Rating: 
Summary: GREAT MOVIE HORRIBLE SOUND
Review: This is a classic musical, but my goodness the sound will rupture your eardrums. My god, warner brothers, show your classics some respect. Did they TRY to make it sound this bad? Like fingernails on a chalk board. It's painfully distracting from the film experience. You have to turn up the volume to distinguish the dialogue, and when you do, it sounds ancient. Hissing and noisy. Ugh! And this is the collector's edition?! The film (as in many cases i am finding lately) is worth much more than the DVD treatment it gets.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointed fan
Review: When I originally saw the film many years ago, I felt it was an extremely remarkable piece of "History" which had occurred in a time when the rest of the world was in deep depression prior to the second world war. Now having recently seen it again and being able to compare it to Sam Mendes stage interpretation of the same story, i feel that the original film leaves a lot to be desired. Liza Minelli's portrayal of a wide eyed innocent American dancer is historically wrong. The story is better told when the character reverts to an English girl whose suitor is an American visiting Berlin. It would apprear that the film producers believed they needed Liza to pull off the film and reversed the nationalities of the main characters.I still enjoy watching Caberet, however, my personal memories of the recent staging of Caberet as previously mentioned hold a truer belief in accuracy of history.
Rating: 
Summary: Life is a cabaret, old chum...
Review: It's often been said about old musical movies that they went too far in the conceit of people "bursting out in song" during a scene. Well, in his film version of Kander & Ebb's masterful Cabaret, Bob Fosse completely got around that problem by presenting the songs on stage. It was handled brilliantly, the choreography was incredible, and the movie just plain works. Cabaret the movie doesn't share many songs in common with the original stage version - it still has "Willkommen," "Two Ladies," "Tomorrow Belongs To Me," a German version of "Married," "If You Could See Her," and "Cabaret" - but that's it. A few new songs were added - "Mein Herr," "Maybe This Time," "Money, Money," - but for the most part it's a lot less sung than the staged version. A lot of musical numbers dealing with the world outside the Kit Kat Klub were used as underscoring, preserving John Kander's great tunes. But this doesn't detract from it being one of the best filmed musicals out there. Fosse's direction is a big help; it has a great eye for early 1930s Berlin, and presents the decadence and foreshadows the Nazis brilliantly. Fosse created great, sensual choreography for the film, and it is completely entrancing to watch the musical numbers. And the rest is worth it, too. Flipflops aside, the couples are presented well; Liza Minelli's portrayal of Sally Bowles is definitely the acting part of a lifetime. She was just completely *convincing* as Sally, from end to end. Michael York as Brian is very reserved, very British, and very studied. Helmut Griem is entirely convincing as Max, who creates tension between the couple after befriending them. The secondary couple is played to perfection by Fritz Wepper and Marisa Berenson, as opportunistic Fritz Wendel who falls in love with the rich young Jewess Natalia Landauer, respectively. And, of course, Joel Grey is spectacular as the haunting, Puckish Emcee. In general, this movie presents itself as a stunning revelation to viewers of a story that will stick around for a very long time. It's a virtuoso interpretation of one of the greatest American musicals, and deserves to be seen.
Rating:
Summary: into the fun
Review: a wonderful musical for children and adults alike
Rating:
Summary: When Liza Was Queen of the World
Review: If anyone ever doubts that Liza Minelli deserved her superstar status way back when, Cabaret erases those doubts. Now the butt of late-night humor, Minelli was at her peak of looks and talent when she starred in this brilliant Bob Fosse film. The movie, adapted from the hit play, is a chilling look at a Germany that is just on the cusp of Nazi takeover. Set in Berlin, it tells the story of Sally Bowles, a cabaret singer whose bawdy, rowdy, brilliant stage presence is matched only by her even more excessive personal life. The almost nightmarish look of the tawdry but popular nightclub in which she works is matched by the underlying hysteria of its musical numbers. Joel Grey is absolutely brilliant as Sally's foil: the club's spooky star, whose act is cheap, witty, and lurid. Against this backdrop of frantic fun is the very real and chilling story of two innocent young Jews whose romance is about to crumble in the face of the Holocaust to come. They know they must escape--they just don't know how truly doomed they are. Marisa Berenson is exquisite as the young woman, so scared, and so in love. Michael Crawford plays a British journalist, in Berlin on assignment. He is the exact opposite of Sally--straight-arrow as they come--but he becomes entwined in her life, her tragedies, and her very real vulnerabilities, which Liza revealed to perfection in the midst of dancing and singing her heart out. The film garnered eight Academy Awards, including one for Liza, and for once, it deserved every one it got. This is a classic film, as brilliant today as it was at its debut. Liza was no flash in the pan, and her incredible talent was never as fresh, young, and in-your-face as it was in this movie.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece--no ifs, ands, or buts about it..
