Cabaret

The scene is Berlin just before the completion of Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Two apolitical people go about their lives while impending doom surrounds them. Cabaret is a ground-breaking combination of social drama and musical entertainment. It's one of the best examples of films from the New Hollywood. This was a short time in American cinema where the studios were producing challenging and director-led personal films.

What Cabaret does which is so unique is to reinvent what the musical could be. It's a film that is essentially a drama that uses musical numbers to comment on its story. The songs all fit into a realistic narrative. Most of them are sung within the confines of the Kit Kat Klub, the cabaret of the title. In taking this approach the movie is more able to incorporate a disturbing subject such as the Germany's progression to Nazism into this most fantastical and joyous of film genres. All of the songs comment on the social situation in Germany at the time and because they are all performed in the cabaret they can be explained in a real context, cleverly allowing those who do not even like musicals to enjoy them as they do not break the illusion of reality. The one song that is performed outside the club is perhaps the most memorable however. 'Tomorrow Belongs to Me' is sung by a young fresh-faced boy with an angelic voice. It starts out quite beautifully but as it progresses the camera pans down and we see the emblem of the swastika on a band around his arm and realise he is a Hitler Youth. The words suddenly take on an altogether more sinister meaning. It's a moment that really encapsulates the way that fascism seemed like a progressive way ahead for the majority of people at the time. With the benefit of hindsight we, of course, see the horror of what it represents but for many Germans at the time, the ideals of Hitlerism had an attraction, and 'Tomorrow Belongs to Me' brilliantly illustrates both these points.

Another way in which the film differentiates itself from most others that deal with this time and place is that there is barely a mention of the Nazis at all. All the Nazis characters exist in the periphery of the story, they barely interact with the characters in any way. Their significance is in no need of emphasis; their presence is ominously felt throughout. Cabaret reflects the changes in Germany from the point of view of people living in their own little world but the true horror is never far from the surface. The strange insular world of the Kit Kat Klub encapsulates this perfectly. Hosted by the enigmatic, almost supernatural, Master of Ceremonies, it's a decadent place that exists apart from the realities of Hitlerism, a place that we all know must be ultimately doomed when the Nazis fully rise to power.

Performances are universally great with Michael York and Liza Minnelli both putting in very fine work. Minnelli especially has to be credited for combining both dramatic acting and musical performances of both the highest calibre. The songs themselves are memorable and work in the clever double way of providing entertainment while commenting on dark issues below the surface. In a sense, that is the genius of Cabaret overall.

Director Bob Fosse hasn't achieved an immense degree of recognition, but his movies have a distinctive flavour. He seems to have an obsession with the world of music-hall, which is felt in other movies like "Sweet Charity" and "All that Jazz". In his other movies though, musical performances tend to steal the show almost entirely. "Cabaret" is an exception because it has an interesting background and storyline, and the music-hall performances are cleverly used here to illustrate and emphasize the plot. They play about the same role as the Chorus in ancient Greek play.

Of course, the depiction of Cabaret's "Kit Kat Club" deserves attention all by itself. It is not surprising that a cabaret buff such as Bob Fosse took interest in the Weimar Republic period in Germany, when "divine decadence " was the name of the game. Only Bob Fosse could recreate with such consumed application the grotesque sleaze of Berlin's lowlife during the rise of Nazism, a context which served as inspiration for expressionist painters, and for Brecht's "Threepenny Opera". During the credits, check out a woman in the public with short hair and glasses smoking a cigarette (something quite dodgy in 1931!). It is the exact reproduction of a famous painting by Otto Dix.

An outrageously grinning clown (Joel Grey) introduces every cabaret number. The girls appear in all possible contorted postures keeping deadpan faces. The Kit Kat club reminds of a roman arena, where the public is out for anything insane (even women fights in the mud...). To give an idea of what sort of den the club is, Michael York finds himself at one point standing next to a transvestite in a men's urinal...The cabaret performances get all the more provocative as the plot gets tense. The club is an essentially immoral place where anything is for sale, and it adapts shamelessly to the radical political changes coming up.

Liza Minelli's character is totally at home in such surroundings. Her persona is perfectly sketched in her song "Bye Bye Mein Herr". She is the incarnation of the vamp, both heartless and ingenuous, the sort of lethal woman who drives men crazy and then gives them up like toys. Indeed, a very typical stereotype of the interwar period, think of Marlene Dietrich in "the Blue Angel"...Minelli's performance onstage with garter belts and a bowler hat still looks elegantly naughty today.

Though, the real nature of her character is well studied as soon as she gets offstage. While Minelli can't help being extravagant all the time, she turns out to be a fragile woman neglected by her father, and in demand of constant and renewed attention. As predicted in her song, she proves basically unable to engage in any serious relationship, despite her involvement with Michael York ( "And though I used to care, I need the open air, you'd every cause to doubt me Mein Herr").

The script was based a story by British writer Christopher Isherwood, called "A Goodbye to Berlin", based on his own personal memories. He is allegedly the character played by Michael York. A serious upper class young man, he meets Liza Minelli out of blind chance, while looking for an apartment to share. She introduces him to all sorts of people, from riff-raff to aristocracy, including a gigolo, a Jewish heiress, and an ambiguous baron who dismisses them both after having "played" with the two of them.

Michael York's sober performance looks a bit pale as opposed to histrionic Liza Minelli, but of course, that was necessary in order to stress the essential difference between those two strangers. The movie ends as they part on a railway platform, but one can guess their experience together will have changed them both, as as far as he is concerned, was a definite coming of age.

