Cabaret

Rating:
Summary: One of the most brilliant musicals ever made!
Review:
The definitive version of Sally Bowles, the original Christopher Isherwood's 1939 book about life in Pre War II in Berlin. Liza Minelli proved she could act better than her mother (Judy Garland) . Minelli made a bravura performance and the inspired rapture of Bob Fosse makes of this film an absolute must to acquire it.


Rating:
Summary: Pre-War Germany as seen from the basement.
Review: "Cabaret" (1972) is one of the greatest all time musical films. Director Bob Fosse is a real wizard, with only half a dozen films in his director's account he has delivered two master pieces: "Cabaret" and "All That Jazz" (1979) and the controversial "Lennny" (1974).

This movie bestows the audience a side-glance of the society that gives birth to the National Socialist movement in pre-war Germany.
The moral decadence of high and middle class is perceptible. How this decadence husbanded with intolerance, corruption and anomie to produce a totalitarian state is shown unflinchingly in the film.

The anecdote focuses on Sally Bowles an American singer that lives under the delusion that success is at hand. A shy Englishman, Brian Roberts, in search of lodgment gets in touch with Sally and enters into a complex relation with her.
She introduces Brian to the aristocratic Maximilian von Heune and a variable love triangle emerges, leaving both characters emotionally bruised.

The musical pieces played in the Kit Kat Club are amazing, best of them: "Wilkommen", "Cabaret" and "Mein Herr". They also reveal what's going on in the outside world especially "Money, money".
Choreography is outstanding.

To be noted very particularly is Liza Minelli and Joel Gray's performances. Liza gives the best of her. Great singing, dancing and acting that earned her the Best Actress in Leading Role Oscar. Joel Gray as Master of Ceremonies also won Best Actor in Supporting Role Oscar.

It is a great film to be enjoyed by adult audiences.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Rating:
Summary: Eternally Fabulous
Review: "Divine decadence, darling," is what is served up abundantly in *Cabaret*. I was in junior high school when Liza won Best Actress for her tour de force as Sally Bowles - I was furious because I felt that Diana Ross got robbed. I knew, with my consummate adolescent insight, that Liza was merely playing herself in *Cabaret*, but that Diana was acting her little heart out in *Lady Sings The Blues*. Time has told a different tale, however, with *Lady Sings The Blues* being resigned to ignominy and *Cabaret* remaining as a sparkling achievement in moviemaking. Winning 8 Academy Awards in a very tight race against such blockbusters as *The Godfather*, *Deliverance*, and *Sounder*, it is Liza Minelli's tour de force, a role of a lifetime. Even her mother, Judy Garland, never had a role like this, so exquisitely tailored to her talents, that even Liza herself had a tough time topping this performance. In fact, she never did, starring in some truly dismal choices such as *Lucky Lady* and *New York, New York*. In *Cabaret*, Minelli plays Sally Bowles, a plucky little trollop who sings at the Kit Kat club in Berlin, during the time of the Weimar Republic. Sally tries very hard to be "an international woman of mystery," but lives in a dream world in which her non-existant worldly and dashing father will soon swoop down and rescue her. She falls in love with Brian (York), a charming and bi-sexual scholar earning his living as a translator. They are both romanced by a wealthy and handsome suitor (Griem), who after stirring their dreams and passions, leaves them flat. The subplots of Brian's students, their fellow boarders at the rooming house, and Sally's various schemes provide an opportunity for wonderful music and staging. Most of the numbers happen onstage at the Kit Kat club. We have addressed the issue of performances within performances before - and the usual question is "Who would pay money to see this?" But in *Cabaret*, the staged musical numbers are spectacular and you would definitely pay good money to see a nightclub performances like those. "Money" and "Mien Herr" are incredible, and Bob Fosse's outre choreography is stunning. The costuming and makeup add to the heightened surrealism, and the Nazi threat adds an element of danger and desperation to a movie that would be hard to classify as a musical, drama, comedy, satire or war movie. The Nazi violence, with a few exceptions, is shown by implication and suggestion. The "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" number is roundly described as stunning and chilling, and after almost 30 years, remains so. The concept of the story itself is enduring, engendering a recent Broadway revival directed by *American Beauty*'s Sam Mendez.

