Hardrock69
07-24-2007, 04:27 PM
This info is fairly trivial, but I have posted about this film before and have found out some new stuff.
Apparently there is work being done on restoring some of the lost footage of this film to get it as close as possible to the original running length that was shown at the premiere in 1963 (192 minutes).
The standard rumour mill sez that 188 minutes have been recovered. Lotsa footage has been irretrievably lost.
The Wikipedia article on this has some very recent news about a possible sequel:
"On January 9, 2007, Karen Sharpe Kramer, widow of Stanley Kramer, and film producer Edward Bass announced that a sequel entitled It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World is in the works. The film would be, like the original, a large ensemble movie mixing comics and dramatic actors.
The story follows the descendants of the characters from the first movie who are thrust into another madcap chase to find a cache of money after it is revealed that the bills found in the first movie were counterfeit. Original cast members Sid Caesar and Jonathan Winters, among others, may reprise their original roles."
ARE THEY CRAZY?
http://thefoolsparadise.com/db/art/the-big-W-jimmy-durante.jpg
Here is some relevant info about the running time:
"The film ran 192 minutes in its roadshow release and later was re-edited by United Artists for a 154-minute wide release. At the film's premiere, radio transmissions between the film's fictional police played in the theater lobby and rest rooms during the intermission.
Some of the cut footage remains missing, although 20 minutes of material (much of it from the roadshow release, but including some scenes never before seen in any release version) was found in the late 1980s in an abandoned warehouse slated for demolition. While not officially referring to it as a "director's cut", Stanley Kramer helped oversee the re-incorporation of this missing footage into a 182-minute "restored" video version for VHS and LaserDisc. Because of the nature of the missing scenes (they came from a workprint of the film), 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 (TCM). Comparisons between the two show that the extended version is of inferior video quality to that of the DVD."
The reason I am posting this is that the 182-minute version runs on Turner Classic Movies on Tuesday, July 31 at 4:45 PM, and again on Saturday, August 18 at 8 PM.
If any of you peeps have younger friends or relatives who have not seen this (especially kids), it might be worth it to plunk them down in front of the TV on August 18th (being a Saturday) and letting them witness one of the most insane comedy films of the 20th Century.
There is much more detailed info in the Wikipedia article, which is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Mad,_Mad,_Mad,_Mad_World
And here is my original article, with the location of what's left of the "Big W":
http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25387&highlight=Mad+Mad+Mad+Mad+World
Apparently there is work being done on restoring some of the lost footage of this film to get it as close as possible to the original running length that was shown at the premiere in 1963 (192 minutes).
The standard rumour mill sez that 188 minutes have been recovered. Lotsa footage has been irretrievably lost.
The Wikipedia article on this has some very recent news about a possible sequel:
"On January 9, 2007, Karen Sharpe Kramer, widow of Stanley Kramer, and film producer Edward Bass announced that a sequel entitled It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World is in the works. The film would be, like the original, a large ensemble movie mixing comics and dramatic actors.
The story follows the descendants of the characters from the first movie who are thrust into another madcap chase to find a cache of money after it is revealed that the bills found in the first movie were counterfeit. Original cast members Sid Caesar and Jonathan Winters, among others, may reprise their original roles."
ARE THEY CRAZY?
http://thefoolsparadise.com/db/art/the-big-W-jimmy-durante.jpg
Here is some relevant info about the running time:
"The film ran 192 minutes in its roadshow release and later was re-edited by United Artists for a 154-minute wide release. At the film's premiere, radio transmissions between the film's fictional police played in the theater lobby and rest rooms during the intermission.
Some of the cut footage remains missing, although 20 minutes of material (much of it from the roadshow release, but including some scenes never before seen in any release version) was found in the late 1980s in an abandoned warehouse slated for demolition. While not officially referring to it as a "director's cut", Stanley Kramer helped oversee the re-incorporation of this missing footage into a 182-minute "restored" video version for VHS and LaserDisc. Because of the nature of the missing scenes (they came from a workprint of the film), 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 (TCM). Comparisons between the two show that the extended version is of inferior video quality to that of the DVD."
The reason I am posting this is that the 182-minute version runs on Turner Classic Movies on Tuesday, July 31 at 4:45 PM, and again on Saturday, August 18 at 8 PM.
If any of you peeps have younger friends or relatives who have not seen this (especially kids), it might be worth it to plunk them down in front of the TV on August 18th (being a Saturday) and letting them witness one of the most insane comedy films of the 20th Century.
There is much more detailed info in the Wikipedia article, which is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Mad,_Mad,_Mad,_Mad_World
And here is my original article, with the location of what's left of the "Big W":
http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25387&highlight=Mad+Mad+Mad+Mad+World