHING wrong with the current blu ray of IAMMMMW. it is NOT "half assed" in any way. It is a excellent transfer of the theatrical version which many if us, including myself, love. You don't like it..fine..but please stop trashing it as if it is a disaster. Thank you.

Yes, this nonsense that the original Blu-ray transfer is "half-assed" is half-assed and rather silly - a) the transfer itself, outside of a handful of dupes, is truly excellent with great color and it's off the large format negative and was, at the time of the release, off a new scan - how is that "half-assed?" and b) contains the version of the film that was seen by 99% of moviegoers everywhere - 1% saw the film during its first four weeks when it was the original roadshow length (I'm one of the 1%). The version on the laserdisc was seen by 0% of moviegoers as it didn't exist in that form as a motion picture.

And I've said all along, Criterion is not going to make everyone happy - that is not possible. Many, many will be ecstatic, and there will be a few who will not be because of, well, you know.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

I think the half-assedness of the Blu is more in how zero time/effort was made in putting any work into presenting everything else on the disc, literally just dumping the deleted scenes reel on there with no context or order, duplicate scenes etc, that was at best quarter assed.

 

[John Morgan]

Well, I think we must be grateful to MGM for actually doing a very expensive 6K scan at FotoKem of the general release version from 65mm. I am pretty sure if this was not done, Criterion wouldn't have bothered. I do know from a source at Fox that when MGM was planning to release MAD WORLD on Blu, the plan was to just release their previous Hi Def source, but Fox said it was unacceptable and that initiated the new scan. MGM doesn't have a great track record of quality Blu ray releases, but MAD WORLD is certainly one of their successes.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Thank goodness Fox is there to rap their knuckles from time to time then.

 

[John Morgan]

Well, I guess I understand the disappointment of those who felt this Criterion release should have occurred during a big anniversary year. But Crtierion does not give a rat's a** about anniversary years, nor should they -- it's a horrible practice that unfortunately delays many studio Blu-rays for years and years just to earn a few extra bucks and a big banner on their cover art.

I agree, but I do think with the cartoon hint given, they were aiming for a November 2013 release. I guess this means we will have to wait until 2015 for Warner's to release THE GREAT RACE. I will need some tana leaves.

 

[Danilo S.]

Its possible. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion and MGM are having some sort of dispute.

This is what I really hope it is not true. If not we can have a very big delay.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

There is no dispute.

 

[Carl LaFong]

Well, I guess there won't be anything new to talk about on this thread for a few weeks, at least. I wonder if anyone would be interested in a little game my friends and I played concerning IAMMMMW in a bar once?

In the midst of a conversation in which we were nominating contenders for "the most ideally-cast movie of all time," MAD WORLD came up -- and its perfect casting was immediately weighed as a serious contender. It then occurred to all of us that the era (early '60s) was SO deep with talent that the roles could have even been recast with a second-string unit, and it conceivably may have been almost as good. (Remember, this was all in fun.)

We discussed it for hours, then days. Eventually we made a list. The only rule we had was: the recast actor or actress MUST have been alive and breathing in 1962. Some of the suggestions that follow are deliberately absurd, some are self-consciously "jokey," some are very intriguing and some are dead-on-the-nose. I admit that almost none are improvements, to Kramer's eternal credit. I hope no one will be offended by this. Remember, it's just hypothetical nonsense. We all, to a man, LOVE the movie just as it is...

Spencer Tracy = Frederic March/Walter Pidgeon
Ethel Merman = Martha Raye/Marjorie Main/Agnes Moorehead
Sid Caesar = Danny Kaye/Jack Lemmon/Dick Van Dyke
Edie Adams = Stella Stevens/Lucille Ball/Audrey Meadows
Dorothy Provine = Mary Tyler Moore/Judy Holiday/Doris Day
Mickey Rooney = Robert Morse
Jonathan Winters = Jackie Gleason/Zero Mostel
Terry-Thomas = Peter Sellers/Alistair Sim/Kenneth Williams/Robert Morley
Milton Berle = Jack Gilford/Tom Ewell
Peter Falk = Harvey Lembeck/Don Rickles
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson = Mantan Moreland
Dick Shawn = Max Baer Jr./Dick Miller/Bob Denver
Phil Silvers = Bob Hope/Sheldon Leonard/Walter Matthau/Jack Carson
Buddy Hackett = Freddy Morgan/Maurice Gosfield/Chuck McCann

