ITS A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (DVD/1963/WS-2.55/SM/UA/AFI O-RING) DVD

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
With this all-star Cinerama epic, producer/director Stanley Kramer vowed to make "the comedy that would end all comedies." The story begins during a massive traffic jam, caused by reckless driver Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante), who, before (literally) kicking the bucket, cryptically tells the assembled drivers that he's buried a fortune in stolen loot, "under the Big W." The various motorists setting out on a mad scramble include a dentist (Sid Caesar) and his wife (Edie Adams); a henpecked husband (Milton Berle) accompanied by his mother-in-law (Ethel Merman) and his beatnik brother-in-law (Dick Shawn); a pair of comedy writers (Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney); and a variety of assorted nuts including a slow-wit (Jonathan Winters), a wheeler-dealer (Phil Silvers), and a pair of covetous cabdrivers (Peter Falk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson). Monitoring every move that the fortune hunters make is a scrupulously honest police detective (Spencer Tracy). Virtually every lead, supporting, and bit part in the picture is filled by a well-known comic actor: the laughspinning lineup also includes Carl Reiner, Terry-Thomas, Arnold Stang, Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, and The Three Stooges, who get one of the picture's biggest laughs by standing stock still and uttering not a word. Two prominent comedians are conspicuous by their absence: Groucho Marx refused to appear when Kramer couldn't meet his price, while Stan Laurel declined because he felt he was too old-looking to be funny. Available for years in its 154-minute general release version, the film was restored to its roadshow length of 175 minutes on home video; the search goes on for a missing Buster Keaton routine, reportedly excised on the eve of the picture's premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Spencer Tracy as Capt. C.G. Culpepper Milton Berle as J. Russell Finch Sid Caesar as Melville Crump Buddy Hackett as Benjy Benjamin Mickey Rooney as Ding Bell Ethel Merman as Mrs. Marcus Phil Silvers as Otto Meyer Dick Shawn as Sylvester Marcus Jimmy Durante as Smiler Grogan Buster Keaton as Jimmy the Crook Jonathan Winters as Lennie Pike Edie Adams as Monica Crump Dorothy Provine as Emmeline Finch Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as Cab Driver Ben Blue as Airplane Pilot Alan Carney as Police Sergeant Barrie Chase as Mrs. Haliburton William Demarest as Chief of Police Peter Falk as Cab Driver Paul Ford as Col. Wilberforce Leo Gorcey as Cab Driver Edward Everett Horton as Dinckler Don Knotts as Nervous Man Carl Reiner as Tower Control Andy Devine as Sheriff Mason Sterling Holloway as Fire Chief Marvin Kaplan as Irwin Charles Lane as Airport Manager Charles McGraw as Lieutenant ZaSu Pitts as Switchboard Operator Madlyn Rhue as Police Secretary Arnold Stang as Ray Jesse White as Radio Tower Operator Lloyd Corrigan as Mayor Selma Diamond as Culpeper's Wife Stan Freberg as Deputy Sheriff Louise Glenn as Billie Sue Ben Lessy as George, the Steward Bobo Lewis as Pilot's Wife Nick Stewart [Nicodemus] as Truck Driver Sammee Tong as Chinese Laundryman Norman Fell as Detective Nicholas Georgiade as Detective

Crew Gordon Gurnell - Art Director Bill Thomas - Costume Designer Stanley Kramer - Director Gene Fowler, Jr. - Editor Robert Jones - Editor Frederic Knudtson - Editor Ernest Gold - Composer (Music Score) Ernest Gold - Songwriter Mack David - Songwriter George Lane - Makeup Lynn Reynolds - Makeup Rudolph Sternad - Production Designer Ernest Laszlo - Cinematographer Stanley Kramer - Producer Joseph Kish - Set Designer Linwood G. Dunn - Special Effects Danny Lee - Special Effects Walter G. Elliott - Sound/Sound Designer Marvin Willens - Stunts Carey Loftin - Stunts William Rose - Screenwriter Tania Rose - Screenwriter

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Only the super-wide screen Cinerama format could hold all of the comedy stars in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, not to mention the title itself. Just as the bloated Cinerama feature How the West Was Won sought to outdo any Western before it, World fancied itself the comedy to end all comedies. It paraded an unparalleled list of famous comics across the screen, in both feature roles and cameos: Jimmy Durante, Milton Berle, Buster Keaton, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Phil Silvers, Peter Falk, Jonathan Winters, Jack Benny, Carl Reiner, Jerry Lewis, Dick Shawn, The Three Stooges, and many more. The film operates under the belief that having all of these funny people on screen is enough to get laughs, and occasionally, World can't help but crash under the strain of its frenetic pace and oppressive running time. Director Stanley Kramer smartly puts the most solid of Hollywood stars, Spencer Tracy, at the heart of all the slapstick madness. This was quite a radical departure for Kramer and Tracy, considering their previous two films together had been the dramas Inherit the Wind and Judgment at Nuremberg. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
 

Ernest Gold: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Original Score (nominated) Ernest Gold: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Song (nominated) Ernest Laszlo: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Color Cinematography (nominated) Frederic Knudtson: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Editing (nominated) Gene Fowler, Jr.: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Editing (nominated) Jonathan Winters: Golden Globe, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Com (nominated) Mack David: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Song (nominated) Robert Jones: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Editing (nominated) Walter G. Elliott: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Sound Effects (winner) Walter G. Elliott: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Sound (nominated)

Golden Globe, Best Picture - Musical or Comedy (nominated)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel Additional Features: cc English and French 5.1 surround English, French and Spanish subtitles DVD Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1: Cinemascope MPAA Rating: G DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 161 min   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Main Title [4:20] 2. Big Dubya [4:55] 3. Mum's the Word [5:16] 4. Head Games [5:20] 5. Captain Culpepper [2:07] 6. Splits [6:48] 7. Reckless [4:13] 8. Other Means [5:58] 9. Piece of the Pie [4:25] 10. Dirty Lies [6:07] 11. Demolition [4:03] 12. Shake It Up [5:37] 13. Full Circle [5:31] 14. Downhill [4:26] 15. Equal Treatment [4:17] 16. Mixed Nuts [4:51] 17. Big Bang [1:44] 18. High Tension [4:31] 19. Intermission [:43] 20. Out of Control [4:22] 21. Emergency Priority [4:01] 22. Loopy [5:10] 23. Out Alive [7:07] 24. Arrival [6:03] 25. W [5:34] 26. The Dig [:26] 27. To the Police [7:10] 28. Leniency [4:28] 29. Crooked Cop [2:50] 30. Mad for Money [2:39] 31. Airborne Hag [3:31] 32. The End [8:17]