It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World by MGM (Video & DVD)

Actors

• Spencer Tracy
• Milton Berle
• Ethel Merman
• Mickey Rooney
• Sid Caesar

Format

• Closed-captioned
• Color
• Widescreen
• NTSC

Editorial Review

Stanley Kramer's sprawling 1963 comedy about a search for buried treasure by at least a dozen people–all played by well-known entertainers of their day–is the kind of mass comedy that Hollywood hasn't made in many years. (Another example from around the same time is Blake Edwards's The Great Race.) After a number of strangers (including Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, and others) witness a dying stranger (Jimmy Durante) identify the location of hidden money, a conflict-ridden hunt begins, watched over carefully by a suspicious cop (Spencer Tracy). The ensuing two and a half hours of mayhem has its ups and downs–some bits and performers are certainly funnier than others. But Kramer, who is better known for socially conscious, serious cinema (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?), is in a mood for broad comic characterization, and some of his jokes are so intentionally obvious (Durante literally kicks a bucket when he dies), they'd have a place in Airplane! Watch for lots of cameo appearances, including Jerry Lewis (who had called Kramer and asked him why he hadn't been invited to participate). –Tom Keogh