Barrie Chase = Brigit Bardot/Tuesday Weld/Julie Newmar
Arnold Stang = Wally Cox/Woody Allen
Marvin Kaplan = Howard Morris/Joe Besser
ZaSu Pitts = Bea Benaderet/Patsy Kelly/Gracie Allen/Imogene Coca
Andy Devine = Walter Brennan/Andy Griffith/Billy Gilbert
Selma Diamonds (voice) = Shirley Booth/June Foray/Penny Singleton
Louise Glenn (voice) = Janet Waldo
Norman Fell = Henry Jones/Keenan Wynn
Paul Ford = Bert Lahr/Harry Von Zell/Sig Ruman
Stan Freberg = Daws Butler/Mel Blanc/Sandy Becker
Leo Gorcey = Huntz Hall
Edward Everett Horton = Jack Oakie/Charlie Ruggles
Doodles Weaver = Spike Jones/Soupy Sales/Dennis Day
Buster Keaton = Robert Strauss/Lionel Stander/Harold Lloyd
Jack Benny = Eddie Cantor/Groucho Marx
The 3 Stooges = The Ritz Brothers
The Shirelles = The Crystals
Jimmy Durante = Stan Laurel
Carl Reiner = Fred Gwynn/Ray Walston
Jesse White = Al Lewis/Morey Amsterdam
William Demarest = William Frawley/Joe E. Ross/George Burns
Sterling Holloway = Ed Wynn/Billy Barty/Liberace
Jerry Lewis = Harpo Marx/Red Skelton/Frank Fontaine
Mike Mazurki = Rocky Graziano/Lon Chaney Jr.
Charles Lane = Richard Deacon/Hans Conried/Emil Sitka/Mischa Auer
Jim Backus = Edward Andrews/Phil Harris/Sid James
Don Knotts = Louie Nye/Art Carney/Grady Sutton
Nick Stewart = Stepin Fetchit
Alan Carney = Alan Reed/Peter Lorre
Sammee Tong = Toshiro Mifune
Madlyn Rhue = Jill St. John/Suzanne Pleshette/Barbara Windsor/Annette Funicello
Ben Blue = Andy Clyde/Jaques Tati
Joe E. Brown = Frank Nelson/George O'Hanlon

 

[BarryR]

Interesting game, though ripe for nitpicking (in a good natured way). Eddie Cantor was too ill in 1962 to do a worthwhile cameo. I doubt if the Ritz Bros. would've been recognized in any significant way. Others, like Woody Allen, were not sufficiently on the radar yet for a significant movie appearance. I do think though Dick Van Dyke, Bob Hope, Don Rickles, Jackie Gleason, Lucille Ball would've fit in perfectly, somewhere. As for the Tracy role, neither March nor Pidgeon to me seem a viable replacement. If anything, Jack Benny could have been upgraded from a cameo to this role. Benny finally coveting the money would've been a neat touch given his persona.

 

[Carl LaFong]

Oh, I almost forgot. VERY important rule: you can't just nix a suggestion, because that's too easy. You have to provide a suitable replacement. Cheers!

 

[Lord Dalek]

I gotta say the current bout of internet West Side Story over this has given me a good laugh.

 

[Tino]

Thank you, Mike. There is so much truth to that explanation.




It's obvious that MGM could and should have done more with the release, but they just didn't want to
spend the money for the needed restoration. I have not even opened up my shrinkwrapped copy of
the MGM release. I bought it merely to have it on Blu-ray in case nothing further was ever accomplished.
To me (and I stress TO ME) it is not the definitive version and if I had to watch anything less, I would
rather watch the laserdisc release. That being said, everyone has been saying that MGM did a very
good job with the transfer of the theatrical version.

Ron, I was merely responding to the posters numerous jabs at the current release as being half assed or botched or whatever. It is not a reflection upon those who want a definitive version..as do all of us here including myself. Plain and simple the current bluray is an excellent transfer of the theatrical version. That was my only point.

 

[Panavision70]

One of "a few surprises" could be John Wayne as the fireman who climbs the ladder. At that time the best replacements for Tracy were James Cagney or Edward G. Robinson. Either would have been great.

 

[William Ferry]

Or, as has been suggested elsewhere...

Jimmy Durante = Buster Keaton ("Smiler" Grogan, yet!)

Sorry, I did the Sterling Holloway - Ed Wynn (the Fire Chief), forgetting that had already been listed. Well, shut my mouth!

 

[Ethan Riley]

Wait--who was originally supposed to play the fire chief? Was it Ed Wynn?

 

[Carl LaFong]

Re: Ed Wynn as Fire Chief:
As far as I know, it's only an unsubstantiated theory -- but it's a pretty good one, and probably true. Wynn played a fire chief on his radio show for years, and in at least two tie-in films. The IAMMMMW sequence treats the identity of the Fire Chief as a delayed "reveal," kind of implying it's a "gag" cameo, (like Paul Ford as "the Colonel.") But Sterling Holloway hardly suits the build-up. Could have been Wynn, pure speculation. Bert Lahr would have been fun, too, or Jerry Colonna. Isn't speculation fun?

 

[Tino]

That's ok. You're forgiven. Seriously, we all want the same thing. And we WILL get it I'm sure.

 

[BarryR]

One of "a few surprises" could be John Wayne as the fireman who climbs the ladder. At that time the best replacements for Tracy were James Cagney or Edward G. Robinson. Either would have been great.

Yes, Cagney would have been an interesting choice. Jack Lemmon easily could've taken the Caesar role, reuniting with THE APARTMENT cast member Edie Adams. Bert Lahr would've made a hilarious biplane pilot (shades of FLYING HIGH!). Always fun to imagine a parallel universe MAD WORLD. I'm a bit stumped who could've replaced Dick Shawn, except maybe Tony Curtis?

I read somewhere that Jackie Mason and Joe Besser were considered for the garage guys.