
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: The Criterion Collection (1963)
Wednesday 16th August 2017
Stanley Kramer followed his Oscar-winning Judgment at Nuremberg with this sobering investigation of American greed.
Ah, who are we kidding? It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, about a group of strangers fighting tooth and nail over buried treasure, is the most grandly harebrained movie ever made, a pileup of slapstick and borscht-belt-y one-liners performed by a nonpareil cast, including Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Spencer Tracy, Jonathan Winters, and a boatload of other playing-to-the-rafters comedy legends.
For sheer scale of silliness, Kramer's wildly uncharacteristic film is unlike any other, an exhilarating epic of tomfoolery.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: The Criterion Collection is released on Blu-ray 4th September 2017 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
- Restored 4K digital film transfer of the general release version of the film, with 5.1 surround Master Audio soundtrack
- 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 5.1surround Master Audio soundtrack
- 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 rare behind-the-scenes footage of the crew at work and interviews with visual-effects specialist Craig Barron and sound designer Ben Burtt
- Talk show from 1974 hosted by director Stanley Kramer and featuring Mad World actors Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, and Jonathan Winters
- Press interview from 1963 featuring Kramer and members of the film's cast
- Interviews recorded for the 2000 AFI programme 100 Years ... 100 Laughs, featuring comedians and actors discussing the influence of the film
- Two-part 1963 episode of the CBC television program Telescope that follows the film's press junket and premiere
- The Last 70mm Film Festival, a program from 2012 featuring cast and crew members from Mad World at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, hosted by Billy Crystal
- Selection of humorist and voice-over artist Stan Freberg's original TV and radio advertisements for the film, with a new introduction by Freberg
- Original and rerelease trailers, and rerelease radio spots
- Two Blu-rays
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Lou Lumenick
Please note - Disc special features are subject to change, may differ from format to format and/or may differ from region to region.
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