Bette Midler's wildly funny and theatrical stage show is preserved on the big screen in this concert film shot in California in 1980. Along with her usual raunchy comedy material and over-the-top staging, Midler performs some of her best known songs (including "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and "Chapel of Love") along with Bruce Springsteen's "E Street Shuffle," om Waits' "Shiver Me Timbers," and the Faces' "Stay With Me." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Tony Berg - Band Vocalist; Randy Kerber - Band Vocalist
Credit
Toni Basil - Choreography, Marla Blakey - Choreography, Jack Roe - First Assistant Director, Michael Ritchie - Director, Alan Balsam - Editor, Glenn Farr - Editor, Howard Jeffrey - Executive Producer, Tony Berg - Musical Arrangement, Randy Kerber - Musical Arrangement, Tony Berg - Musical Direction/Supervision, Randy Kerber - Musical Direction/Supervision, Albert Brenner - Production Designer, William A. Fraker - Cinematographer, Howard Jeffrey - Producer, Michael Ritchie - Producer, Bill Darlington - Sound/Sound Designer, Steve Maslow - Sound/Sound Designer, Elliot Tyson - Sound/Sound Designer, Bruce Vilanch - Screenwriter, Bette Midler - Screenwriter, Jerry Blatt - Screenwriter
Divine Madness is a 1980 concert film directed by Michael Ritchie, and featuring Bette Midler during her 1979 concert at Pasadena's Civic Auditorium. The 94-minute film features Midler's stand-up comedy routines as well as 16 songs, including "Big Noise From Winnetka," "Paradise," "Shiver Me Timbers," "Fire Down Below," "Stay With Me," "My Mother’s Eyes," "Chapel of Love/Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Do You Want to Dance," "You Can’t Always Get What You Want/I Shall Be Released", "The E-Street Shuffle/Summer (The First Time)/"Leader of the Pack" and "The Rose".
Richie filmed four of Midler's concerts on the tour and cut them together to look like one. Divine Madness was released in 1980 to relative critical success. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert awarded the film three and a half stars, saying that the film's only weakness was that there was not "enough close-up shots of the audience". The tracks "Shiver Me Timbers" and "Rainbow Sleeve" were edited out of the Home Video Version. Divine Madness has been re-released on DVD but as yet only in the US.
