Well, dear readers, movie fanatics are a funny lot, aren’t they? My goodness, that was a provocative way to open these here notes, wasn’t it? Where else can you read such an opening salvo as movie fanatics are a funny lot. Nowhere, that’s where. Certain movies inspire extreme fanaticism from fans – obviously Star Wars having one of the most extreme movie fanatical fan bases. And then there’s the curious case of It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, directed by Mr. Comedy, Stanley Kramer, and featuring a humungous cast of then funny people. The film opened the Cinerama Dome here in Los Angeles, California. I saw it in its first week (and talk about it in Kritzer Time). At that time, the running time of the film was 192 minutes (and that running time included the overture, entr’acte, and playout music). But one month into what would be a very long roadshow run, Kramer, who’d been rushed in post-production, cut the film down to 164 minutes (that running time also included the overture, entr’acte, and playout music). Over the years, this film attained legend status and its fanatical fans were truly fanatical. They thought it was the funniest film ever made and they went to each and every screening, and they bought the VHS and the laserdisc and the DVD. And always there were fanatical complaints that they weren’t getting the original roadshow version of 192 minutes, the version they’d all seen and loved. Only most of them hadn’t seen it, unless they were in one of a handful of major cities seeing it within the first four weeks of its run. No, what they, in fact, saw was the shorter roadshow version. That is the version that made them fall in love with the film and become fanatical, not the longer version that ran for only four weeks.
These fanatics always pointed to the laserdisc as being almost complete as the original roadshow release. But it was ultimately revealed that the laserdisc was cobbled together from trims and scenes that were never in the movie that premiered at 192 minutes. A few of the sequences were, but not many. I, for one, am not interested in seeing trims that weren’t meant to be seen, and Mr. Kramer apparently was none too happy with that version, which wasn’t a version at all. The really fanatical fanatics knew that there’d been a couple of test screenings with a 210 minute cut – but that’s what movies go through – that was never going to be a “version” of the film – they brought in audiences to see where the tightening needed to happen, and then the film was continually tightened right up to opening night. And then four weeks later, when Mr. Kramer finally arrived at his preferred version. It is that version that has made it to Blu and Ray, in a mostly superb new transfer off the 65mm elements (the transfer was done at the same lab where the Nudie Musical work is being done). Of course, there was the usual outrage that people weren’t getting the complete version – however, for all but a few, they were getting the version they saw in the roadshow engagements. While it would be nice, I suppose, to see the full 192 minute version that ran for but a scant four weeks, the shorter version already feels way too long. I don’t know that there’s any way for any comedy to get laughs for over three hours, and I can tell you that was the case at the Cinerama Dome during those first four weeks – I saw Mad World three times during those four weeks, not because I thought it was that funny, but because I just loved the hugeness of it all, and some of my favorite funny people were in it, and yes, there were some extremely funny moments. Do I need another twenty-five minutes? Not really.
Watching it last evening, I still loved the scope of it, and the cast is still, all these years later, amazing – amazing to gather all those great comic actors – old-timers, newcomers like Dick Shawn, and even the most fleeting of cameos, like The Three Stooges. That part works marvelously still. The photography is fantastic. Ernest Gold’s musical score (sold out on Kritzerland instantly) is a work of genius, and the playing of the leads is impeccable. So, why don’t I find the film all that funny? Why am I not a fanatical fanatic? The fact is, I just don’t understand why people think this is the funniest film ever made. Its final third just gets more lugubrious with each passing minute, and some of the “comedy” (especially in the ending) is painful to watch, and I love slapstick. What I truly find funny is watching Milton Berle and Terry-Thomas go at it. I laugh every time Ethel Merman opens her mouth. I laugh as soon as Jack Benny appears, or when Jerry Lewis runs over Spencer Tracy’s hat, or anytime Phil Silvers or Sid Caesar is on the screen, although I frequently find the scenes themselves not all that funny. For me, the funniest sight gag in the whole film probably eludes most viewers – it happens with Spencer Tracy’s first appearance as Captain Culpepper – he enters the scene with his hand in his suit jacket pocket, exactly as he did in Bad Day At Black Rock. I find the whole slapstick destruction of the gas station (with Marvin Kaplan and Arnold Stang, but mostly very obvious stunt doubles) almost impossible to watch. I suppose if one saw this at a very young age, it probably made the kind of impression that stays with one forever. Hence, the fanatical fanatics of Mad World.
The transfer has occasional contrast issues (not all the time, just certain scenes), but the color is amazingly right (just do a side by side comparison with the brown DVD and you’ll see exactly what wrong color vs. perfect color is. I wasn’t that thrilled with the sound – it’s very muffled-sounding and I had to crank the volume to get it where it should be. I should think all fanatical Mad World fanatics would have to be thrilled with this Blu-Ray – it’s the version that made them fanatics in the first place, looking pretty damn fine.
Prior to watching that very long, long, long, long film, I had a good night’s sleep, got up, answered e-mails, did work on the computer and did some errands and whatnot, including picking up an important envelope. I did the four-mile jog, I finished prepping the Jason Graae release, I loaded a LOT of Schmidt and Jones songs into iTunes, and I cast two more people for the show – Camille Saviola and guest star Rex Smith. So, two more to go. And I have to say, there is the distinct possibility that Guy Haines may sing one song.
Then I went to dinner. I decided after all this intense dieting and jogging that I deserved a splurge meal, so I went to Hugo’s and had a small Caesar salad and pasta papa. My tummy has truly shrunk as I was quite full after five bites of the pasta papa. But, I ate it all eventually – I think it’s only about six ounces of pasta, the eggs, a little bacon and a little turkey sausage. So, given the fact that I’d burned 400 calories, I still think I was not much over 1200 calories for the day.
After the movie, I did some more work on the computer, and that was the day and that was the night. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get my beauty sleep.
Today, I hope to get another good night’s sleep, after which I’ll do the long jog, do some writing, and then have a rehearsal/run-through with the thirteen-year-old. We’re now exactly one month from the show. After that, I’ll probably have something light but amusing to eat, and then perhaps announce the Jason Graae album at midnight, so I don’t have to get up at six in the morning.
I’ve had to leave the first few days of the week fairly loose because I know I’ll have to go have my viewing of the cleaned-up Nudie Musical, so I can approve or ask for whatever fixes I deem necessary. I’m really looking forward to that. It could happen tomorrow, it could happen Tuesday or Wednesday. I do have many other things to do, but I’ll work those around the screening. Otherwise, it’s meetings, meals, and writing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, write, rehearse, eat, and announce the Jason Graae CD. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall have dreams populated with over fifty guest stars.