I recently posted a guide to the running times of the various versions of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. With the help of my buddy Earl Kress, I'm slowly assembling a F.A.Q. about the movie — but since several of you have written to ask which version you should buy, I thought I'd quote this section that Earl wrote…
The laserdisc does indeed have the Overture, Entr'acte and Exit Music, while the DVD only has the Entr'acte and the Exit Music. Why did they leave off the Overture? Your guess is as good as mine and probably equally as dopey as the person that made the decision.
But worst of all, the color timing on the DVD is horrendous. I saw Mad World once in 70mm Cinerama in 1964 and many more times in 35mm. I vividly remember the opening title card as being a color I'll call "yellow ochre." It's often used as the color of sky in animated cartoons, although I have no idea how that convention started. The color on the "restored" laserdisc is pretty close to what I remember. The color on the DVD is red — fingernail polish, blood, Mickey Mouse shorts red! In fact, the background color is supposed to change several times during the title sequence, which it does on the laserdisc. It just sits there being red on the DVD.
The other problem with the DVD is the aspect ratio is not as wide as it is on the laserdisc. Titles that fit on my screen on the laser, are off the screen on the DVD. Basically, except to have a copy of the 154 minute version, the DVD is worthless.
Count me among those that think that the 154 minutes is the real movie, since it looks like the reconstruction is doomed. Still, I'd at least like to see a properly color-corrected, in the right aspect ratio DVD with the Overture, Entr'acte, Exit Music AND Intermission Police Calls.
And by the way, what the hell is the Smiler Grogan case?
Didn't you hear about the time someone robbed the payroll at the Tuna Cannery of $350,000? It was in all the papers. Rumor has it the thief buried the money somewhere in Santa Rosita State Park under a big waterfall. Or maybe it was a windmill. Or a woodpecker. Or…