It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - The Criterion Collection

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 hare-brained 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 playingto-the-rafters comedy legends. For sheer scale of silliness, Kramer's wildly uncharacteristic film is unlike any other, an exhilarating epic of tomfoolery.TWO BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:Restored 4K digital film transfer of the general release version of the film, with 5.1surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrackNew 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 fromthe longer original road-show version-including some scenes that have been returnedto the film here for the first timeNew audio commentary featuring It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World aficionados MarkEvanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul ScraboNew documentary on the film's visual and sound effects, featuring rare behind-thescenesfootage of the crew at work and interviews with visual-effects specialist CraigBarron and sound designer Ben BurttTalk show from 1974 hosted by director Stanley Kramer and featuring Mad Worldactors Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, and Jonathan WintersPress interview from 1963 featuring Kramer and members of the film's castInterviews recorded for the 2000 AFI program 100 Years . . . 100 Laughs, featuringcomedians and actors discussing the influence of the filmTwo-part 1963 episode of the CBC television program Telescope that follows the film'spress junket and premiereThe Last 70mm Film Festival, a program from 2012 featuring cast and crew membersfrom Mad World at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, hosted by BillyCrystalSelection of humourist and voice-over artist Stan Freberg's original TV and radioadvertisements for the film, with a new introduction by FrebergOriginal and re-release trailers, and re-release radio spotsPLUS: An essay by film critic Lou Lumenick and illustrations by legendary cartoonistJack Davis