Movies - It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

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	Movies - It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a comedy movie that followed the Hollywood trend in the 1960s of producing "gigantic" and "epic" films as a way to woo audiences into movie theaters. Television had sapped the regular moviegoing audience and box office revenues were dropping, and the major studios experimented with a number of "gimmicks" to attract audiences, including widescreen films. It premiered on November 7, 1963. As a sort of "pay-back," many of the set-ups and gags are ruined by "panning and scanning" the film to fit on a standard 4X3 television screen when it was subsequently broadcast.

Background

Written by Tania and William Rose, not only was It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World filmed in Ultra Panavision and projected in Cinerama (becoming the first Cinerama film originated with one camera) , but it also had an all-star cast, with literally dozens of major comedy stars from all eras of cinema making appearances in the film.

The plot of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World follows the occupants of four vehicles on a narrow road in the Californian desert who stop to help Smiler Grogan, a man who has just careened off the highway after passing each vehicle, honking his horn incessantly for everyone to get out of the way. With his dying breaths, he tells the bystanders about $350,000 that he hid in the town of Santa Rosita, less than a day's drive away, under “a big W”. A wild race across the desert follows, as each carload of people tries to be first to find the money and claim it for themselves.

Stanley Kramer claimed he wanted to make the ultimate comedy film. At more than three hours (in its original roadshow version, including overture, intermission and exit music) it is certainly one of the longest. Most of the humor consists mainly of very noisy slapstick gags. Terry-Thomas's character's rant against the American obsession with bosoms still strikes a chord with non-American audiences. The movie is a showcase for these successful comedians because each plays his role in his own comedic style. For example, preserved for all time is classic Phil Silvers, classic Milton Berle, even classic Buster Keaton.

The title was taken from Thomas Middleton's 1605 comedy A Mad World, My Masters. Kramer claimed to have considered adding a fifth "mad" to the title before deciding that it would be redundant.

The film's theme song had music by Ernest Gold and lyrics by Mack David. They also wrote for the film "You Satisfy My Soul" and "Thirty-One Flavors."

The airport terminal scenes were filmed at the now-defunct Rancho Conejo Airport in Newbury Park, California. The plane sequences with the control tower were filmed at the Sonoma County Airport north of Santa Rosa, California. The gas station scene with Jonathan Winters and Arnold Stang was filmed at a specially constructed set built on composer Jimmy Van Heusen's property near Palm Springs, California.

Different versions

As mentioned previously, the movie originally ran three hours, 12 minutes in its roadshow release. It was later re-edited by United Artists for a 157-minute wide release. Some of the cut footage remains missing, although 20 minutes of material (much of it from the roadshow release, while others were never seen in any release version) was found in the late 1980s in an abandoned warehouse slated for demolition. Producer Stanley Kramer re-incorporated this missing footage into a 182-minute "restored" video version for VHS and LaserDisc. Because of the nature of the missing scenes, the extended version was mastered only on digital tape and not using film restoration techniques of the time, which is why this version is not available on DVD, although it has aired on Turner Classic Movies.

Currently, the best existing footage is in the form of original 70mm elements of the General Release Version (recent restored versions shown in revival screenings are derived from these elements). However, some, if not all, of the remaining footage does exist in some form, although it is deteriorating due to the passage of time. A restoration effort is currently being made by preservationist Robert Harris (who helped restore Lawrence of Arabia
and many Alfred Hitchcock films) in an attempt to bring the film as close to the original roadshow release as possible, but only time will tell whether or not it can be done.

Cast

Stars of this film included (alphabetical):

Edie Adams
as Monica Crump, wife of Melville Crump
Milton Berle
as edible seaweed salesman, J. Russell Finch
Sid Caesar
as dentist, Melville Crump (a role originally meant for Ernie Kovacs
before his death in a car accident)
Buddy Hackett
as gambler, Benjy Benjamin
Ethel Merman
as Mrs. Marcus, mother-in-law of J. Russell Finch
Dorothy Provine
as Emeline Marcus-Finch, wife of J. Russell Finch
Mickey Rooney
as gambler, Ding Bell
Dick Shawn
as Sylvester Marcus, Emmaline's brother
Phil Silvers
as Otto Meyer
Terry-Thomas
as Lt. Col. Algernon Hawthorne
Spencer Tracy
as Captain C.G. Culpepper
Jonathan Winters
as truck driver Lennie Pike

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