Tuesday, November 4, 2003

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Off-Color, Cropped World

I recently posted a guide to the running times of the various versions of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. With the help of my buddy Earl Kress, I'm slowly assembling a F.A.Q. about the movie — but since several of you have written to ask which version you should buy, I thought I'd quote this section that Earl wrote...

The laserdisc does indeed have the Overture, Entr'acte and Exit Music, while the DVD only has the Entr'acte and the Exit Music. Why did they leave off the Overture? Your guess is as good as mine and probably equally as dopey as the person that made the decision.

But worst of all, the color timing on the DVD is horrendous. I saw Mad World once in 70mm Cinerama in 1964 and many more times in 35mm. I vividly remember the opening title card as being a color I'll call "yellow ochre." It's often used as the color of sky in animated cartoons, although I have no idea how that convention started. The color on the "restored" laserdisc is pretty close to what I remember. The color on the DVD is red — fingernail polish, blood, Mickey Mouse shorts red! In fact, the background color is supposed to change several times during the title sequence, which it does on the laserdisc. It just sits there being red on the DVD.

The other problem with the DVD is the aspect ratio is not as wide as it is on the laserdisc. Titles that fit on my screen on the laser, are off the screen on the DVD. Basically, except to have a copy of the 154 minute version, the DVD is worthless.

Count me among those that think that the 154 minutes is the real movie, since it looks like the reconstruction is doomed. Still, I'd at least like to see a properly color-corrected, in the right aspect ratio DVD with the Overture, Entr'acte, Exit Music AND Intermission Police Calls.

And by the way, what the hell is the Smiler Grogan case?

Didn't you hear about the time someone robbed the payroll at the Tuna Cannery of $350,000? It was in all the papers. Rumor has it the thief buried the money somewhere in Santa Rosita State Park under a big waterfall. Or maybe it was a windmill. Or a woodpecker. Or...

• Posted at 9:56 PM · LINK

Rocking The Vote

I'm watching Democrats who want to be president participating in this "America Rocks the Vote" forum. The premise is that it's a town hall meeting in front of "young people." At this moment, any of these folks could get my support if they could formulate an answer without using the term "young people" as if they were talking about some other species. Bonus points if they can avoid acting like that other species has some massive inferiority complex and needs to be reassured that their views matter.

If you judge the candidates strictly on what they say, Al Sharpton is the one uttering the most quotable, non-hackneyed things...though he just forgot himself and repeated a joke he used five minutes ago. Since Sharpton has about the same chance of winning as I do, it's not great for the Democrats that he's stealing some spotlight and making the stiff guys look stiffer. Hope he's this funny when he hosts Saturday Night Live.

So far, the only spark of life among those with a shot at the title came when John Kerry began talking about his military history and the things he's done in Congress to oppose certain invasions, locate P.O.W.s, expose the Ollie Norths, etc. I doubt you can win the White House by running against past wars but it was nice to hear a note of passion amidst the same ol' catch phrases.

• Posted at 5:16 PM · LINK

It's Official

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick return to The Producers for 112 performances. And they'll probably be sold-out by the time you read this.

• Posted at 10:09 AM · LINK