It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) Goes Crazy on the Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection released It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World to Blu-ray on October 10, 2017. Stanley Kramer directed the film starring Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, and Ethel Merman.
‘It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World’ Movie Synopsis
In this comedy spectacular that brought several generations of comedians together in one film, just-released convict “Smiler” Grogan tells a group of motorists just prior to his death from a car accident about $350,000 in hidden money that he stole years before. The motorists then begin to race to a California park to find the money before the others do. Along the way, they have various misadventures and inadvertently loop in additional people who all quest for the money. Unbeknownst to them all, Detective Culpeper monitors them the entire time waiting to swoop in and collect the money for himself.
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Special Features
- Restored 4K digital transfer of the general release version of the film, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- 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, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- 2013 audio commentary featuring It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World aficionados Mark Evanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul Scrabo
- 2013 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 70 mm 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 2013 introduction by Freberg
- Trailers and radio spots
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by film critic Lou Lumenick and illustrations by legendary cartoonist Jack Davis
Original poster illustration by Jack Davis
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United Artists released It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World on November 7, 1963. Stanley Kramer directed the film starring Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, and Ethel Merman.