- 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) so
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.
DVD Features:
Documentary:25th-Anniversary Documentary “Cabaret: A Legend in the Making”
Featurette:“The Recreation of An Era”
Interactive Menus
Interviews
Production Notes:“Kit Kat Klub Memory Gallery”: The film’s stars and creators reminisce about making movie musical history.
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer
Winner of eight Academy Awards, including Best Director (Bob Fosse), Best Actress (Liza Minnelli), and Best Supporting Actor (Joel Grey), Cabaret would also have taken Best Picture if it hadn’t been competing against The Godfather as the most acclaimed film of 1972. (Francis Ford Coppola would have to wait two years before winning Best Director, for The Godfather, Part II.) Brilliantly adapted from the acclaimed stage production, which was in turn inspired by Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories and the play and movie I Am a Camera, this remarkable musical turns the pre-war Berlin of 1931 into a sexually charged haven of decadence. Minnelli commands the screen as nightclub entertainer Sally Bowles, who radiantly goes on with the show as the Nazis rise to power, holding her many male admirers (including Michael York and Helmut Griem) at a distance that keeps her from having to bother with genuinely deep emotions. Joel Grey is the master of ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub who will guarantee a great show night after night as a way of staving off the inevitable effects of war and dictatorship. They’re all living in a morally ambiguous vacuum of desperate anxiety, determined to keep up appearances as the real world–the world outside the comfortable sanctuary of the cabaret–prepares for the nightmarish chaos of war. Director-choreographer Fosse achieves a finely tuned combination of devastating drama and ebullient entertainment, and the result is one of the most substantial screen musicals ever made. The dual-layered Special Edition widescreen DVD includes an exclusive 25th-anniversary documentary, Cabaret: A Legend in the Making, a 1972 promotional featurette, a photo gallery, production notes, the theatrical trailer, and more. –Jeff Shannon
March 7, 2008
#1
I’ve never seen the show live or heard any other recordings so I can’t say if it’s Cabaret it’sself or just this movie that’s bad. I found this film to be so boring and the music so annoying that I turned it off after 40 minutes. If you’re a fan of Cabaret then you might like this (I really wouldn’t know) but all in all this is a really tiresome film with only a few worthwhile moments
March 7, 2008
#2
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.
March 7, 2008
#3
I went to a Community Center a few years ago and their rendition was great. This not so much
March 8, 2008
#4
I have mixed emotions about “Cabaret”. The songs by Kander and Ebb are great. The routines choreographed by Bob Fosse are mesmerizing. Joel Grey is wonderfully energetic as the Emcee. As great as he is, though, I don’t know how he received the Oscar over Al Pacino for “The Godfather”. Unfortunately, once the film leaves the Kit Kat Club it’s a whole other story. The story is pure mawkish soap opera. I feel bad for an actor of Michael York’s calibre having to slog through this drivel. Liza Minelli is a different story altogether. Sally Bowles is not a particularly compelling character and Minelli lacks the skills to make this character compelling. Should I also state that she isn’t even that great a singer? How did she ever win the Oscar? While we’re at it how did Fosse ever beat Francis Ford Coppola for the Oscar in direction? Fosse was a good director(see “Lenny”), but come on.
March 8, 2008
#5
Oh my.
Not bad. On its own, a pretty good movie. York’s Cliff is an interesting thing, an all speaking role as opposed to the intermittant singing done on stage. Joel Grey’s emcee remains basically unchanged. Sally…oh dear. Liza kind of missed the point of the title song. Sally isn’t that strong. She’s supposed to be having a total mental breakdown. Her entire world has been torn apart and she’s supposed to be at the Klub singing that “life is a cabaret”.
Meh. Minelli can sing her ass off, there’s no disputing that, and her diva-esque Sally is an interesting interpretation. Not my favorite portrayal, but okay. This is, by the way, the ONLY place to hear the song “Money Money”. The revival included it, but it was by the Emcee and Kit Kat girls in replacement of the original Sitting Pretty…and Alan Cumming was fairly bad.
Watch it. Form your own opinion. Pretty good movie.