Rating:
Summary: Perfectly Marvelous
Review: In 1966, a new show opened on Broadway that would forever change musicals. Heard that before? Yes, but in this case it was most certainly true. My first experience with Cabaret was with a tape of the motion picture soundtrack. I had never heard of the musical, but just listening made me love it. How couldn't I? I then became extremely fascinated and bought the Broadway recording as well. Both movie and stage version share similiar songs and some key plot moments, but they are very different animals. Sally is British in the stage version. The role was originally meant for Minelli, but Harold Prince thought Sally Bowles really had to be second rate and British, so Sally was played by Jill Haworth and later revived in the mid 90's with Natasha Richardson filling in the "green nails". When Bob Fosse was approached, Liza was also offered the role she was overlooked for a few years before. Kander and Ebb had their muse sing the songs so beautifully that it only makes the movie even more heartbreaking and exhilirating. To think that this brilliant film was made for only 3 million dollars, Brando made that in one movie, later on we would have to suffer through big budget disasters like Moulin Rouge and Annie. What Cabaret had was a well written movie based on the orginal Isherwood stories and a phenomenal cast and brilliant director. I have seen this movie many times and highly recommend it to all. This was perhaps the last of the greatest musicals ever made, for me it is the only one. Winner of 8 Academy awards, including Best Director Bob Fosse, Best Actress Liza Minelli and Best Supporting Actor Joel Grey, you will live in a world of decadence and experience a real tour de force.

Rating:
Summary: A musical treasure that more than matches the test of time.
Review: The time is 1931, and the setting is decadent Berlin. At the Kit Kat Club, a dark, underground, rather subversive cabaret, where sassy drag is de rigor, a heavily made-up omniscient master of ceremonies (Joel Grey) introduces Sally Bowles, (an energetic Liza Minnelli in her greatest role), a struggling American singer. The crowd watches, cheering, laughing and drinking merrily, as Sally belts out her songs. But just underneath the surface of this joviality lies evil. Surreptitious glimpses are snatched of a swastika in the dark corners of the club, as the young boys of Hitler youth move through the audience malevolently watching and waiting. It's a shocking portent of what is to come and signals the eventual doom of all the good times.

It's a pleasure to revisit this film after so many years, and while some of plot points may seem a little dated, the message of the movie remains just as relevant as ever. The musical numbers effortlessly flow in and out of the story, and dutifully mirror the action as Joel Grey performs the crucial role of keeping the cabaret going. His impish grin at the end of the German anthem where Nazis dominate the patriotic singing captures the coming evil and is unforgettable.

The story focuses on Sally and her dreams of movie stardom. Sally is a flighty figure complete with big cow eyes, lipstick, and green fingernail polish. She's pretty uninterested in politics and the world around her, merely desperate to get a screen test. She'll sleep with anyone who she thinks can advance her agenda. Suddenly Brian Roberts (Michael York) arrives in her world of late night decadence. Brian is a mannered, well-educated Englishman who has come to Berlin to teach English and is looking for a room to rent at Sally's boarding house. Sally quickly befriends him and convinces him to split the rent to her large apartment, but their friendship soon blossoms into romance.

Brian is also bisexual and he soon becomes involved with Maximilian (Helmut Griem), a wealthy German who showers both Brian and Sally with expensive presents. Running parallel to this story is the relationship between the financially strapped Fritz Wendel (Fritz Wepper), who falls in love with Natalia Landauer (a gorgeous Marisa Berenson). Natalia is the daughter of wealthy Jewish businessman, and is at first wary of Fritz, but soon she admits it is just too dangerous for them to be together in the anti-Jewish Germany of the 1930's.

