It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World! has seen a number of versions on various media formats over years, and has been released twice on DVD, in 2001 and 2003. It is in the process of being archivally restored by preservationist Robert A. Harris.

Cinematic Releases

In its preview showing in 1963, the film ran 210 minutes — 3.5 hours! Director Stanley Kramer cut the film to 192 minutes for the premiere. This was the version with which Kramer was reportedly satisfied. During its roadshow 70mm run, United Artists, seeing that it had a major hit movie, cut the film to 162 minutes without Kramer’s involvement, in order to add an extra daily showing. The general release 35mm version runs 154 minutes, with overture and exit music omitted. At the film’s premiere, radio transmissions between the film’s fictional police department played in the theater lobby and rest rooms during the intermission. The police transmissions featured Detective Matthews (Charles McGraw) and the police personnel that follow the group. These three reports (each approx. one minute in length) may have added to the full 210 minute length.

Some of the cut footage remains missing, although 20 minutes of material has been found in recent decades. MGM/UA has also located a 20 minute 70mm preview reel which contained a few scenes in their entirety. These two 70mm reels provided the extra scenes for the 1991 “Special Edition” version with restored footage” project. No out-take footage was used, with the exception of a two-second wide shot of the Beechcraft aircraft, needed to bridge a highly sought-after bit of Buddy Hackett being doused with a bucket of water.

Currently, the best existing footage is in the form of original 70mm elements of the general release version (recent restored versions shown in revival screenings come from this footage). Some if not all of the remaining footage does exist in some form, although much of it has deteriorated over time. A restoration effort currently is under way by preservationist Robert A. Harris in an attempt to bring the film back as close as possible to the original roadshow release.

Home Media and TV Releases

While not officially referring to it as a director’s cut, Director Stanley Kramer helped oversee the re-incorporation of missing footage into a 182-minute “Special Edition” version for VHS and LaserDisc in 1991. Screenwriter Tania Rose was also contacted by the Special Edition team, and after viewing the footage, gave her endorsement to the project. Because of the quality of the missing scenes, the lack of a large budget for a film restoration, and a lack of interest at the time by restoration experts, it was decided that a digital tape reconstruction for presentation on Laserdisc would suffice as a venue for fans to finally see the footage that had been missing for so long. The special edition version has aired on Turner Classic Movies. A decade later, the improved quality of DVD made the lower quality of the restored footage noticeable, so the decision to release standard edited version on DVD was made. Comparisons between the two show that the extended version is of inferior video quality to that of the DVD, as film transfer techniques and formats have improved since.

The official release from MGM is the 161-minute general release version, taken from its original 35mm elements. Because of this, it is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, as opposed to the full 2.75:1 in anamorphic 70mm form.

Current DVD Releases

Two versions of the film have been released on DVD. The first, from 2001, is a double-sided disc containing an hour of missing scenes on the second side, along with the original documentary Something A Little Less Serious, and trailers and TV spots. In 2003, the film was released on DVD as a movie-only edition, as a single-sided disc with art on one face. The 2001 release had a yellow spine and is now somewhat more difficult to find, while the 2003 release had a blue spine and is relatively easy to find.

A Sequel In the Works

On January 9, 2007, Karen Sharpe Kramer, widow of Stanley Kramer, and film producer Edward Bass announced that a sequel entitled It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World is in the works. Like the original a large ensemble cast mixing comics and dramatic actors is planned. The story follows the descendants of the characters from the first movie who are thrust into another madcap chase to find a cache of money after it is revealed that the bills found in the first movie were counterfeit. Suriviving original cast members Sid Caesar and Jonathan Winters, among others, may make cameo appearances.