Stanley Kramer

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Stanley Kramer followed his Oscar-winning Judgment at Nuremberg with this sobering investigation of American greed. Ah, who are we kidding? It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, about a group of strangers fighting tooth and nail over buried treasure, is the most grandly harebrained movie ever made, a pileup of slapstick and borscht-belt-y one-liners performed by a nonpareil cast, including Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Spencer Tracy, Jonathan Winters, and a boatload of other playing-to-the-rafters comedy legends. For sheer scale of silliness, Kramer’s wildly uncharacteristic film is unlike any other, an exhilarating epic of tomfoolery.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1963
  • 163 minutes
  • Color
  • 2.76:1
  • English
  • Spine #692

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • Restored 4K digital transfer of the general release version of the film, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • High-definition digital transfer of a 197-minute extended version of the film, reconstructed and restored by Robert A. Harris using visual and audio material from the longer original road-show version, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • 2013 audio commentary featuring It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World aficionados Mark Evanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul Scrabo
  • 2013 documentary on the film’s visual and sound effects, featuring interviews with visual-effects specialist Craig Barron and sound designer Ben Burtt
  • Excerpt from a 1974 talk show hosted by director Stanley Kramer and featuring Mad World actors Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, and Jonathan Winters
  • Press interview from 1963 featuring Kramer and cast members
  • Excerpts about the influence of the film from the 2000 AFI program 100 Years . . . 100 Laughs
  • Two-part 1963 episode of the TV program Telescope that follows the film’s press junket and premiere
  • The Last 70 mm Film Festival, a 2012 program featuring Mad World cast and crew, hosted by actor Billy Crystal
  • Selection of humorist and voice-over artist Stan Freberg’s original TV and radio ads for the film, with a 2013 introduction by Freberg
  • Trailers and radio spots
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Lou Lumenick and illustrations by legendary cartoonist Jack Davis

    Original poster illustration by Jack Davis

Purchase Options

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • Restored 4K digital transfer of the general release version of the film, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • High-definition digital transfer of a 197-minute extended version of the film, reconstructed and restored by Robert A. Harris using visual and audio material from the longer original road-show version, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • 2013 audio commentary featuring It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World aficionados Mark Evanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul Scrabo
  • 2013 documentary on the film’s visual and sound effects, featuring interviews with visual-effects specialist Craig Barron and sound designer Ben Burtt
  • Excerpt from a 1974 talk show hosted by director Stanley Kramer and featuring Mad World actors Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, and Jonathan Winters
  • Press interview from 1963 featuring Kramer and cast members
  • Excerpts about the influence of the film from the 2000 AFI program 100 Years . . . 100 Laughs
  • Two-part 1963 episode of the TV program Telescope that follows the film’s press junket and premiere
  • The Last 70 mm Film Festival, a 2012 program featuring Mad World cast and crew, hosted by actor Billy Crystal
  • Selection of humorist and voice-over artist Stan Freberg’s original TV and radio ads for the film, with a 2013 introduction by Freberg
  • Trailers and radio spots
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by film critic Lou Lumenick and illustrations by legendary cartoonist Jack Davis

    Original poster illustration by Jack Davis
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Cast
Spencer Tracy
Captain T. G. Culpeper
Milton Berle
J. Russell Finch
Sid Caesar
Melville Crump
Buddy Hackett
Benjy Benjamin
Ethel Merman
Mrs. Marcus
Mickey Rooney
Ding Bell
Dick Shawn
Sylvester Marcus
Phil Silvers
Otto Meyer
Terry-Thomas
J. Algernon Hawthorne
Jonathan Winters
Lennie Pike
Edie Adams
Monica Crump
Dorothy Provine
Emeline Finch
Eddie “Rochester” Anderson
Cabdriver
Jim Backus
Tyler Fitzgerald
Jack Benny
Man driving in the desert
Joe E. Brown
Union official
Ben Blue
Biplane pilot
Alan Carney
Police sergeant
Chick Chandler
Detective
Barrie Chase
Mrs. Halliburton
Lloyd Corrigan
Mayor
William Demarest
Police chief
Andy Devine
Sheriff of Crocket County
Selma Diamond
Ginger Culpeper (voice)
Peter Falk
Cabdriver
Normal Fell
Detective
Paul Ford
Colonel Wilberforce
Stan Freberg
Deputy sheriff
Louise Glenn
Billie Sue Culpeper (voice)
Leo Gorcey
Cabdriver
Sterling Holloway
Fire chief
Edward Everett Horton
Mr. Dinckler
Marvin Kaplan
Irwin
Buster Keaton
Jimmy the Cook
Don Knotts
Nervous motorist
Charles Lane
Airport manager
Jerry Lewis
Man driving over hat
Mike Mazurki
Miner
Charles McGraw
Lieutenant Matthews
Zasu Pitts
Switchboard operator
Carl Reiner
Tower control
Madlyn Rhue
Police secretary
Roy Roberts
Policeman
Arnold Stang
Ray
Nick Stewart
Truck driver
The Three Stooges
Firemen
Sammee Tong
Chinese laundryman
Jesse White
Radio tower operator
Credits
Director
Stanley Kramer
Produced by
Stanley Kramer
Written by
William and Tania Rose
Music
Ernest Gold
Cinematography
Ernest Laszlo
Edited by
Gene Fowler Jr.
Edited by
Robert C. Jones
Edited by
Frederic Knudtson
Production design
Rudolph Sternad
Art direction
Gordon Gurnee

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