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Stars: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Jonathan Winters | Written by William Rose, Tania Rose | Directed by Stanley Kramer

If you are a fan of comedy films, you’ll already know that It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is one of the greatest ones ever brought to the silver screen. Including most of the biggest names in comedy, it quite simply is a film that could never happen again. Now the Criterion Collection release has come to the UK and it is well worth buying.

When Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) has a high-speed crash, a group of drivers who come to his aid find him close to death. Before he literally kicks the bucket, he shares with them the location of a $350,000 treasure, leading to a frantic race to be first to the prize. One thing they...

My grandmother, Tania Rose, who has died aged 95, grew up speaking German but went on to collaborate with her husband on screenplays for the Ealing studios and the Oscar-winning Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

Born Margaret Tatiana in Berlin, Tania was the daughter of Lisa (nee Balster) and Morgan Philips Price who, after reporting on the Russian Revolution for the Manchester Guardian, went as foreign correspondent to the Daily Herald. German was spoken at home, so Tania had to brush up on her English when the family moved back to Britain and settled at the Grove in Taynton. Her father later became Labour MP for the Forest of Dean and Father of the House of Commons.

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Cast

Captain T. G. Culpeper Spencer Tracy J. Russell Finch Milton Berle Melville Crump Sid Caesar Benjy Benjamin Buddy Hackett Mrs. Marcus Ethel Merman Ding Bell Mickey Rooney Sylvester Marcus Dick Shawn Otto Meyer Phil Silvers J. Algernon Hawthorne Terry-Thomas Lennie Pike Jonathan Winters Monica Crump Edie Adams Emeline Finch Dorothy Provine Cabdriver Eddie “Rochester” Anderson Tyler Fitzgerald Jim Backus Man driving in the desert Jack Benny Union official Joe E. Brown Biplane pilot Ben Blue Police sergeant Alan Carney Detective Chick Chandler Mrs. Halliburton Barrie Chase Mayor Lloyd Corrigan Police chief William Demarest Sheriff of Crocket County Andy Devine Ginger Culpeper (voice) Selma Diamond Cabdriver Peter Falk Detective Normal Fell Colonel Wilberforce Paul Ford Deputy sheriff Stan Freberg Billie Sue Culpeper (voice) Louise Glenn Cabdriver Leo Gorcey Fire chief Sterling Holloway Mr. Dinckler Edward Everett Horton Irwin Marvin Kaplan Jimmy the Cook Buster Keaton Nervous motorist Don Knotts Airport...

For moviegoers growing up in the last 20-30 years, big is the new normal. I’m talking about those big-budget, over-produced, effects/action-packed extravaganzas that are as expected and routine an arrival as a commuter bus, and never more so than during the summer months. Come a rise in temperatures, there’s an almost ceaseless parade of these megabuck behemoths through multiplexes starting in May and continuing until the kids go back to school, one rolling out almost every week.

Consider these May-August releases and their eye-popping price tags:

5/4: Marvel’s The Avengers — $220 million

5/11: Dark Shadows — $150 million

5/18: Battleship — $209 million

5/25: Men in Black 3 — $250 million

6/8: Prometheus — $120-130 million

7/3: The Amazing Spider-Man — $220 million

7/20: The Dark Knight Rises — $250 million

7/31: Total Recall — $200 million

8/5: The Expendables 2 — $100 million

For those of you who haven’t been keeping count, that’s a little over $1.7 billion in productions...