Review: To begin with, this musical is not for the golly-gee-whiz, Mickey Rooney, feel-good fans. It's a downbeat film from beginning to end, albeit with lots of excitement. The story pertains to pre-war Berlin, its seediness, desperation, decadance---and how it affects two very dissimilar people who happen to fall in love. Minnelli's character provides ample comedy relief in this film, however, and the abundant musical numbers underscore what's happening in the film. The astute observer notices that the musical numbers pertain very specifically to what's happening in the film at the time. The editing of these numbers, in conjunction with the dramatic events, equals pure genius, in this reviewer's point of view. Repeated viewing always has brought to light previously missed nuances. Not to be missed is Bob Fosse's unique choreography, Liza Minnelli's exuberance, as well as her dramatic performance, and the wonderful, unforgettable musical numbers. This is a film that will remain in the viewer's consciousness for decades---a masterpiece, a must-see for any serious film student.
Rating:
Summary: WHAT A SHOW
Review: This is one of the best movies ever made. It is an American classic. All cast deserves five stars, but Liza Minnelli deserves ten. She had never been better.
Rating: 
Summary: Great dipiction of pre-Nazi Berlin
Review: This classic is the best depiction to date of the deadance of pre-Nazi Berlin. It quite accurately shows the mindset of many Berliners and Germans in the days before Nazism; money was almost worthless and inflation spirling out of control so instead of saving your money which could be worthless at any moment go out and enjoy life while you could. In addition to being a wonderful movie, any student of German history should view this film to get an idea of the conditions during Hitler's rise to power.
Rating:
Summary: Almost great
Review: Cabaret broke the mold for the Hollywood musical -- but it was so far ahead of its time that only Hair, nearly a decade later, came close to its power, and it wasn't until 2001 that Moulin Rouge finally breathed the same amount of life into film musicals, albeit in a different way. Minnelli on the cabaret stage is **** (she isn't ***** only because a truly seedy nightclub singer never would have sounded this good), but offstage she's more Pookie Adams than Sally Bowles -- a mere *** with lots of obvious pathos and over-the-top takes meant to elicit laughter. Michael York is a serviceable ****. The real treasure here is Joel (*****) Grey, whom you can't take your eyes off of. If not for The Godfather that same year, Cabaret would have won Best Picture and Grey might have won Best Actor. Favorite brief moment: During the opening number, "Wilkommen," just after introducing the girls by name, Grey contrasts the cold outside with the heat inside the cabaret ("But in here, it is so-o-o HOT!"), and the girls' slinky movements that culminate with fingers jabbing once into the air is eerily hypnotic -- the creepiest thing in the film. Favorite musical number: "Money" -- it was pretty much everyone's favorite, as the movie audiences I saw it with always broke into applause at the end. (Applause for imaginary figures on a wall -- I never figured that out.) Most interesting moviegoing note: I saw this movie several times in a town heavily populated with elderly Jews -- several of whom walked out during the "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" number. Give Cabaret the credit it deserves. It was the first movie musical for people who don't like movie musicals. There haven't been enough of them (the movies, not the people).
Rating:
Summary: Still shines bright
Review: Despite the mediocrity of picture and sound of this DVD edition, Cabaret still shines bright after forty years, both as musical entertainment and social commentary. It depicts as accurately as any other document the contradictions and conflicts of German (and European) society during the rise of Nazism, the hedonistic atmosphere and decadence of the early thirties, an attitude of life that helped mask the menace of Hitler that was about to engulf Europe and the world. Thoroughly entertaining, enjoyable, and frightening.
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