Cabaret (1972)
Drama | Music | Romance

"A great movie musical, made, miraculously, without compromises." -Pauline Kael, The New Yorker

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome to Cabaret. The winner of eight Academy Awards, it boasts a score by the legendary songwriting partnership behind another film that would energize the movie musical genre with equal razzle-dazzle 30 years later: Chicago's John Kander and Fred Ebb.

Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) and an impish emcee (Joel Grey) sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force. Cabaret caught lightning )and won Oscars) for Minnelli, Grey and director Bob Fosse, who shaped a triumph of style and substance. Come to this Cabaret, old chum. You'll never want to leave.

Storyline: Sally Bowles, an American singer in 1930s Berlin, falls in love with bi-sexual Brian. They are both then seduced by Max, a rich playboy. Sally becomes pregnant, and Brian offers to marry her... All the characters are linked by the Kit-Kat club, a nightspot where Sally sings. Written by Colin Tinto

User Comment: JSlack-2 from USA, 29 October 2005 • CABARET, Bob Fosse's 1972 musical which won eight Oscars and deserved more, is not in the league with charming, wholesome, innocently entertaining film musicals like MY FAIR LADY or SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, nor is it on the level of ambitious, serious musicals like WEST SIDE STORY. CABARET is in a class by itself, a masterpiece and a complete work of art.

If you don't like musicals because you think they are phony and unrealistic (I usually like them because they ARE), CABARET is the movie for you. I agree that Julie Andrews bursting into song in an Austrian meadow or Barbra Streisand belting her heart out as she tugboats past the Statue of Liberty might strike one as slightly unrealistic. We've had to overlook and forgive a lot in the past in order to see great stars giving exciting performances in film adaptations of Broadway musicals. We might have had to continue doing so had it not been for CABARET, the most innovative musical of all time and one which set new standards.

With CABARET no overlooking or forgiving is necessary. This is the most realistic movie musical ever made. The songs are performed right on the stage of the cabaret, and because we see the "beautiful orchestra," there is no stretching of the imagination to accept the situation.

Each of the songs serves a purpose toward unveiling character or commenting on a situation. Functionally, CABARET remains faithful to the traditional movie musical while giving it a much-needed face lift structurally. For example, when Liza Minnelli in a brilliant star-making performance as Sally Bowles, sings "Mein Herr," she's telling us a lot about this amoral, stardom-seeking girl, but she sings the song right there on the cabaret stage and not in one of those scenes where an orchestra cannot be.

The atmosphere of Berlin, 1931, is graphically presented. Hitler's influence is rising, decadence is predominant, anti-Semitism is seething. Sally Bowles is an American devoting her life to "divine decadence" and hoping to get a foothold in show business. Her one dream of salvation is to become an actress. Liza Minnelli captures Sally's many-faceted personality accurately. Although the role is not based on any single actress' life, there are such universal overtones to her that Sally can truly be thought of as the archetypal show biz heroine. It's one of the finest roles ever written about the entertainment world, and Miss Minnelli does wonders with it.

What comes across in Liza Minnelli's performance is that there are millions of people like Sally Bowles--people blessed with talent but cursed by circumstance. The only times Sally really feels worthwhile is when she is singing. Life can be closing in on her, but she sings and hears the applause and suddenly she is somebody. CABARET illustrates a great universal truth about show business which helps us to understand why so many talented yet unstable people seek to become a part of it. CABARET stands as an epitaph to the troubled, brilliant show people who never got the lucky break. Is it any wonder that it is so popular among show people today? The cabaret is seen as a microcosm of Germany during the rise of Hitler, and in this respect the movie achieves a chilling effect. CABARET has what I regard as the most powerful ending to any movie ever, as the camera pans the mirrored chandelier and we see reflected in alarming frequency the visible Nazi armbands. By the time that final drum roll sounds its chill of death, I am just left speechless and helpless for a while.

There has never been a more technically brilliant movie musical than CABARET. Everything is first-rate, and not a single sour note is struck. Most of this is due to the director, Bob Fosse, the genius choreographer and director of stage and screen. The dances for CABARET are typical of his talent. He must have a patent on suggestive poses; no one else could have conceived these dances so intriguingly. He keeps the pace moving so skillfully that the movie seems far too short, though it runs a full two hours. The craftsmen here perform at the height of their powers--they all seem to have art on their minds and the instruments for achieving it at their fingertips.

Liza Minnelli is supported by a notable cast. Joel Grey's performance as the tawdry m.c. is exceedingly well-done. Michael York is a perfect choice for the clear-eyed English writer; his love scenes with Miss Minnelli have an honest look that couldn't have been achieved with a more traditionally attractive leading man. There is pathos in the performances of Fritz Wepper and Marisa Berenson as a gigolo disguising his Jewishness and the lovely Jewish heiress he comes to love. Helmut Griem as a bisexual German baron is another asset to the cast. A special nod should go to the ladies (and gentlemen) of the chorus line whose weary faces reflect the true decadence of the piece.

The songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb are among the best ever written for a musical, and the only regret I have about the movie is that some of the better ones from the Broadway show do not appear in the movie. But who can complain? They've given us the stars; why be greedy? CABARET certainly renewed the musical movie.

A note on the 1972 Oscars. CABARET set a record for winning the most Oscars (eight) of any picture that didn't go on to win Best Picture. A few years after this happened I read an article by someone who spoke of the 1972 GODFATHER Oscar sweep. I didn't know that three Oscars constituted a sweep, particularly when another picture won eight in the same year. Bob Fosse even won the Best Director award over THE GODFATHER'S Francis Ford Coppola. CABARET is without doubt the best picture of 1972 and should have been so honored.

Summary: The screen's best musical.

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