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| CABARET 1972 - USA - 124 min. - Feature, Color Director -Bob Fosse Studio -Warner Home Video |
| Genre/Type -Musical, Drama, Musical Drama Artistic/ Production Styles -Allegory Flags -Substance Abuse (Alcohol, Drugs), Sexual Situations MPAA Rating -PG Keywords -bisexual, nightclub, cross-cultural-relations, entertainer, love, love-triangle, music, Nazism, performer, romance, culture-clash Themes -Love Triangles, Self-Destructive Romance, Opposites Attract, Political Unrest Tones -Stylized, Biting, Humorous, Satirical, Bittersweet Box office -$21.9 million / Among top grossing films of 1972 From play -I Am a Camera Set In -Berlin, Germany, 1940s (pre-World War II) Key name -Hitler, Adolf Produced by -ABC Pictures / Allied Artists Release -Feb 13, 1972 (USA) DVD Street Date -Apr 29, 1998 Languages -English Subtitles -English, French, Spanish Screen Formats -Letterbox for 16x9 TVs(SM) Sound -SDDStereo.0 Aspect Ratio -1.85:1 (DVD) DVD Sides -1 Features -Extensive production notes / Interactive menus / Theatrical trailer / Scene access / Subtitles: English, Fran�ais & Espa�ol Cast MLiza Minnelli -- Sally Bowles Michael York -- Brian Roberts Joel Grey -- Master of Ceremonies Helmut Griem -- Maximilian von Heune Marisa Berenson -- Natalia Landauer Fritz Wepper -- Fritz Sigrid Von Richtofen -- Fraulein Maur Helen Vita -- Fraulein Kost Ralf Wolter -- Herr Ludwig Kathryn Doby - Estrongo Nachama -- Cantor George Hartmann -- Willi Gerd Vespermann -- Bobby Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel -- Fraulein Schneider Ricky Renee � Elke |
| Plot Synopsis Originally a 1966 Broadway musical, this groundbreaking Bob Fosse musical was in turn based on Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin, previously dramatized for stage and screen as I Am a Camera with Julie Harris as Sally Bowles. Fosse uses the decadent and vulgar cabaret as a mirror image of German society sliding toward the Nazis, and this intertwining of entertainment with social history marked a new step forward for the movie musical. Michael York plays a British writer who comes to Berlin in the early 1930s in hopes of becoming a teacher. He makes the acquaintance of flamboyant American entertainer Sally Bowles, played by Liza Minnelli. Sally works at the Kit Kat Klub, a George Grosz-like Berlin cabaret where each night the smirking, androgynous Master of Ceremonies (Joel Grey) introduces a jazz-driven "girlie show" to his debauched audience. Virtually all the film's musical numbers are staged within the confines of the Kit Kat Klub, and each song comments on the plot and on Germany's "progression" from hedonism to Hitlerism. Most of the Broadway score by John Kander and Fred Ebb was retained, with the welcome addition of "The Money Song." Although it lost Best Picture to The Godfather, Cabaret won eight Oscars, including awards to Minnelli, Grey, and Fosse. A heavily expurgated 88-minute version of Cabaret has been prepared for commercial TV presentations; avoid this one at all costs, and hold out for the 124-minute theatrical cut. � Hal Erickson Reviews Rebecca Flint, AMG |
| Less a traditional musical than a drama featuring musical numbers, Cabaret is a beautiful, disturbing evocation of life in Germany during Hitler's rise to power. Using the Kit Kat Club's expertly choreographed routines to reflect the changes in German society, director Bob Fosse effectively shows us a glittering, illusory world, whose insular decadence starkly contrasts with the encroaching horror of reality. Sally Bowles exists at the heart of the turmoil, a conductor for the unrestrained, buoyant energy that both electrifies the club and stands to be threatened by what is going on in the world outside of it. Brash, shamelessly sexual, and bearing a self-assurance of enviable proportions, she is a perfectly flawed heroine, one of the most fully realized women incarnated on the page, stage, and screen. Liza Minnelli portrays her with the energy and blissful abandon that the character requires, turning in one of the best performances of her career. The sight of her performing in the Kit Kat Club, clad in a bowler, boots, and little else and making novel use of a chair, remains one of the screen's most iconic images. The focus on the relationships of the film's main characters, most notably that of Sally and Brian (played with gentle, almost poetic befuddlement by Michael