"And I Was Thankful To Have It!" or The Back-In-My-Day Post

It seems odd to me that, though I'm only 43, I'm actually writing a blog post called Back In My Day. Back In My Day is the sort of thing you usually hear cranky old men say, usually describing how horrible and tough things were and how people have no appreciation for how easy they have it today and how society has gone to hell because of it. It's also usually also tinged with nostalgia for a simpler time. I was born in the 1970s and a teenager in the 1980s. I freely admit to still enjoying music and certain movies from that time period, but I have no real desire to relive it and am actually not particularly nostalgic for it, either. Nonetheless, this is a Back In My Day post and it's being written for a reason.


Back in my day, if you wanted to see an old movie, you had to wait for it to be shown on TV. If it was a widescreen movie, it was being shown pan and scan, which meant you could be missing up to 2/3 of the picture. It was also edited for commercials, and there were commercials every five to ten minutes. And the TV screens weren't wide 16X9, they were square 4X3 screens.


Back in my day, we didn't have 110" screens with surround sound. The biggest TV we had was 25" and mono. My personal TV was 13", mono, and black and white. I watched many a late show on that TV. For those of you under the age of 20, the late show used to show movies on independent stations.


Back in my day, we didn't have Blu Ray or DVD. If you were lucky, you had a Super 8 projector with a 3 foot screen and could watch 10 to 20 minute digests of feature length movies. They were still putting these out in the 1980s, in fact. I have a 20 minute digest of The Empire Strikes Back still. If you had some money, you could get a VHS player. If you had some more money and the inclination, you could get a LaserDisc player, which gave a better image and had its movies in widescreen format. Of course, only 30 to 60 minutes of the movie would fit on a single side of a LaserDisc, so that meant either flipping the disc or changing it over. A simple two hour movie could be on two double sided discs. My family got the VHS player.


Back in my day, 3D TV was an occasional special shown on an independent station. You had to buy cardboard red and blue glasses from a local fast food or convenience store, turn out the lights, sit six to eight feet back, fiddle with the tint on the TV, and get next to no effect.


Back in my day, being a movie buff--especially a young one--really kinda sucked. The Three Stooges shorts and Looney Tunes cartoons were always cut up, Charlie Chan came on at 11 pm, and renting a movie meant going to a video store. And if the movie you wanted was out of stock...too bad so sad. Only a few video stores had a selection good enough to satisfy a classic fan. There was no On Demand or Netflix Streaming (which also sucks, but that's a different rant for a different day).


Why am I bringing all this up? Because it occurs to me that all too many movie buffs today--and not even the young ones per se--remember back in my day. And they should, because back in My day was--unless they're under the age of 25--back in their day, too.


We live in a high definition world now. We have Blu Ray with it's incredible image and sound quality. We have Surround Sound, to help put you in the middle of the action. We have widescreen TVs which allow 1:85 movies to be shown without black bars and Scope movies to be shown with minor black bars.  Our screen sizes are bigger, too. I have a 42" 3D TV. It's the largest TV I've ever had. Every so often, I think it's too small, but that's just a fleeting thought. This thing is a monster compared to what I grew up on.


When I was a teenager--or back in my day, if you prefer--the thought of seeing the 3D movies from the 1950s the way they were originally shown seemed like it would never happen. I watched most of those movies flat on TV, complete with commercial interruptions and no doubt editing. Except for the titles I saw on American Movie Classics, which were complete but also flat. Now I own four 50s titles on 3D Blu Ray, with at least one more promised to come out and have, in the past 14 years, managed to see nearly every one that still exists in 3D in the movies. I consider myself outrageously lucky in that regard. After all, 30 years ago, seeing Creature From the Black Lagoon in 3D meant tracking down the lousy anaglyphic VHS Universal released in 1980 or, if I was super lucky, seeing the anaglyphic 16mm print somewhere. Now, I not only own a 3D Blu Ray of it, which is gorgeous, I've managed to see it in the movies in full polarized 3D, exactly the way it was shown in 1954.  30 years ago, seeing Kiss Me Kate meant seeing it flat on VHS. There isn't a 3D Blu Ray of it (yet), but I have seen it on the big screen in proper 3D at least 4 times. Needless to say, I'm happy about both.


Point in fact, I have seen, either on TV or in the movies, 42 of the 43 movies that still exist in 3D prints from the 1950s. I may never get to see the 43rd in 3D, but I really can't complain about the rest of them.


