IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD - BLU-RAY

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 hare-brained 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.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• Restored 4K digital film transfer of the general release version of the film, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack.
• New 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—including some scenes that have been returned to the film here for the first time.
• New audio commentary featuring It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World aficionados Mark Evanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul Scrabo.
• New documentary on the film’s visual and sound effects, featuring rare behind-the-scenes footage of the crew at work and interviews with visual-effects specialist Craig Barron and sound designer Ben Burtt.
• Talk show from 1974 hosted by director Stanley Kramer and featuring Mad World actors Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, and Jonathan Winters.
• Press interview from 1963 featuring Kramer and members of the film’s cast.
• Interviews recorded for the 2000 AFI program 100 Years . . . 100 Laughs, featuring comedians and actors discussing the influence of the film.
• Two-part 1963 episode of the CBC television program Telescope that follows the film’s press junket and premiere.
• The Last 70mm Film Festival, a program from 2012 featuring cast and crew members from Mad World at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, hosted by Billy Crystal.
• Selection of humourist and voice-over artist Stan Freberg’s original TV and radio advertisements for the film, with a new introduction by Freberg.
• Original and re-release trailers, and re-release radio spots.
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Lou Lumenick and illustrations by legendary cartoonist Jack Davis.