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It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World (1963)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 2:44 pm    Post subject: It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World (1963) Reply with quote

This is one of my all time favorite comedy movies.

It is epic in scope & assembles a stupendous cast that keep things moving quickly.

I never tire of seeing just one more time whenever I can.

Any other fans?
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 4:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



Oh my Lord, yes! Very Happy

I saw the original 1963 release of this movie at the Georgia Cinerama Theater in Altanta, and I've loved it every since!

Back in the 1990s when Blockbuster video was still around, they offered the newly discovered LONG version on VHS tape, and I watched it with my family. It had scenes not shown in theaters when the film first came out! Shocked

The good news, Pow, is that TCM is showing this wonderful movie on Saturday, February 16th at 8:00 pm EST! I'd love to share it with you and any other interested parties in All Sci-Fi's Chatzy room!

We haven't used it in quite a while so try the link above and let me know if it still works. If not, I'll be sure to fix it by next Saturday. Very Happy

I haven't seen the movie in quite a while and would love to make this an All Sci-Fi Saturday Night at the Movies! Very Happy

However, if you'd rather DVR it and watch it later, that's fine with me. too.

What about it? Interested?


____ It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World Official Trailer


__________

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 12:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, Bud. I won't be able to watch IAMMMMW that day on TCM but maybe we can do this another time.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 12:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

If you have a DVR or Netflix, then the day and time we watch it can be entirely up to you!
Very Happy
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~ The Space Children (1958)
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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 1:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud, TCM used to show the expanded version you talked about. But what they show now is the restored version, which does not have those scenes. This is the official version, the expanded version was something that was put together with scenes that were edited out of the original release.

They are looking for the scenes from the original roadshow version, which was a lot longer than the general release.

David.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 9:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

You are so right, David, and I'd LOVE to see the road show version, which IMDB says 205 minutes long That's 3 hours and 24 minutes!

Here's what IMDB says about the various versions of this movie.

Runtime: 154 min (edited) | 174 min (restored video) | 182 min (extended re-edit) (Laserdisc) | 192 min (original) | 205 min (roadshow) | 197 min (extended)

The 1991 two-tape VHS version is the 182 min version, and a "brand new" copy is currently listed on eBay for $15.50 (shipping included) at this link.

If it had been the 205 min "road show" version, I'd buy it. Oh well . . .

IMDB has 128 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text. Very Happy
________________________________

~ For the intermission of the premiere engagement at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, the filmmakers recorded messages supposedly sent over police radios describing what was happening to various characters. These messages were played not only in the auditorium during the intermission, but out at the concession stand and even in the bathrooms.

Note from me: What an amazing cinematic experience this must have been! Imagine hearing all those audio treats, no matter where in the theater you happened to be during intermission! I hope that someday a Blu-ray of the full road show version will be released which includes all those audio bonuses! Very Happy

~ When this film was made, there were about 100 stunt performers in the US. About 80 of them worked on this film.

Note from me: Imagine the poor 20 guys who didn't get hired. How disappointed they must have been.

~ Edie Adams almost didn't accept the role of Monica, because her husband Ernie Kovacs had been killed in an auto accident a few months earlier. However, she did accept because Kovacs had died deeply in debt and she had vowed to pay off all of her husband's creditors (a pledge she was able to fulfill by accepting this and all other roles she was offered after his death.)

Note from me: From the first time I saw this movie in 1963 at the Georgia Cinerama in Atlanta (which must have been the 205 minute version Very Happy), I've had the hots for Miss Adams, especially when we glimpse her left leg in that ripped blue dress! She's so sexy as the loyal, sweet, submissive wife as Sid hauls her around by the hand while they run all over the place during the movie, with Edie bouncing beautifully in her high heeled shoes! Wink


____________

By the way, the scene where she first rips her dress (right up to the hip) is one of the deleted scenes included on the VHS tape I mentioned above. She and Sid Caesar are shown the old bi-plane in a junk-filled hanger, and she climbs up on a box to look into the cockpit.