York), perfectly juxtaposes the turbulence of private lives and public events. Sally's promiscuity, Brian's bisexuality, Maximilian's casual use of both characters, and the eventual acceptance of platonic friendship mirror the fortunes of a time and mentality whose mantra of pleasure would soon be forced to give way to one of pain. The best and most terrifying evocation of past debauchery and present "progression" towards a new, fascist ideal, is of course the Emcee. As played by an unforgettable Joel Grey, he occupies an existence somewhere between human and phantom, a cunning apparition who serves as a reminder of carnal delight and ideological oppression. Like the Emcee, Cabaret shows us both delight and oppression, providing a nuanced portrait of an era where the former was rapidly being eclipsed by the latter. Jamie Russell, BBC Updated 06 June 2002 |
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| The first musical ever to be given an X certificate, Bob Fosse's "Cabaret" launched Liza Minnelli into Hollywood superstardom and reinvented the musical for the Age of Aquarius. Following in the wake of the radical sexual politics of the 60s, Fosse's adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's autobiographical "Berlin Stories" focuses on singer-dancer Sally Bowles (Minnelli) as she struts her stuff on the stage of the Kit-Kat club - a place where absolutely anything goes. While the decadent partygoers of 30s Berlin experiment with song, dance, and all manner of sexual couplings, Germany's going to rack and ruin as a bunch of thuggish political heavies known as the Nazis turn the city's streets into a violent arena of hate-crimes and political propaganda. The champagne may still be flowing at the Kit-Kat club, but how long will it be before the brown shirts fulfil the promise of the song "Tomorrow Belongs to Me"? Contrasting the perverse stage show with the terror engulfing the streets, Fosse turns "Cabaret" into a dark yet gaudy snapshot of an era of the relentless pursuit of pleasure. As the sexy, but none too bright, singer Minnelli (in bowler hat and stockings) dominates the stage, squeezing Michael York's shy gay Englishman out of the frame and only meeting her match in Joel Grey's overblown and completely unforgettable Master of Ceremonies. The songs all take place on the stage, so as not to disturb the sexual shenanigans between Minnelli, York, and Helmut Griem's bisexual, and include "Money, Money", "Mein Herr" and, of course, "Cabaret". All are guaranteed to leave Sally Bowles' words ringing in your ears as the credits roll: "Divine decadence, darling!" Awards 1972 -Academy Best Actress (win) -Liza Minnelli Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) -Jay Presson Allen Best Art Direction (win) -Herbert Strabel /Rolf Zehetbauer/Hans Jurgen Kiebach Best Cinematography (win) -Geoffrey Unsworth Best Director (win) -Bob Fosse Best Editing (win) -David Bretherton Best Picture (nom) Best Score (win) -Ralph Burns /Robert Knudson/David Hildyard Best Supporting Actor (win) -Joel Grey 1972 -British Academy Awards Best Actress (win) -Lisa Minnelli Best Art Direction (win) -Rolf Zehetbauer Best Cinematography (win) -Geoffrey Unsworth Best Direction (win) -Bob Fosse Best Film (win) -Bob Fosse Best Soundtrack (win) -Robert Knudson /Hildyard/Piantadosi Most Promising Newcomer (win) -Joel Grey 1972 -Golden Globe Best Actress - Musical or Comedy (win) -Liza Minnelli Best Director (nom) -Bob Fosse Best Original Song (nom) -John Kander Best Original Song (nom) -Fred Ebb Best Original Song (nom) -Fred Ebb Best Original Song (nom) -John Kander Best Picture - Musical or Comedy (win) Best Screenplay (nom) -Jay Presson Allen Best Supporting Actor (win) -Joel Grey Best Supporting Actress (nom) -Marisa Berenson New Star of the Year - Female (nom) -Marisa Berenson 1972 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures 10 Best Films 1972 Best Director (win) Best Supporting Actor (win) Best Supporting Actress (win) 1972 -New York Film Critics Circle Best Actress (nom) -Liza Minnelli Best Direction (nom) -Bob Fosse Best Film (nom) -Bob Fosse Best Screenwriting -Jay Presson Allen Best Supporting Actor -Joel Grey Other Awards Films Presented -Bob Fosse -1972 -Venice Film Festival U.S. National Film Registry (win) - -1995 -Library of Congress Best Director (nom) -Bob Fosse -1972 -Directors Guild of America |
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