|
Author
|
Topic: It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Digest)
|
Steve Klare
Film Guy
Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
|
posted January 06, 2016 07:49 PM
”There’s all this DOUGH! -three hunnert and fifty jeees! It’s under this big dubbayuh…”
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Digest)(2x400’ or 1x600’, Color, ‘Scope, Sound, Derann Film Services)
Have you ever gotten the creeping feeling that this thing we call civilization is just a fragile veneer? -that not very deep beneath the surface of each of us a savage is standing wild-eyed, spear in hand, just waiting for his (or her...) moment to break free and sack a village, maybe even our own?
There are a lot of stories like this, both fictional and true, about ordinary people being shipwrecked, snowbound in mountain passes without enough food or finding themselves three weeks after atomic armageddon, where all bets are off as far as respect for others or even one’s own self. To greater and lesser extents we get little hints of this every time a line moves too slowly, electric power fails or they run out of coffee.
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is one of these stories, but this is not “Lord of The Flies”: it’s a comedy! –so instead of things like cannibalism and murder we get a completely unhinged tale of nicely dressed middle-class people blazing a devastating trail of assault, theft, vandalism, recklessness and generalized mayhem across southern California. Their savages pick up spears because of $350,000 cash that was still missing after a thief (Jimmy Durante) robbed a tuna factory and served his time. He crashed his car and confessed the location to these (until then) solid citizens on his deathbed (…actually a rock). It’s not your typical story: sure, there are protagonists and antagonists, but no good guys, only bad guys and worse guys by the busload!
It’s often called “the epic comedy”. Stanley Kramer sought to round up as many famous comedians as he could and form an on-screen mob. Many did come, for anything from a cameo to a full reign of terror. Jack Benny stops by in his Essex, the Stooges are there to fight a fire, but an aging Stan declined to appear without the not very long deceased Ollie. Some of the greats (Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason) were considered but also didn’t appear. Groucho was planned for the ending, but wanted too much money. Bob Hope was locked out by contractual obligations.
The original cut was three and a half hours! The theatrical cut still two and a half. Derann’s extract version whittles this to a razor-thin 40 minutes!
Derann’s digest edit is what I would call “jumpy”. I’m not sure if it’s better to know the full version or not in this case: characters appear out of nowhere and jump among different vehicles as if Mr. Scott is behind the scenes with his Transporter! I guess it’s fair to say since the story is pretty simple you get the basic idea. Where this suffers is all the subplots! This story starts at a point and ends at a point, but everywhere in-between small sub-groups of characters are traveling their own little journeys of calamity, and a lot of these are either gone entirely or severely lacerated. For example, the Crumps’ (Edie Adams, Sid Caesar) destruction of the hardware store is sadly missing! This choppiness applies mostly to the first reel, which ends when they reach the Big “W”, find the loot and learn the Cops were watching the whole time. The second reel is a lot more intact, all the way from exiting the park to Captain Culpepper (Spencer Tracy) crashing through the pet shop window. This loses points with me for cutting the very last scene at the hospital: Ethel Merman and the banana peel have always brought me a sense of…primitive justice! (-Maybe that’s MY savage!)
This is a ‘Scope print: very, VERY ‘Scope!. The scenes of very reckless driving on dangerous mountain roads shown wide screen are by themselves worth the price of admission!
The color and sharpness are excellent. The sound is mostly too. There are scenes here and there that come across a little muffled sounding, but don’t run back and crank the volume: the next scene’s audio comes back with a vengeance and your neighbors may just wind up standing at their windows!
Many people would (-and should) appreciate this for the army of classic comedians on screen. I also love it for the cars! At this advanced date it pays to remember this movie started life the very same month I did! To me even the newest cars are “old”. What great cars they are too! -back from the days of 19 cent gas when even a coupe the size of an aircraft carrier was very much to be expected. Old car fans beware though, pretty much every vehicle that really becomes involved gets at least creased. –only that neat red VW beetle cabriolet survives completely unscathed! (Where is it now?!)
This edition was later issued by Derann using thinner stock on a single 600 foot reel. As someone who only owns a single anamorphic lens and uses a 600’ projector for scope, I know what I would choose if it actually was a choice. As it is I take the built-in intermission and be glad I have it at all!
[ January 06, 2016, 09:09 PM: Message edited by: Steve Klare ]
--------------------
All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