Riiiii — iiip! Shocked

Her lovely leg is on display for an instant, and the film cuts away to another scene. But we see it again throughout the rest of the movie.

~ When Jonathan Winters backed the truck into the water tower, it actually fell too soon, before the truck actually hit it. To compensate, special effects split the screen and slowed down the side with the water tower so that the fall would coincide with the hit.

Note from me: One of the bonus features on the five-disc box set discusses the special effects, and it explains how the shot was saved by the clever use of a "traveling split screen" which kept the two trunk in frame while the side which had the water tower falling too soon was a few seconds behind the moment it actually feel, making it appear to fall after the trunk hit it.

~ The cast was in awe of Spencer Tracy and spent much of their time between scenes keeping him amused. Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett delighted him with off-color take-offs on Boys Town (1938), in which Rooney had co-starred with Tracy. Jonathan Winters would improvise entire movies while impersonating Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

Note from me: And oh my God, don't we all wish we had BTS footage of these golden moments? What a great bonus feature those would make for the Super-Colossal Extra-Special Edition on this wonderful movie? Shocked

~ The billboard that the twin-engine Beechcraft flies through was made of thin balsa wood, except for a thicker frame for support. Stunt pilot Frank Tallman had to fly the aircraft directly through the center of the billboard or the thicker frame would shear off a wing. The billboard was located just east of John Wayne Airport. They had practiced with paper signs, but used balsa wood for the actual movie stunt. The wood stopped one engine and the other was sputtering enough that the plane barely made it back to John Wayne Airport.






Note from me: I vividly remember this scene from my first 1963 viewing, which was almost the last one of several scenes shown in rapid succession right before the intermission.

It left me (and the entire audience) sitting there stunned as the lights came up and the intermission music started. The audience was electrified and chatting excitedly as we all got up and headed for the lobby to buy snacks and smoke cigarettes and dash to the rest room!

~ During filming of the infamous "gas station" destruction, Jonathan Winters was accidentally left on stage and completely bound in thick tape. Hours later, when the cast returned from lunch, they found that he had not even been able to free his arms from the chair. In retaliation, Winters gave a three-hour lecture to Arnold Stang and Marvin Kaplan on forced potty training.

Note from me: This is a funny story . . . but I don't believe a word of it. Sad

~ The final gas station collapse did not go quite as planned. The water tower crashed into the small building behind the station, which was rigged to collapse but was accidentally triggered before the water tower actually hit it. Special-effects technician Linwood G. Dunn was called in to optically fix the scene. Dunn took the scene and split-screened the small building, first freeze-framing it then catching the collapsing action up to the water tower strike. All this took place on the right side of the frame.

Note from me: Initially my reply here said that I watched the shot carefully and decided the item above was not true. But one of the bonus features on my newly acquired box set carefully explains how the shot was corrected with a traveling split screen, so I was wrong to doubt the above trivia item. I goofed. Oh well. Rolling Eyes


_______ It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)


__________



~ Premiered at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, CA, November 7, 1963. It was the first film ever shown there

Note from me: As soon as my friend and neighbor, Dr. Emmett Brown, completes the construction of his time machine, I'm going to borrow it and attend that first showing back in 1963! Very Happy






~ Despite being released by Cinerama, this film was not shot in the three-strip Cinerama process, but was projected on the deeply curved original Cinerama screen upon original release, which was exclusively to Cinerama theatres, followed by release to "regular" theatres. It was shot in Ultra Panavision 70, a one-strip process that, when projected on a huge curved screen, somewhat mimics the Cinerama effect.

The souvenir booklet for the film, sold during the picture's roadshow run, falsely boasted that the Cinerama image, which normally required the use of three strips of film on three projectors running simultaneously, had been "miraculously blended into one", when in fact the film was not being projected in Cinerama at all.