I bring all this up because I have seen on the web and in person an awful lot of complaining about the so-called imperfect presentations of classic movies. The most recent bout has concerned the new Criterion Blu Ray of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, which has caused all manner of insane complaints, from the fact that the reconstructed footage doesn't look as good as the rest of the movie to the two or three scenes that have light Japanese subtitles to the complaints about the spaces between the radio calls during the intermission.


Good grief as Charlie Brown would say. Of course the reconstructed footage doesn't look as good. The trims were in bad shape to begin with. There's only so much that can be done. And as for the Japanese subtitles--try watching a whole movie like that. I've done it. I so wanted 3D copies of House of Wax and Dial M For Murder that for 10 years I had DVD-Rs of faded copies of the Japanese VHD disc in the field sequential format. And yes, I was thankful to have them.


When I first saw It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, guess what? It was the short version. On TV. In Pan and Scan. Mono. Edited for commercials. With the ending lobbed off, too! I didn't even know there was an intermission until someone taped the LD version off of TCM for me about ten years ago. Maybe I'm the easiest person in the world to please--I'm sure someone could accuse me of that--but I'm pretty happy getting to see this new extended version. Is it perfect? No, but I kinda knew that going in. Is it better than what I first saw 30 years ago? Oh, God, yes. I am in no way outraged by this Blu Ray. I am, however, a little outraged and disgusted by the people who are screaming that the Blu Ray is a rip off since it's not exactly what they want. Seriously? Seriously? Anyone who thinks that seriously needs to get a grip. This Blu Ray is far from a rip off.


Similarly, I went to the World 3D Film Expo III back in September in Hollywood. I'm surprised that this is my first mention of it on this blog as it was a really wonderful experience, but then again it may be like my friend Bob Bloom once said: when people enjoy something, they don't talk about it. They only talk if they hate it.


Well, I didn't hate the 3D Film Expo. I loved it. 10 days, 35 movies, 31 of which were from the 1950s. Some extremely rare material, including the 1947 Russian version of Robinson Crusoe. I was in my element for those 10 days, you can believe it. I am also willing to bet that that was my last time getting to see most of those movies in 3D. I think if I'm ever going to get to see them again, it'll be in boring old 2D. Some of them might hit 3D Blu Ray, some of them might get shown again in NYC. But I think I won't get to see quite a few of them in 3D ever again. Some of them, the last time I saw them in 3D was in 2006 at the second World 3D Film Expo. So yeah, it was pretty special for me.


Which is one of the reasons why certain people at the Expo drove me bonkers. They would sit in their seats and throw near full on temper tantrums about the presentation of some of the titles. One guy was literally slamming his fists on his chair because--are you ready for this?---Phantom of the Rue Morgue was being shown in 1:85 and not 1:33 like he wanted it to be. Really? Beyond the fact that 1:85 was the proper aspect ratio for the movie, really? How childish does one get? I could see getting up in arms if the movie was being shown out of sync, but it wasn't. Hell, I would have complained if it was out of sync, since that's a perfect way to get a 3D headache. But complaining that it's not in the aspect ratio you want it to be? Again, a grip needs to be gotten.


Part of the problem, I think, is that movie buffs--or at least certain ones--are so hung up on the presentation that they can't really sit back and enjoy the movie itself. All too often, I see complaints of one absurd nature or another--one guy complained about seventeen seconds of Digital Noise Reduction being used during opening credits (though nowhere else in the movie he admitted)--but nobody actually talking about the movie. Yes, we do have a right to expect certain movies to look perfect on Blu Ray--there's really no excuse for a new movie looking anything less than perfect and there are quite a few classics like The Wizard of Oz or Casablanca that should look perfect. But there are films that are rare and that rarity should be kept in mind far more than any perceived imperfections. Being able to see that rarity should also be cause for joy, not childish anger because it's not precisely what you want. You don't always get precisely what you want--and sometimes you don't deserve it either. I am of the opinion that more movie buffs should stop and consider the marvel of what they're seeing and be glad to see it once in a while. Because you never know. Something like it may never come around again.


Besides, back in my day, everything had imperfections. But we watched them and were thankful to have it!

