Rating: 
Summary: Life In the Cabaret
Review: "Cabaret" is one of the best releases of 1972, living up to "The Godfather". It won eight Oscars, including Best Director. Its combination of glitz, glamour, sex, ulginess, and turmoil wonderfully express themselves in the movie. It offers a unique musical taste not often seen. The plot was written wonderfully. They always offer surprise interest scenes when the audience least expects it. The glamour in the Kit Kat Klub switching to the Nazi troop march symbolize such surprise. Such hardtimes are expressed accurately as it happened when Hitler began taking over Germany. Daring sex scenes and sex talk offer further respect to the crew. This places them ahead of their time. Some may say "Cabaret" is also ahead of modern day time. The costume designs were craften beautifully. The drag queens resemble real-life women, a difficult task to master. Every piece of clothing accurately desplicts 1930's german styles, in and out of the cabaret. All the songs were written brilliantly. Liza Minelli deserved her Oscar win for Best Actress for her role as a greedy cabaret performer Sally Bowles. Her singing is unforgettable. Amazingly, she was only 24. Michael York's role as a man who converts to heterosexuality with a relationship with Bowles is also wonderful. He was wrongfully dissed for the Oscar nomination for Best Actor. All other performances are also brilliant, major or minor. "Cabaret" is a great musical for those looking for something unique. It still contains the attraction spark enflamed 31 years ago. This will leave many audiences entertained for many more years.
Rating:
Summary: DIVINE DECADENCE.....
Review: One of the most memorable musical/comedy-dramas ever made and the one that catapulted Liza Minelli to international stardom and cemented Bob Fosse's reputation as an American musical genius. 1931 Berlin is brilliantly realized as an era of apathy and decadence in Hitler's pre-rise to power. This is acted out virtually on stage at the Kit Kat Club where American Sally Bowles (Minelli) performs. The bizarre Emcee (Joel Grey) welcomes the patrons to the sexually charged performances and sexually ambiguous performers. Grey resembles a macabre ventriloquist's dummy as he sings and prances around on stage. He's perfect for the club's bizarre ambience. Into this world comes British Michael York---an innocent into a kind of hell. Sally takes him under her wing and embroils him in her life. He is a writer but has to give English lessons for survival. They are opposites. She is worldly, carefree, sexually outrageous and oblivious to the changing political climate while he is gentlemanly, sexually inexperienced and socially aware. But Sally desperately needs a real friend (as well as a cigarette, most of the time) and they become involved. Excellent supporting cast includes Marisa Berenson as a Jewish heiress, Fritz Wepper as a German "gigolo" who falls for Berenson and Helmut Griem as a rich playboy who comes between Sally and York. The musical numbers are fantastic and mirror the action, attitudes and atmosphere in pre-Hitler Berlin as well as the actions and emotions of the characters on screen. Stunning uses of color and beautiful sets and costumes make "Cabaret" an eye filler as well. A near perfect film and an unforgettable cinematic experience. Based on the writings of Christopher Usherwood as well as the legendary Broadway play by John van Druten. Filmed before (as a non-musical) as "I Am A Camera" in 1955 with Julie Harris, Laurence Harvey and Shelley Winters. A modern day classic and winner of eight Oscars including Minelli and Grey.
Rating: 
Summary: PLEASE PLEASE Don't buy this!
Review: CABARET is one of the greatest movie musicals ever. I adore it. It is flawless, IMHO.
Why, then am I giving it one star? Because, as others have said, Warners should be ashamed of themselves. This is not the first, but the SECOND release of this movie in a non-anamorphic transfer. I bought the original and was mighty p****ed because it was non-anamorphic. I thought they would have honored this magnificent film in the "anniversary" release. But no. It is, as stated by another reviewer, the same disc as before, in terms of picture quality.
On a small TV you won't notice. But if you care about these things, then believe me, this release sucks big time. As did the first one.
I'm angry, not at being ripped off (I sent this one back for a refund) but because a wonderful work of art has been abused by a greedy, careless film company. And I have been robbed of the chance to see the film in its glory.
Having said that, nothing could improve the truly dreadful sound quality - which was terrible from day one.
I don't suppose there ever will be another release of this movie. What a terrible shame.
Rating:
Summary: Shot-for-shot brilliant
Review: This is one of the most amazing movies to experience on DVD. The detail in each shot is outstanding and the DVD version only enhances it. The film stands on its own as simply one of the best and most awarded films of all-time. Winner of 8 deserved Academy Awards, the film beat out The Godfather in just about every catagory except Best Picture. It simply shows no signs of age. This is one of the few films that could be released today and still create the same frenzy it did in 1972. Bob Fosse was truly a genius and master craftsman and it's hard to think of what would have happened to this film in anyone else's hands. Liza Minnelli's performance is nothing short of a revelation. She creates a character so self-absorbed that it doesn't matter how brilliant she is onstage (and she truly does become a star in front of our eyes), she lives for whatever moment is happening - as long as she's having fun.
