Stu Shostak's show this week celebrates the release (next week) of Criterion's new deluxe DVD/Blu-ray set of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Criterion is the real class act of the home video market, offering the best prints and the best special features. You can order a copy here.
Stanley Kramer's epic comedy was released on November 7, 1963. At that point, it was 201 minutes long — that's counting the film, the overture, the intermission music and some recorded police calls that played during intermission, and the exit music. This was what was called a "Road Show" release. The movie was shown on a reserved seat basis at a few selected theaters in big cities and projected via a new kind of Cinerama. Previously, the wide screen of Cinerama was achieved by splitting the image into thirds and projecting it via three projectors, kept theoretically in sync. It was complicated and often resulted in visible seams in the image.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was the first film released in a new process that achieved Cinerama dimensions with one projector. The screen was big but the movie was long. A few weeks later — while still in its Road Show engagements — it was trimmed to 162 minutes. Later, when the film moved on to regular, non-Cinerama theaters, things like the overture and exit music were jettisoned and the movie ran around 154 minutes. That's the version that has been available on TV and home video for decades.
The new Criterion product contains two versions of the movie — the best-possible transfer of the General Release version and a "restored" version which puts back most but not all of the trims and scenes that were omitted when the film was cut. At 197 minutes, it's almost the same version that opened on 11/7/63 but a few of the restored scenes have video but no audio…or audio but no video. The video in the restored scenes is not quite as good but they are very watchable.
The longer version can be watched with or without the Commentary Track in which three Mad World experts discuss the making of the film, the performers in it, the performers not in it, where the location scenes were shot, etc. The three experts are former Sony Pictures VP Michael Schlesinger, Video Master (and Mad World authority) Paul Scrabo…and me. On Wednesday's Stu's Show, Mike and I will be spending 2-3 hours discussing the film, telling you trivia that didn't get into the Commentary Track, discussing the impact of the movie and so forth. If you're interested in this movie, you won't want to miss it.
There are two ways to listen to Stu's Show. One is to listen live. Go to the Stu's Show website during the show when we do it live and you can listen for free. It starts at 4 PM Pacific Time, which is 7 PM Eastern and other times in other time zones. It will run at least two hours and probably much longer.
After we do it, it will appear in the Stu's Show Archives at the same web address. There, you'll be able to download it for 99 cents — or get four shows for the price of three. There are plenty of great past episodes of Stu's Show there that you'll enjoy. (He's even had on a number of the cast members from Mad World like Jonathan Winters, Carl Reiner, Stan Freberg and Marvin Kaplan.)
So that's my plug — for the Criterion set and for Stu's Show. Buy. Tune in. Enjoy. You may even hear Uncle Herman's odd theory about French Toast.