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

After several years of making serious--and somewhat depressing--message films, director Stanley Kramer decided to try to make THE comedy of all time. So he gathered most of the greatest comedians of the day, took a huge script that by legend was two scripts--one for dialogue and one for action--and gave us It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, a film that originally ran almost as long as The Ten Commandments. Point in fact, the first actual cut was, according to legend, 5 1/2 hours. It was trimmed down to 210 minutes (3 1/2 hours) before being cut back to 202 minutes. It played at that length for four weeks before being trimmed down to 163 minutes. 9 additional minutes--consisting of the overture, intermission, entr'acte, and exit music were then cut out leaving the movie at 154 minutes. For roughly 30 years, this was the only version possible to be seen. It was the version I first saw when a local station would run it on New Year's Day. And they cut it even further than that, even lopping off the very ending of the movie.


In 1991, roughly 20 minutes of 70mm trims were found and put back into the movie along with the overture, etc, bringing the movie up to 182 minutes. That version was released on VHS and Laserdisc (remember those?) and became, for the most part, the fan favorite version. However, MGM never properly restored the footage, so when the DVDs and first Blu Ray came out, it was the 163 minute version. Fans howled for the longer version and it looked like it would never happen. However, this past week, The Criterion Collection, through the efforts of Film Restorationist Extraordinaire Robert A Harris, put together a 197 minute version, which is probably as close to the original Roadshow as we're ever going to get.


The movie involves a group of motorists who witness a horrific (but spectacular) car crash on a California road. They try to help the driver of that car, a gangster named Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante), but he's already dying. Before he (literally) kicks the bucket, he tells them about $350,000 he's hidden under a "Big W" in Santa Rosita State Park. The motorists fail to tell the cops (one of whom is Norman Fell) about the money. They decide instead to go dig the money up themselves. At first, they try to work out a plan where everyone gets shares. But it takes no time at all for them to decide that it's every man--"including the old bag"--for himself and a wild chase for the money ensues. Unknown to the participants, they are being watched by the police, especially Santa Rosita Capt. T.G. Culpepper (Spencer Tracy), who wants someone to lead them to the money. Others get involved, wanton destruction of personal and private property ensues and the film just gets more and more frantic as it goes along.


Like quite a few epics from the 1960's, this film is rife with cameos and guest appearances. Not quite everyone who was someone in comedy is in it, but it comes close. If you know anything about classic comedy from the first six decades of the 20th Century, you'll be delighted at spotting all the actors. The principals were mostly TV actors at the time--Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Buddy Hacket, Jonathan Winters, Dorothy Provine, Edie Adams, Ethel Merman, and Mickey Rooney are the primary motorists who kick the whole thing off. Phil Silvers, Terry Thomas and Dick Shawn end up entering the race, as does Peter Falk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. Along the way, there's appearances by Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, Sterling Holloway, Paul Ford, Edward Evert Horton, The Three Stooges, Don Knotts, Buster Keaton, Carl Reiner, Arnold Stang, Marvin Kaplan, Leo Gorcey and Jim Backus. On the side of the cops we have Alan Carney, William Demearest, Harry Lauter, Roy Roberts, Zazu Pitts, and Madalyn Rhue. Selma Diamond is the voice of Spencer Tracy's wife. And the list goes on.


Some people have complained that all the cameos make the film distracting to watch, much like The Greatest Story Ever Told. Frankly, I find the latter film much more distracting with it's cameos. It's hard to take a movie about Jesus seriously when you have the actor who played Klinger as one of his disciples, Sidney Poitier helping to carry the cross, Charlton Heston screaming "Repent!" for ten minutes as John the Baptist, and John Wayne as a Roman Centurion wearing a wristwatch and saying "Truly this man was the son of God". In Mad World, the cameos fit. The only sad thing is that many of the cameos will be lost on a lot of young people. It's like watching The Muppet Show nowadays--some of the stars may be remembered and quite a number of them get the question of "Who?". Yes, if you know classic comedy, then almost everybody in the movie will pop out at you. If you're under a certain age, however, it's possible that the only people you may recognize now are Jonathan Winters, Peter Falk, The Three Stooges and Jim Backus. And even poor Jim Backus is a little shaky in this day and age. Actually, you might be surprised to that you would know more of the people than you would think, For instance, Jimmy Durante is the narrator of Frosty the Snowman (Jonathan Winters did the same duty for the awful Frosty Returns). Sterling Holloway was the voice of Winnie the Pooh (and Kaa the Snake in The Jungle Book). Edward Evert Horton narrated Fractured Fairy Tales on Rocky and Bullwinkle. Selma Diamond was on Night Court and in the Steve Martin movie All of Me. Don Knotts did a couple of movies with Tim Conway for Disney like The Apple Dumpling Gang. Jack Benny did a Looney Tunes cartoon spoofing himself (Rochester was in it, too) called The Mouse That Jack Built. Ethel Merman is in Airplane! as herself. Dick Shawn voiced The Snow Miser in The Year Without a Santa Claus. Carl Reiner is in the Clooney Oceans 11 trilogy. Sid Caesar is the gym teacher in Grease. And so on. Do a little research and you may be surprised.