Note from me: My family attended several true Cinerama movies at the Georgia Cinerama in Atlanta, and I was always annoyed by the flawed process that tried to make three projectors synchronize three images into one super-wide screen.

It never worked well. Rolling Eyes

I remember seeing both Windjammer and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm in Cinerama, but the technique was just too flawed to really work.

So, I'm glad that this movie didn't try to use that technique. It would have marred my enjoyment of the movie.

~ The role of Col. Algernon Hawthorne was originally written for Peter Sellers, but he asked too much money and the role went to Terry-Thomas.

Note from me: I'm glad Terry-Thomas played the role. I think he was a better choice.

~ The actual on-screen title of this movie is: "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World", with "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" being the poster title.

Note from me: Okay, but there's no difference between the two titles, other than the comas. Rolling Eyes

~ The climax with the out-of-control ladder re-teamed "King Kong" (1933) alumni, special effects animator Willis O'Brien and model maker Marcel Delgado. O'Brien would die during production and Delgado would make one more film before retiring.

Note from me: Being a loyal stop motion fan way back in 1963, I instantly realized that some of the shots of the firetruck ladder was done with animation. Later I learned that it was the last animation done by Willis O'Brien.
______________________________

And here's one last comment from me about an interesting element that none of the trivia items mention. When this movie was first released, the car stunts it includes — like the flying car at the beginning when Jimmy Durante's car goes "sailing right out there", and the amazing jump that the red car driven by Dick Shawn's character — absolutely amazed movie audiences!

Five years later, Steve McQueen's action movie Bullitt (1968) portrayed similar car stunts that helped make that film a giant hit.


___ Bullitt (1968) - San Francisco Car Chase Scene


__________


Have I ever mentioned that the car shown below was the kind (and color) I drove in the days of my youth after getting out of the Air Force (1967 to 1971), which is the same kind of car the bad guys drove in Bullitt, and the same color of Steve's badass Mustang?

How cool is that, eh?
Cool



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:18 pm; edited 6 times in total
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 10:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gotta put a word in for the terrific musical score for IAMMMMW. Like so much about this hilarious epic comedy it was perfect.
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ralfy
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 1:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The funny dance scene with Dick Shawn and Barrie Chase:

Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Dance Scene with Dick Shawn & Barrie Chase in HD

____________


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 2:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
~ Edie Adams almost didn't accept the role of Monica, because her husband Ernie Kovacs had been killed in an auto accident a few months earlier. However, she did accept because Kovacs had died deeply in debt and she had vowed to pay off all of her husband's creditors (a pledge she was able to fulfill by accepting this and all other roles she was offered after his death.)

I have read that Ernie Kovacs was suppose to have played Sid Ceasar's part. Milton Berle wanted to hold a benefit to pay off Ernie Kovacs debts, but Edie Adams refused. She insisted on paying them off herself. Ernie Kovacs incurred the debt looking for his children. His first wife cracked-up, and divorced him. The court awarded him custody of the children because of her mental condition. She took the kids and went on the run. The Police and the FBI were unable to find her, so Ernie Kovacs kept hiring private detectives until she was found.

Bud Brewster wrote:
~ During filming of the infamous "gas station" destruction, Jonathan Winters was accidentally left on stage and completely bound in thick tape. Hours later, when the cast returned from lunch, they found that he had not even been able to free his arms from the chair. In retaliation, Winters gave a three-hour lecture to Arnold Stang and Marvin Kaplan on forced potty training.

I don't believe the 'accidentally' part.

Bud Brewster wrote:
~ The role of Col. Algernon Hawthorne was originally written for Peter Sellers, but he asked too much money and the role went to Terry-Thomas.

I agree that Terry Thomas was perfect in the part.

Bud Brewster wrote:
~ The climax with the out-of-control ladder re-teamed "King Kong" (1933) alumni, special effects animator Willis O'Brien and model maker Marcel Delgado. O'Brien would die during production and Delgado would make one more film before retiring.

