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

Stanley Kramer followed his Oscar-winning Judgment at Nuremberg with this sobering investigation of American greed. Ah, who are we kidding? It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, about a group of strangers fighting tooth and nail over buried treasure, is the most grandly harebrained movie ever made, a pileup of slapstick and borscht-belt-y one-liners performed by a nonpareil cast, including Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Spencer Tracy, Jonathan Winters, and a boatload of other playing-to-the-rafters comedy legends. For sheer scale of silliness, Kramer's wildly uncharacteristic film is unlike any other, an exhilarating epic of tomfoolery. DUAL-FORMAT BLU-RAY AND DVD SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New, restored 4K digital film transfer of the general release version of the film, with 5.1 surround Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New high-definition digital transfer of a 202-minute extended version of the film, reconstructed and restored by Robert A. Harris using visual and audio material from the longer original road-show version-including some scenes that have been returned to the film here for the first time-with 5.1 surround Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New audio commentary featuring It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World aficionados Mark Evanier, Michael Schlesinger, and Paul Scrabo New documentary on the film's visual and sound effects, featuring rare behind-the-scenes footage of the crew at work and interviews with visual-effects specialist Craig Barron and sound designer Ben Talk show from 1974 hosted by director Stanley Kramer and featuring Mad World actors Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, and Jonathan Winters Press interview from 1963 featuring Kramer and members of the film's cast Interviews recorded for the 2000 AFI program 100 Years . . . 100 Laughs, featuring comedians and actors discussing the influence of the film Two-part 1963 episode of the CBC television program Telescope that follows the film's press junket and premiere The Last 70mm Film Festival, a program from 2012 featuring cast and crew members from Mad World at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, hosted by Billy Crystal Selection of humorist and voice-over artist Stan Freberg's original TV and radio advertisements for the film, with a new introduction by Freberg Original and rerelease trailers, and rerelease radio spots Two Blu-rays and three DVDs, with all content available in both formats PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Lou Lumenick. Aspect ratio: 2.76:1.