Two things that continue to baffle me have kind of converged. One of them is why people who buy from Amazon do not apparently comparison shop…on Amazon. Half the time when I go to buy something there, I find it…then I do two minutes or less of searching and I find what seems to be the exact same thing for a cheaper price…on Amazon. But sometimes, it isn't the exact same thing.
The other thing has to do with my favorite movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. It's a favorite movie of a lot of people and I get a lot of questions about it in my e-mail and on Internet forums. Most of those questions are answered on the commentary track of the Criterion Blu-ray and/or DVD release of the movie. Each contains two versions of the film — a reconstruction of (most of) the original release version plus a copy of the shorter, trimmed (and arguably better) general release version.
It also has many, many extras on the making of the film, interviews with people who made it or were in it, and the longer version of the film has that 3+ hour commentary track done by three experts on the movie — Mike Schlesinger, Paul Scrabo and myself. I do not understand why anyone who has the slightest love for this movie has not purchased and played every bit of the Criterion release. [FULL DISCLOSURE: I was paid in full for my contribution to it. Criterion isn't paying me another cent if you purchase a copy so this is not a post designed to up my income.] [FULLER DISCLOSURE: However, if you order it or anything through an Amazon link on this site, I get a very tiny commission.]
So why don't professed fans of this film buy it, enjoy it and stop asking if it's true that Ernie Kovacs was signed to play the dentist but when he was killed in an auto accident, the part went to Sid Caesar? No, it isn't. Kovacs was never signed, Caesar had the part from Day One and we covered this on the commentary track.
Can it be that this video is too expensive? Hardly. I think it's because Amazon ain't making it easy to get it at the lowest price and to make sure you get the Criterion version instead of one of the earlier releases from other companies that lack the special features and extended version and commentary track. The following pricing will probably fluctuate and everything may be different by the time you read this but here's what happens right this minute if you go to Amazon and do a search for "MAD WORLD CRITERION."
Criterion originally released it as a multi-format set that contained everything twice — on two Blu-ray discs and again on three DVDs. The package contained both. Then later, they put out a version that was just the Blu-ray discs and another that was just the DVDs. The one-format releases were originally cheaper than the multi-format version but at the moment, each of them costs more in most Amazon listings.
On one page, you can buy a Blu-ray version for $19.99, the DVD version for $15.38 and the multi-format version for $9.97.
On another page, you can buy the Blu-ray version for $42.99, the DVD version for $5.99 ("Only 16 left in stock – order soon") and the multi-format version for $9.97.
On another page, you can buy the Blu-ray version for $19.99, the DVD version for $5.99 and the multi-format version for $9.97.
On another page, you can buy the Blu-ray version for $19.99, the DVD version for $5.99 and the multi-format version for $36.54 ("Only 1 left in stock – order soon").
I don't know for sure but I suspect those $5.99 versions of the DVD are not the Criterion version but a "just OK" version put out years ago by another company. It lacks the special features including the commentary track and the extended version. Also, the one version of the film it includes is not as fine a transfer as the Criterion version. I don't know for a fact this is what they're offering for $5.99 but that's what I suspect.
And if you try to order the cheapo multi-format version they're offering, the image on the page is of an earlier non-Criterion release that is Blu-ray only. It too lacks the special features and the two versions…if it's the product currently being illustrated.
As I post this, the cheapest way to buy what I think is the Criterion Blu-ray version on Amazon is to get it at this link for $19.99. The cheapest way to get the DVD that is almost certainly the Criterion DVD is at this link for $15.38. If you order either and what you receive is not the Criterion version, send it back. It's not as good and you overpaid for it anyway.
Assuming you own a player to play it on, owning the movie is so much better than waiting until some TV channel shows it. You can watch it whenever you want and you get to see all those special features. Best of all, you can listen to the commentary track and find out , for example, why certain great comedians were not in the movie instead of asking on Facebook or sending me e-mail questions about why Stan Freberg didn't have a single line of dialogue. He did…and we explain that and other vital facts on the commentary track.