Criterion announces extended cut blu-ray/DVD of "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!" for 1/21/14

Coming January 21st, 2014: a 197-minute restored and extended 5-disc (2 blu-rays/3 DVD's) Criterion edition of Stanley Kramer's all-star comedy classic, supervised by "Lawrence Of Arabia" restoration specialist Robert A. Harris using 4k ultra-HD transfer technology, loaded with extras and basically a "kitchen sink" reissue of this 70mm/Ultra Panavision 1963 theatrical release...list price is $49.98...Criterion's website should have this up for pre-order on their home page already...ENJOY!!!

 

There should be at least one more Criterion sale before January too.

 

Does this movie really need to be any longer, i love the movie, but i already have the currently available Blu-Ray, i think i'll hold on to it.

 

The original roadshow version of this movie, which this release is based on, has only been available on laserdisc and VHS...hardcore fans of the movie have been clamoring for it since the advent of DVD in 1997...plus, it WILL have the shorter cut of the movie on disc 2!!!

 

Yes, the longer cut is amazing.

 

One of my all time favorites!! The current Bluray is great but this restored and extended version will be a must have for me. I saw the film in Cinerama in NYC 1963 (I was 9). I'll never forget that WIDE SCREEN!! I still have the great program sold at the theatre.

 

There's a very interesting post on HTF about how a lot of the reinstated scenes now only have the magenta film layer and Robert Harris took the color from the old 480 scans to try to get as much color back in as possible.

 

I've been hoping for this kind of restoration for years. Finally, Criterion is gonna give this movie the red carpet treatment!

 

Hurrah! Now gotta get some blu-ray gear sorted out soon enough.

 

A technique the great restoration team have been using on some lost color episodes of Doctor Who. Small world.

 

Fantastic news!
I have the existing BluRay but I'll be buying this one!

 

Awesome, don't purchase movies much anymore but this is an absolute must

 

Interesting news, I never expected to see the longer cut hit Blu-ray.

 

I am really looking forward to this one. Thank you Criterion! Now may I suggest you work on John Wayne's "The Alamo"???

 

Doh, I said the same thing! Do we need a 3-hour and 17-minute version of this movie?

Mark Evanier has a terrific write-up on the impending release here:

http://www.newsfromme.com/2013/10/16/great-great-great-great-announcement/


"It's the Big W!"

 

I know what you mean ... the full-length version is probably too much for one sitting. Better to watch it split over two nights, which is, I am guessing, probably how it was shown on network TV back in the late 1960s. The thing is, the so-called "restored" scenes in the laserdisc version are all very worthwhile and I hate watching the movie without them -- even though they diminish the overall impact of the film by making a long movie even longer.

As others have pointed out, the main reason the movie seems to drag at the end (in both versions) is that the pacing, up until the discovery of The Big W, is perfect -- but from that point on, it's all sort of anti-climactic. I think the ending should have been tightened up a lot.

 

My avatar is STOKED.

 

The only version I know of this film is the extended version which I had on VHS years ago, so I never settled for the shorter Blu Ray. I'm glad I waited.

 

I did this upon finding out the good news:

 

Will be buying this one for sure. A must have.

Yet, I think it's a good example of the best and worst of comedy film-making. Great segments with a wildly loose script. Probably too many actors whereas great comedies had a few to focus on (The Marx Brothers, Abbot & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, etc., etc.).

 

I've only seen this movie once, 20 years ago, and was unimpressed. And a longer version is coming out??? Okay, Stanley Kramer deserves to have his vision presented, he was a great director, yadda yadda yadda. But this isn't isn't a great film. It's "1941" 20 years earlier..a minor good idea bown up to be an epic and becomes an albatross.

A film can be improved with a longer cut. "1776", Judy Garland's "A Star is Born", Sam Fuller's "The Big Red One". But there was successful material there or people to root for. Virtually all the characters in "It's A Mad Mad Mad World" struck me as unli,eable or dull and I have interest in spending 3+ hours with them again.

 

Some of that "missing footage" inserted into the longer VHS edition was never screened in the road show version, and some footage in the road show version was never found again at all.