The new Criterion DVD/Blu-ray set of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World continues to amass great reviews on industry websites like this one and this one. A few negatives have popped up on Amazon, mostly from folks who either didn't know what they were purchasing or think the people at Criterion should be faulted for not including that which no longer exists.
My friends who work in home video have all told me stories that run roughly like this. They fight and fight to get something freed from the vaults for DVD release. They scour the planet for the best-available elements and spend hundreds of expensive hours restoring the material as much as it can be restored without driving the expense up to the point of making the release so unprofitable that it'll be the last of its kind the DVD company ever puts out. They get the thing to the point where it's 98% perfect —
— and then it comes out and there's some Internet forum where they get ripped to shreds over the 2% (and/or some things the critic thinks should have been done that were not humanly-possible) and accused of defacing and pissing all over this great, great film or TV show. One guy I know who puts together DVDs of old, lost TV shows calls me after each one comes out and quotes me the latest nastiness because, for example, the only print they could find of one program was missing a few seconds of its end credits. His enthusiasm for doing more of this kind of work is severely diminished.
At the moment, this release of Mad World is #1 on Amazon in the category of comedies on Blu-ray and #7 in Action/Adventure. We hear a lot of carping when something with Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell tops a list of best-selling comedies. How about a huzzah or two for the fact that the top slot is being occupied by a movie with Sid Caesar, Milton Berle and Mickey Rooney?
In other news: Many folks have reminded me that the Popeyes Fast Food outlets did at one time do some promotions and branding involving Popeye the Sailor and his supporting cast. Matter of fact, I think I have a drinking glass someone gave me that was made for one of those promotions. Did they ever have spinach on their menu?
And it's another good day to not be Chris Christie. Lately, most days have been good days not to be Chris Christie.