While the lives of the main protagonists unfold the rise of the Nazi's are cleverly hinted at by distorted, ugly images that sweep through the narrative. Swastika flags adorn streets, a patron of the club who opposes the regime is savagely beaten outside, and street violence begins to escalate. The setting is dark and somber with both the interiors and exteriors of much of the film bathed in shades of brown and grey. The Kit Kat Club is shadowy and dark, with a kind of menacing claustrophobia that gives the whole movie a heightened reality. Director, Bob Fosse creates a tight film full of metaphor and meaning bringing the decadent fun of the nightlife to life with imaginative framing shots between legs, tables, and patrons.

One of the most chilling and unforgettable scenes comes bathed in beautiful sunlight as a young blue-eyed, blond Aryan tenor begins Tomorrow Belongs to Me with most of the crowd joining in the rousing chorus about the Fatherland. Meanwhile, as the Nazi thugs beat up people who oppose them, Sally continues to belt out Life is a Cabaret and Money. Inside the cabaret the troubles are gone and the shows continue, but one gets the sense that the good times are coming to an end. Mike Leonard December 04.


Rating:
Summary: Gypped
Review: As other reviewers have noted, Warner stated that this print was enhanced for widescreen TVs ... and it's not. Later packaging of this edition does not say that, but why the heck can't Warner get it right? I am so angry at them for this.

Cheapskates.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: This was an amazing film. Probably my favorite movie musical of all time. But musical or not, it was a great movie. Liza Minelli and Michael York are perfect for their roles, and this is a rare musical where the characters and story comes first.

The songs--which include "Money, Money," "Maybe This Time," and of course "Cabaret"--are pretty great as well.

Director Bob Fosse does an amazing job capturing the era, and the screenwriter actually improves on the play by jetisoning some of the lighter elements and a few of the characters, while really getting to the heart of the Sally Bowles (Liza Minelli) character. A truly great film

Rating:
Summary: Liza Minelli And Joel Grey At Their Very Best
Review: The Music and Dancing are outstanding. The 1931 Berlin Kit Kat Club comes alive. This 25th Anniversary video has an interesting documentary presentation prior to the actual film. The movie plot is only average but all of the musical aspects of the film are outstanding earning it 8 academy awards in 1972 - a real treat. One of the best musicals of all time.

Rating:
Summary: Plucky
Review: When I watched this film I had no idea that liza minnelli was the main character, and I was under the impression that it was a fairly new film. I'm glad I didn't know who the actors and actresses were because I got a fresh look at the film, and it was very entertaining.

I love musicals, and this one was very unique to most of the others that I've seen. I think the numbers and the costumes were delightful, it had great acting, and the technical details of the film were wonderful. I really didn't like the plot at all though. The drama was good, and the story was good, but it never went anywhere. I think the real meaning of the story got brushed aside completely and fuzzed up a bit. It leaves you feeling as if you've watched a whole movie in preparation for something to happen, building up to a climax that doesn't exist.

Overall, I recommend the movie lovers of music, theater, and burlesque...but don't expect to be riveted to your seat. even though it's good, it's a movie I probably wouldn't be able to sit through again.

Rating:
Summary: What is the big fuss????
Review: I don't get it... This movie has been praised for years, and I can't stand it! I think Liza Minelli is awful. She can't sing, she can't act, and she's not even that marvelous of a dancer - what did she win an Academy Award for, exactly? Effort? There's plenty of that - it's like she's trying as hard as she possibly can to sing like Judy Garland, act like Barbara Streisand, and just coming off as annoying. Joel Grey is good, I'll warrant, but extremely creepy (I still have nightmares about him, I swear) and Michael York is... well, Michael York. Does he ever actually act in films? I've yet to see it. The musical numbers have been butchered, the plotline destroyed, and the message completely lost. I'm appalled that Kander and Ebb approved of this ghastly reimagining of their wonderful score... It all just makes me sad. If you want to hear a fabulous version of "Cabaret", check out the 1998 version. It's much richer and full of ACTUALLY talented people. Sorry everyone who is a fan, but frankly this movie sucked.