(year included so as to not be confused with Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
I've searched for a decent copy of this film for some time and as yet haven't found it available in any format except the most abominable VHS pan and scan print, complete with muffled sound and faded picture. Might anyone know if it has been scheduled to air on one of the many, many cable stations, and if so, where it may be found? I think it's also been requested several times on TCM's website but as yet I don't think the station has scheduled it.
Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)
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jdb1
My, my -- I haven't thought about that movie in years. The movie that introduced the world to Frank Langella. (Well, there was also The Twelve Chairs that same year, but he wasn't really Frank Langella in that one.)
I don't think I've ever seen it, or seen it listed for TV broadcast in the New York area. Are there perhaps some legal issues?
I wonder what I'd think of it now. In 1970, I probably saw it as the height of urban New York sophistication. Now, I'd probably find it whiny, self-absorbed and irrelevant.
I don't think I've ever seen it, or seen it listed for TV broadcast in the New York area. Are there perhaps some legal issues?
I wonder what I'd think of it now. In 1970, I probably saw it as the height of urban New York sophistication. Now, I'd probably find it whiny, self-absorbed and irrelevant.
For the record (for what it may be worth), I began searching for the film after hearing about a critic who compared its director Frank Perry to John Waters. I can only assume two of Perry's films that were on this critic's mind were the cult movie Play it As it Lays (1972), which was easy to find, and Diary, which has been impossible to track down.
But after having read the synopsis for the film, I could easily see Diary as possibly having some influence on Waters' 1970s and early 1980s films (especially the Sirkish Polyester).
But after having read the synopsis for the film, I could easily see Diary as possibly having some influence on Waters' 1970s and early 1980s films (especially the Sirkish Polyester).
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jdb1
Yes, I can definitely see Waters' Polyester as a Dada, Deconstructionist version of Mad Housewife.
However, I do remember Mad Housewife as being one of those flat and sterile genre-type pieces, with lots of long silences, so beloved of some art film enthusiasts. Nothing at all Sirk-like to it, as far as I can remember; more Bergmanesque, and that's paying Frank Perry a very big compliment that the film doesn't really deserve. It's not all that good. The reason you've interested me in seeing it again is that I don't think I recognized it as satire at the time -- it was handled so portentously. Surely it was intended as a satire on the pretentions and emptiness of purpose of those people we came to call Yuppies.
Aside from Frank Langella's catlike and insinuating performance as Carrie Snodgress' coldhearted lover, the thing about the film I remember best is Richard Benjamin's pompous and ridiculous husband: a sort of Upper West Side Maj. Frank Burns. I still have an image of him fatuously tutoring his spoiled daughters at the breakfast table: "Can you say 'damson plum preserves?'"
However, I do remember Mad Housewife as being one of those flat and sterile genre-type pieces, with lots of long silences, so beloved of some art film enthusiasts. Nothing at all Sirk-like to it, as far as I can remember; more Bergmanesque, and that's paying Frank Perry a very big compliment that the film doesn't really deserve. It's not all that good. The reason you've interested me in seeing it again is that I don't think I recognized it as satire at the time -- it was handled so portentously. Surely it was intended as a satire on the pretentions and emptiness of purpose of those people we came to call Yuppies.
Aside from Frank Langella's catlike and insinuating performance as Carrie Snodgress' coldhearted lover, the thing about the film I remember best is Richard Benjamin's pompous and ridiculous husband: a sort of Upper West Side Maj. Frank Burns. I still have an image of him fatuously tutoring his spoiled daughters at the breakfast table: "Can you say 'damson plum preserves?'"
Re: Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)
Joy unspeakable. Well, I finally stumbled across what appears to be a decent copy. I'll post a review as soon as I get to view it, for Judith's amusement if for no one else's 