Some of the animation was also done by Jim Danforth, there are photographs of him at work.

Bud Brewster wrote:
And here's one last comment from me about an interesting element that none of the trivia items mention. When this movie was first released, the car stunts it includes — like the flying car at the beginning when Jimmy Durante's car goes "sailing right out there", and the amazing jump that the red car driven by Dick Shawn's character — absolutely amazed movie audiences!

The car used for the jump in the beginning was radio controlled, it was just too dangerous a stunt.

In the scenes with Dick Shawn and Barrie Chase, there is a reason she acts the way she does. That isn't tobacco that she lights up while laying on the bed. It was Steve McQueen that suggested to her that she should act stoned.

Andy Devine's Deputy was played by Stan Freeberg. He got the part because the studio hired him to make a commercial for the movie, while it was still being filmed. He had blocks made with each word of the title being on a separate block. His idea was to have the cast fight over who gets to hold which word. It was pandemonium. Johnathan Winters was lecturing on Indian rights. Milton Berle had an assistant with a card catalog with his 'ad libs' to use, which he constantly did. Everyone was actually arguing over who got what word, Stan Freberg was trying to get everyone to calm down so they could film the commercial when Stanley Kramer told him: "Now you know what I have been going through the last three months". Laughing

David.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 3:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stanley Kramer said in an interview that as he was watching the dailies from each days's filming of the movie, he saw that Milton Berle somehow managed to be the last one on screen every single time.

You know, you think about the last character you see in a scene.

Kramer assigned numbers to each cast member as to when they needed to exit a scene so Berle was not the last one every time.

Stanley then watched the dailies & Berle still managed to be the last one on screen!
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 3:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Pow, I can't thank you enough for encouraging me to DVR this movie from TCM. I watched it yesterday and enjoyed it even more than I have in the past (except the first time in 1963).

Today I searched the internet to find out it there was a version of the movie available that came close to the road show version of 205 minutes.

There is! Shocked

The Criterion Collection version shown below is a 5-disc version which is described this way by the Wikipedia article.

____________
___________________________________

Released on January 21, 2014 as a two Blu-ray and three DVD set, the Criterion Collection release contains two versions of the film, a restored 4K digital film transfer of the 159-minute general release version and a new 197-minute high-definition digital transfer, reconstructed and restored by Robert A. Harris using visual and audio material from the longer original "road-show" version not seen in over 50 years. Some scenes have been returned to the film for the first time . . .
___________________________________

I just ordered it from Amazon, and it's scheduled to arrive on or before March 11th. The fact that the 197 minute version is only 8 minutes shy of the road show version — and it has almost 40 minutes of footage which isn't included in the 159 minute version I enjoyed so much from TCM — is very exciting! Very Happy

Fans of this movie can order this veritable bonanza of "Mad World" material at this link.

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray + DVD)

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~ The Space Children (1958)
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 4:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glad to read that you are having a blast with IAMMMMW(1963), Bud.

As I've said before, it remains one of my fave epic comedy movies of all time just ahead of The Great Race (1965) & The Russians Are Coming,The Russians Are Coming (1966).

Dorthy Provine, Peter Falk, and Marvin Kaplan, all IAMMMMW alumni would appear in TGR.

Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, Paul Ford, and Ben Blue, also from IAMMMMW would all appear in TRAC, TRAC.
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

My box set of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World arrived today! I going to watch all the bonus features first and then I'm going to watch this 197 minute version of the movie.

In my earlier post I included this IMDB trivia items.
________________________________

~ For the intermission of the premiere engagement at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, the filmmakers recorded messages supposedly sent over police radios describing what was happening to various characters. These messages were played not only in the auditorium during the intermission, but out at the concession stand and even in the bathrooms.

Note from me: What an amazing cinematic experience this must have been! Imagine hearing all those audio treats, no matter where in the theater you happened to be during intermission! I hope that someday a Blu-ray of the full road show version will be released which includes all those audio bonuses!
________________________________

Well, it turned out that I got my wish! Very Happy

An Amazon customer review of the set had this to say about that very subject.


