It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

My Favorite Comedy of the Sound Era
Stanley Kramer's IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963, UA) is my favorite comedy of the sound era and the most fondly remembered movie of my 1960's childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has a sunny and airy mood, the comedy cast of a lifetime, sharp and hilarious dialogue, an irrestible greed plot, a melodic music score by Ernest Gold, and furious pacing for almost, or just over, three hours (depending on what version you are watching). The more I watch it on DVD at 161 minutes or at 182 minutes on Turner Classic Movies, the more I love it and want to see the long-lost 192 minute Cinerama world premiere version.

MAD WORLD does something right that every other movie of its type gets wrong--it starts a chase plot in reel one, then develops character outward as we go along. It does not spend 45 minutes setting up the story, as similar movies do. In the opening scene, a dying millionaire (Jimmy Durante) tells a group of people in the Southern California desert that a...

Funny Movie, Disappointing DVD
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a classic comedy. Combining big name talent, it tells the story of what happen when a group of strangers finds out where $50,000 is buried. Soon, these normally law-abiding citizens are speeding, stealing, and destroying property. What they don't know is the police are observing them the entire time. As the situations get more out of hand, the movie gets funnier.

I wasn't that impressed the first time I saw this movie. But on repeated viewings with friends, I've come to enjoy it more. The actors are phenomenal and the material has a timelessly funny quality to it. I'm young enough that I don't recognize all the stars, but that doesn't diminish my enjoyment at all.

I was excited when I found out that the movie was coming to DVD, but I've got to say the final product disappointed me. I have only seen the "restored" VHS version that's been out for years. This DVD goes back to the original theatrical release and cuts out some of my favorite...

Wanted to like it.
I really wanted to like this DVD. I have the movie on VHS and enjoy it a lot. My reason for rating it so low was that it had almost 23 minutes missing from what was on the restored DVD version, including several memorable Phil Sivers moments. I see no reason why a DVD should offer less than the VHS. Shame on the producers of the DVD. What could they possibly have been thinking?

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The Woody Allen Collection, Sets 1-3

Quick Summary
For those of you who don't want to have to look up each collection separately to figure out what you are getting here is the list:
Set One: Annie Hall, Sleeper, Bananas, Interiors, Manhattan, Stardust
Memories, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex...
(has to be one of the longest movie titles ever btw),
Love and Death. The best comedy collection in this 3-pack

Set Two: Shadows and Fog, September, Crimes and Misdemeanors,
Another Woman, Alice. Shorter and more serious collection

Set Three: Hannah and Her Sisters, The Purple Rose of Cairo,
Broadway Danny Rose, Zelig, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy,
Radio Days. A balanced third set to round it out.

One of America's most prolific and neurotic directors--if you are a
serious student of film you have to pay attention to some of these works.

What was an awful deal is now a very good one
When I first wrote 12 months ago (it's now 6/11) the price was almost double what it is now, and it was cheaper to buy all three sets separately.
Hence I gave it one star and a warning to buyers.

At the current price, its about $7 a film, for a huge collection of 19 mostly brilliant films by one of America's most important film makers. An very good deal. So now its an easy five stars. Grab it while you can.

My comments on the three sets;

Set 1
This collection is currently the only way to get new region 1 copies of some of Allen's greatest and most important films at a reasonable price including 'Love and Death' and others. I can only hope that these films keep going in and out of print in anticipation of an upgraded hopefully blu-ray release to join the terrific blu-rays of "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan", but there's always the danger that they've gotten caught up in some sort of rights war, in which would make grabbing this set now even...

Outstanding Deal
Like the previous reviewer, I didn't have any of these titles on DVD and wanted to replace a few favorite Allen titles I already had on VHS. Originally I was going to purchase only the first collection and move on from there. But when I noticed that I could get all three sets for only a few dollars more than the first set alone, I went for it.

Each of the three sets is individually packaged, and the entire three-set collection is shrink-wrapped to keep it all together. All films are offered in widescreen mode, and most of the titles from the first set are also offered in alternate full-screen versions (these discs are double-sided). If there's any drawback, I'd say it's the lack of special features. I've not found any documentaries or commentaries anywhere in these DVDs, but the original trailers have been included. The picture quality is great, and the films, of course, are generally wonderful.

A great way to build up your Woody Allen collection in a short...

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