This film is one that should be required viewing for film students and anyone interested in how to make a movie musical. It rarely gets any better than this.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful new collector's edition
Review: CABARET has never looked better, remastered for it's 25th anniversary, with additional features.Liza Minnelli gives the performance of her career as the singer Sally Bowles, on a self-imposed exile in Berlin, entertaining at the seedy Kit Kat Klub. Into her life comes Brian Roberts (Michael York), a mild-mannered English bisexual who falls in love with her. Both are seduced by the wealthy Maximillian (Helmut Griem) before Sally falls pregnant, aborts the child and Brian leaves Berlin just as the Nazi's gain power. The musical, set against the stormy backdrop of Berlin in the 1930's, is a marvellous piece of film making. Directed and choreographed by maestro Bob Fosse, CABARET also boasts original Broadway performer Joel Grey as the Master of Ceremonies, and Fritz Wepper and Marisa Berenson. Also includes reminiscences by Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Michael York, Cy Feuer, John Kander and others from the creative team, an old featurette on the making of the film, and the original theatrical trailer.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't pass on this
Review: I almost passed over this DVD because a couple of Amazon reviewers forcefully complained about the presentation. I'm glad I bought it. The widescreen was just as I expected, and picture and sound quality were fine. Anyone who's seen the movie knows how good it is. If you haven't seen it, you're in for a treat; and this DVD serves it well. (A five-star review is for the absolutely superlative.)
Rating:
Summary: Beware False DVD Packaging
Review: While this is probably not a bone of contention with most viewers, I think it's worth noting for those that do pay attention to these things, especially if you base your purchases on them, as I did in this case. The packaging on this newer DVD edition of "Cabaret" states that it is an anamorphic transfer (i.e. "Enhanced for Widescreen TVs"). It is NOT. This is the SAME disc as before, with new a label on it. They merely changed the packaging, I guess, so that they could mention "Chicago" in the description on the back cover and tie it into the heat for that film. Shame on you, Warner Bros. We all work hard for our money and deserve better than to believe we're buying a new anamorphic transfer, when you are really marketing the exact same discs as before.
Rating:
Summary: Cabaret -- Liza-style
Review: Liza Minelli's "Cabaret" -- and, for that matter, Bob Fosse's -- digresses somewhat from the original stage production, both in its plot as well as in its characterizations (Sally is American?). But whatever changes Fosse put into this masterpiece worked splendidly; not only did the fun and sexy atmosphere of the stage version get ratcheted up a notch, but the social commentary behind the fun also got subtly remastered (the last scene is very subtle, iconic, and powerful). The color, the suggestive dancing, and the vocal performances are all top notch. And how can we forget the cinematography? Liza making love to the camera in "Maybe This Time" and "Cabaret," Joel Grey's ridiculously appealing Emcee in "Money, Money," and, as already stated the final money-winning shot are all wonderful. Where musicals like "Chicago" fail is where "Cabaret" succeeded: in creating a splendid mix of "razzle dazzle," heart, and social commentary. Indeed, THIS "Cabaret" improved on the originals musical and production values, paving the way for the 1998 revival -- and making cinematic history in the process.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, Engrossing, Perplexing
Review: I would like to begin by saying that this is a great movie and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys an engaging story of genuine human emotion and the need for fulfillment against the grain of common society. This is a very good movie. But I must admit that I have mixed feelings about this film. The story following the lives of an American expatriot cabaret singer and an expatriot English tutor in their struggles with love greed and survival in Weimer Republic Germany is honest and entertaining and the political subplot (I should really call it the major underlying theme) of the rise of Nazism and the dehumanization of Germany is thought provoking and sometimes tragic. The scene in which the youth gets up and sings the rousing patriotic song only to have the camera role back and disclose to the audience that he is a Hitler youth is almost frightening in the sharp change of emotions it ellicits from the viewer. The Cabaret song sequences serve to highlight certain themes and link the story together quite nicely. The ending is absolutely brilliant. And yet, with all these wonderful attributes I still can't decide whther or not I like this movie, and I can't explain why. I guess the only way to find out what you will think is to see it for yourself. I will say it's one of those movies that stays with you.
Rating:
Summary: What a shame....
Review: This great movie classic and several others by Bob Fosse are sold to the public in some of the lousiest DVD productions I've seen. There are hardly any extras, actually there are none, with the honorable exception of recently issued "All That Jazz". The whole idea with DVD's is to offer consumers and movie lovers something they did not have on VHS. Benefits of DVD technology are conspicuously missing with this DVD and many others. That is the only reason I am giving Cabaret one star. The review posted here should assist customers with their purchase and since this is such a poor DVD package, I refuse to buy it. I suspect there will be re-issues in several years which only means more money out of your pocket - just because the product was not offered in proper production the first time arround. If this sounds like deja vu, you're right - remember all the "remastered" audio CD's that you have to buy all over again. Shame on the entertainment industry and their lousy products. They are fighting the piracy but inviting it with such behavior. Max
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