Everybody who was in the movie was a great in their field. Spencer Tracy is one of the finest actors who ever lived. He's essentially playing the straight man in this and he's terrific as Culpepper, whose life slowly unravels during the course of the movie. He holds our attention whenever he's onscreen, even when he's just walking around. As for the comics...well, what can be said? Everyone will have their own favorite among the leads--Jonathan Winters seems to be the biggest favorite, with his hysterical destruction of Kaplan and Stang's gas station one of the best set pieces in the movie. It is to be hoped that should young people actually watch this that they may seek out other works from these great comedians to see what they've missed. I'm probably dreaming there, but I'm allowed.


Funny enough, there's nothing really in the movie to actually date it. Most comedies, even the truly great ones from the past forty years like Blazing Saddles and Airplane! have humor or other elements that firmly put them in their era. It can be argued that Airplane! is funnier than Mad World, but the disco scene--funny as it is--makes it a product of 1980. But the only thing outside of the cars to date Mad World is the appearance of pay phones. Everything else is timeless. The movie could literally have been shot at any given time. That could be why it still works so well and remains so funny. The complete lack of topical humor is the genius of the movie. You could watch it two hundred years from now and the jokes still wouldn't date. Two hundred years from now, people are going to watch Airplane! and scratch their heads at the disco scene (sadly). I'm not knocking Airplane!, mind you. I love the film and it's one of only a few comedies I bothered getting on Blu Ray (I by and large don't need to see comedies in hi def), but the reality is that it's already dating badly while Mad World manages not to.


Oh, and for the young people who wonder why Ethel Merman just doesn't pull out her cell phone to call her son, the answer is they didn't have them back then.


The Criterion Collection Blu Ray is a joy for fans of the film. It includes the "general release version", that is the 163 minute version in gorgeous high definition. But it also includes the reconstruction of the Roadshow version. Now again, this is a reconstruction, so parts of it aren't perfect. Remember, MGM didn't restore the trims, so Criterion could only do so much with them. As a result, there's a noticeable shift in quality whenever the film goes to restored footage. Some restored footage has burned in Japanese subtitles, which are fortunately a little light and small and not particularly obtrusive. Sometimes they have picture but no sound, so subtitles show up. And in at least four or five scenes, there's audio but no picture, so stills get used instead. That, to use Dick Shawn's slang, tends to bug some people, but I'm fine with it. None of those sequences are particularly long and at least three of them explain certain things that happen within the movie. At least one is full on hilarious and never should have been cut and one has a major plot point in it. It's also loaded with great extras, including the most fascinating commentary track I've ever heard. The track not only has great info on who was in the movie but who wasn't in the movie. Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Ed Wynn and Groucho Marx among others were penciled in but didn't make it.


The Blu Ray also reinstates the police calls that played during the films intermission. Those radio calls are interesting since they clear up a couple of plot points in between the two acts. The history of those calls is that they were piped in throughout the theaters during the original Roadshow engagement until a little old lady complained that they made her think strange men were with her in the ladies room. I'll leave the snarky comments about that to my readers.


This Blu Ray is an absolute joy. Like Twilight Time's Man in the Dark release this week, it's a must buy for anyone who owns a Blu Ray player. The restoration by Robert Harris truly adds to this wonderful movie. All of the general release footage is amazing to look at and the reconstructed footage, though not as nice, doesn't look that bad either. There's some great extras, including a five minute piece on how the restoration was pulled off. Being a Criterion release, the disc is a little pricey--49.95, dual format DVD and Blu Ray, but then again it is 5 discs, so that works out to $10 a disc. "And that's tax free money, my friend." At any rate, it's well worth the purchase. Extremely highly recommended.