Vernon A. Miller on Amazon wrote:
Note that the extended version includes the original overture, intermission, entr'acte, and exit music.

During part of the intermission, there is a time where the screen is totally black for several minutes, but police radio calls are played periodically on audio only. This was (and still is) intended to keep the audience posted on the action that is continuing to happen in the timeline of the film during intermission.

It's great because, again, it provides better continuity — for example, you hear that Finch (Berle) and Hawthorne (Terry-Thomas) have stopped at an Avis location and rented a blue Chevy, which explains how they ended up with that that new blue car after intermission. (Ahh, product placement even back then!) But it is a bit unnerving, because there are longish periods of black screen with no sound at all, and your impulse is to think something went wrong with your Blu-Ray player or TV. Just relax, all is well.

The bonus feature about the sound and visual effects is a real bonanza, a 36-minute documentary which is packed with segments about the matte paintings (there were so many more of those than I ever realized) and behind-the scenes-footage of the film crew setting up shots.

I was very impressed by the condition of the behind-the-scenes footage. Somehow it has been beautifully preserved and still look great.

We even get to see Jim Danforth animating the firetruck ladder AND the tiny men on it, including Sterling Holloway climbing up the ladder — something I'd never even recognized as stop motion before!

I'm really looking forward to watching this movie! Cool

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jonathan Winters told the story about being cast in the movie.

He'd just come out of a mental hospital, he'd had a serious nervous breakdown.

Stanley Kramer called JW at home to tell him about the film and offer him a role in it.

Winters wasn't sure if he was up to tackling anything as he was only out of the hospital a short time. He had serious doubts and was about to turn the Pike role down when he turned to his wife and asked her what she thought?

She advised him to go for it in order to heal and get his confidence back. Winters said it was the best advice he ever got.

He loved doing the movie.
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Wow, Pow!

(I've wanted to say that for months, but I needed just the right moment. Very Happy)

THIS is the right moment, because I've only got three minutes left on the last of the box set's bonus features, and I then I'll be starting the movie . . . after waiting since February 20th for it to arrive.

Your story about Mr. Winter's important decision to take the role, based on his wife's encouragement, is just the kind of thing I've spent the day learning from the interviews and documentaries on the box set.

Jonathan didn't mention that fact in any of his interviews — and the reason is obvious, since it's so deeply personal. So, I'm certainly glad you shared it.

And, of course, it was your suggestion to DVR the recent TCM airing that renewed my interest in this movie, which has now culminated in my having the extended version to watch today!

I'm glad the bonus features (and a comment by an Amazon customer) prepared me for the fact that some scenes had to be presented with still photographs accompanied by the film's audio, and other scenes won't have the fine picture quality that the theatrical release does.

One of the bonus features included a sad comment about how the sections of the original negative that were cut out to make the general release version were thrown away! Shocked

Hollywood can be so damn shortsighted when it comes to the movies they produce. The studios' mentality is, "Produce it, release it, make as much money as you can . . . and then forget about it."

I think the hard lessons learned from that shameful practice have changed that attitude to some degree. And technology has now been developed which allows both the preservation and the restoration of movies more successful.

Hopefully this will prevent that kind of thing from happening again.

By the way, when I found out that some of the scenes used in the VHS "extended version" were actually footage not used in any theatrical version, I checked eBay to see if the VHS version is still being offered.

Thankfully, it is! Very Happy

So I bought a copy listed as "new" for $12.00. I watched that version back in the early 90s when Blockbuster video had a copy, it has some great "lost" scenes that apparently aren't on the "official restored version of the Road Show print".

The listing below is for another one at about the same price, also listed as "new".

its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - VHS Classic Movie 2-Tape Set - New & Sealed

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Tue Mar 05, 2019 8:47 am; edited 1 time in total
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