One of the scenes, in the middle of the movie, is quite disturbing. At a countryside inn, a young S.A man sings a song called "Tomorrow belongs to me", which starts out nostalgic but gradually turns into an infectious Nazi march as the whole crowd joins him. This unexpected number seems to have embarrassed many viewers. If Nazism had presented itself as pure evil, would it have met any success? This daring scene makes evident that it was for many Germans of the time the symbol of positive values : beauty, tradition, order, pride, future. If you didn't know how things turned out, would you not have been tempted to sing along this powerful hymn to the fatherland as you watch this? Good question to ask oneself even, or especially, nowadays...

A timeless classic! The musical numbers alone are superlative, even the 30-years-younger CHICAGO (2002, 8/10) pales in comparison. My very first Bob Fosse's film, certainly the film gained its classic fame as the biggest winner of the Oscar in 1973, with 8 wins (including BEST DIRECTOR, LEADING ACTRESS and SUPPORTING ACTOR) and nearly usurped the BEST PICTURE trophy from THE GODFATHER (1972, 9/10), if it had been so, it would be inflicted with much notorious backfire in the film history, but the film itself is an unerring gem among the undying musical genre, my first viewing is a thoroughly exultant experience, and cut and dried, it's on my guilty-pleasure list.

It is my first Liza Minnelli's film as well, the cabaret's "international sensation" Sally Bowles, an innocuous vamp, Liza grants her role a disarming vitality and quaintly resembles a bobbed Anne Hathaway doppelgänger, not only radiates her grandeur in rendering her doughty-yet-alluring show tunes (she is born to do it), her portrayal of Sally personal life is equally (if not more) affecting, her doe-eyed naivety and unrestrained zest for life, for love, for fame elevate her character as the master of her own fate, her sacrifice may not gain concurrence from motley views of life, but a full obeisance to her independence and pluck is duly earned.

Michael York, behind his gawky effeminacy, plunges himself into a more contentious venture, Brian Roberts, his character's bookish bi-sexual temperament is a provocative taboo on big screen (like since ever) and the implicit ménage à trois temptation (with Sally and the suave Helmut Griem, whose gentrified debonair is utterly irresistible) has been simmering to the perfect temperature, under-girds a manifestation of initiating a sex-liberation wave (germane to the 70s era while against the Nazi-rising milieu in the film).

There is a subplot dealing with a bromide of a down-and-out German guy's infatuation with a rich but prude Jewish girl, there is an ironic twist near the end, however never quite manages to steal the limelight from Sally and Bri, but Marisa Berenson's placid performance is still worthy of backslapping (the dichotomy of women's images is a trifle stale though).

Joel Grey, as the so called "Master of Ceremonies" and won an Oscar (against three fellows from THE GODFATHER), serves only as the performer in the film, no clear attachment with the plot, his musical set pieces are burlesque, risqué but entertaining to the bone, with a strenuous mimicry of German accent, it is a hard-earned honor, although I don't understand how Al Pacino could lose at any rate.

The film drops its curtain right before the prevalence of Nazi's atrocity, the ending with the vague reflections of Third Reich audience occupying the place has sublimated the materialistic razzle-dazzle onto an eerily ominous scope which the film has no interest to tamper but the audiences will intuit what will happen next. A great windup, neat and potent!

Since it release nearly a half century back Cabaret remains the last great American musical (Singing' in the Rain and West Side Story were made previous). As relevant now as it was then, carrying a tune and warning of creeping fascism, it's staying power is not only in its message but the bite of the music and two of the most memorable musical performances in film history with Liza Minelli as Sally Bowles and Joel Grey as the "Emcee."

University student Brian Roberts ( Michael York) freshly arrived in Berlin (Weimar Germany 1931) to complete his studies makes the acquaintance of Kit Kat Club performer Sally Bowles who shows him the ropes. Taken back by her brash personality at first he eventually warms to Sally and they become involved, he more serious than her. Together they encounter and share new friends but Brian comes to the realization that Sally is not about to give up a life of "divine decadence." Meanwhile in the streets, the parks, the clubs the Nazi Party and its brand of thuggery is becoming more prevalent.

Outside of a pace slowing subplot regarding two older students Robert is tutoring Cabaret is flawless film making in nearly every area with Minelli excelling in three (acting, singing, dancing) requirements and Grey's mischievously haunting master of ceremonies delivering a character for the ages. Director Bob Fosse working in a confined space smaller than a broadway stage for his musical numbers, the color muted by club smoke, delivers one excellently edited solid number after the next without betraying the mood with slick, flashy choreography on a stage the size of an aircraft carrier that lesser musicals depend on. Instead it maintains the funk of people dancing on a volcano in search of distraction from the impending doom they face. Musicals by nature are usually optimistic and upbeat. Sober Cabaret goes against the grain and succeeds beyond expectation as one of the finest musicals in film history.

A film with a single character: The Master of Ceremonies. An ambiguous spell and walls of illusion. Subtle exploration of chimera and fall of an era. A special inebriation and columns of words, songs, dreams, love, lies, freedom and hypocrisy like shield against terrible future. Nothing real, nothing splendid or ugly. Only the believe in miracle and in art to build another tomorrow. Joel Grey- in a magnificent role- is the almighty puppeteer. Master of show, maker of sins, lenient, sarcastic, cruel, brutal, ambiguous, a vulnerable androgynous god, he is the incarnation of Old Greek anenke. So, the film, cobweb of lights, smiles, dances and promises, good intentions and fear, is not pledge for classical "Life is theater play" or "Life is dream" but for the painful "Life is only refined lie". Natalia Landauer and his husband,the charming Sally Bowles,the wistful innocent Brian Roberts, are victims of same illusion who can be skin of reality.

Beautiful film. Gorgeous music. Great acting.