Comments on: It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 50th Anniversary Criterion edition REVIEW

By: Nintendomaniac

Nintendomaniac — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 00:14:29 +0000

Sid Caesar just passed away today (Feb. 12th). Now Mickey Rooney is the only main cast member who is still alive.

By: laser

laser — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 08:31:29 +0000

I personally consider the longer cut to be THE cut. It makes it almost real-time, which is a great idea, helps explain some odd occurences, and as the movie was already so frantic at the premiere, I find that cutting out the slow bits is like taking an overdose of pep pills – it’s just too dang much! o_0

Releases like this are preserving history. I hope to see more of them. We already have Metropolis, but The Alamo is in dire condition, as is the 30 FPS version of Around The World In Eighty Days. You always hear about silent films disappearing, but some colour films actually degrade faster.

Now THAT’S horror!

By: laser

laser — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 08:11:29 +0000

The only reason that this release happened was because someone at Criterion was a fan of the film. The studios would’ve let it degrade into vinegar. The premiere cut, completely gone down the memory hole aside from the script, a few stills, and a half-assed Laserdisc – thank the film gods that never happened! :O

By: laser

laser — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 08:06:05 +0000

BTW, I understand that the extended cut may not be some peoples cup of tea for various reasons, but you really should have pointed out how much work has gone into it. Have you watched the Restoration Demonstration?

First off, all of the scanned film elements were faded beyond repair, warped, and sticky. The colour had to be the taken from the standard-def Laserdisc master and realigned.

Plus, some of the trims were “rectified” (stretched for a curved screen), which was not easy to correct. Finally, the proper editing had to be recontructed, which was tricky because the extra footage came from several difference sources, and some bits were never meant to be seen.

By: laser

laser — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 07:56:44 +0000

Re: the Japanese subtitles – the restorer Robert A. Harris has stated that some of the specific trims scanned for the Laserdisc now no longer exist, so alternate ones had to be used, which may or may not have had the subtitles.

Re: the new, non-Laserdisc scenes – You can spot what’s new to this release by the condition. Anything that’s audio only is obvious, as well as any spots where the audio cuts out or the colour (sourced from the Laserdisc scan) goes away.

By: frostare

frostare — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 23:20:28 +0000

I watched this movie because of your list! I really liked it and this theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA6jbi4VMAA

By: Jordy van Eijndhoven

Jordy van Eijndhoven — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 16:17:55 +0000

In reply to Jordy van Eijndhoven.

EDIT: Sorry for that one; The Blu-ray screenshot; http://i.imgur.com/pFqSa1j.jpg

By: Spirit31

Spirit31 — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 18:46:25 +0000

I just bought the standalone bluray of this movie. Im assuming its the normal cut of the movie. Haven’t watched it yet, but it was $5 and I know its James’ favorite movie, figured I had nothing to lose.

By: BladeRunner

BladeRunner — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 14:28:52 +0000

very cool!

By: culwin

culwin — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 05:43:40 +0000

I think I must have first seen this on TV back in the early 80’s, on some local non-cable station. I guess it must have been a very heavily edited version. A lot of times we got screwed like that but sometimes those independent local stations would show some weird, off-the-wall stuff.