Cabaret (Blu-ray Book)

The pursuit of happiness, enshrined as a right in the US Constitution, is one of the greatest motivating factors in all of human history. It can also be one of the biggest distractions. CABARET, from the musical by Kander and Ebb and directed by Bob Fosse, is sort of an examination of this through the historical lens of late Weimar Germany as it succumbed to Nazism. Liza Minnelli is Sally Bowles, a dancer/singer at the Kit Kat Club who has dreams of becoming a famous actress; and Michael York is Brian Jordan, an English philosophy student who is in Germany for cultural enrichment and to make some money. Both of these tragic figures are the conduit for the audience, with Sally being the fantasy side of things and Brian being the reality. As with CHICAGO, although a little less so here, the musical numbers don't just move the story along (all while being organic) but also comment upon it as well. This, for me, is what sets Kander/Ebb musicals apart from the rest. Nazism begins as a mere nuisance but, as the film progresses, becomes more of a presence (and present threat). This is mirrored in the pacing of musical sequences which are initially spaced out a little sparsely but become more frequent as the film goes on. From an interpretive standpoint (and this is just my opinion), this implies (through the nature of what a cabaret is and entails) that our willingness to be entertained and distracted, even if only temporarily, is what allows political extremism/tragedy/etc. to insidiously take hold. No scene in CABARET is more chilling than when the young Nazi starts singing (what I think is) a folk song, and his audience gradually joins in with him. In fact, this entire musical is filled with pathos of varying types, which is why I think it's so effective. The cabaret is a metaphor for the ways we try to mask our pain, to find happiness, but it often comes at the expense of our dignity. From a technical perspective, all of the performances were solid with special marks being given to the leads. However, Joel Grey as the Master of Ceremonies was just as entertaining, perhaps the most so as his role provided dramatic and musical unity to the film. He was also simply hilarious to watch. There was also dynamite editing, choreography, lighting, etc., making it a sort-of ancestor to the music video. If there's one complaint I can levy, it's that the film takes a little too much time to get going, although once it gets into gear it doesn't let up. All things considered, CABARET is a stunning accomplishment that still holds relevance in this day and age of disillusionment with the political establishment. I'm a little hesitant to draw parallels between the America of today and the Germany of then, but it's a little disconcerting to feel like the only thing keeping us from making the same mistakes is that we've never suffered the abject humiliation that Germany suffered at the end of WWI. On a more positive note, CABARET exists as a testament to the power of entertainment, and definitely deserves its status as one of the best musicals ever put to film.

Appearing in various forms from short stories (1930's) to straight play (1950's) to musical play (1960's) to the darkest of musical films, "Cabaret", the 1972 recipient of 8 Academy Awards including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Director ( the Best Picture and Adapted Best Screenplay Oscars went to "The Godfather") , has now arrived, along with an extremely informative and appreciative book, in a stunning Blu-ray upgrade from Warner Brothers. Frankly, the film hasn't looked and sounded this good since its original big screen incarnation. If any musical of the past 40 years deserves such a deluxe treatment, it is "Cabaret".Giving the performances of their lives, both Liza Minnelli, as the self-deluded but highly ambitious anti-heroine Sally Bowles, and Joel Grey, as the Mephistophelean M.C., transport us to the tawdry ambience of the 1931 Weimar Republic, where sexual identity is fluid and everything and everyone is for sale (the contemporary club scene, anyone?). The "Money Money" number about the erotic attraction of wealth could be successfully placed into the soundtrack of "The Great Gatsby"(2013).Under the sure and certain control of choreographer/director Bob Fosse, "Cabaret" the film solves the traditional problem of the musical play and the musical film. Since every number, save one, in the surprisingly contemporary score takes place in the seedy Kit Kat Klub in Berlin, where corpulent businessmen mingle with uniformed Nazi thugs and prostitutes, the element of realism can be planted and nurtured. Characters don't suddenly erupt in song. Every Kit Kat number comments on what is going on in the alleys, on the streets and in the boardinghouses: the brutal tactics of the surging National Socialist Party, the increasingly lethal rise of anti-Semitism (also reflected in the doomed love story between the secondary characters Natasha and Fritz), the nostalgia for the old order which Sally's landlady harbors."Tomorrow Belongs to Me", the sole number set outside amidst the natural beauty of the German countryside and the Gemutlichkeit of the German biergarten, is also the perfect combination of music and political commentary. As a scout-uniformed, perfect Aryan boy begins to sing what will become a Nazi anthem embraced by a multi-class, multi-generational audience, the camera slowly pans down from his angelic face to the swastika prominently displayed on his uniform. When Brian and Max , bisexual lovers who form a sexual triangle with Sally, leave the scene in a limousine, Fosse inserts a knowingly sardonic shot of the smiling M.C.The film opens and closes with distorted funhouse mirror images of the audience at the Kit Kat Klub, slowly melding from black and white to color at the beginning and finishing with shots of a predominately Nazi audience. When a mirror was used onstage in the musical play, the audience could see itself. Geoffrey Unsworth's Oscar winning cinematography, rendered here with solid blacks and the subtly shifting quality of stage lighting, puts us there. Though the Weimar era was 80 years ago, (think Dietrich in "The Blue Angel" (1931), Fosse, Minnelli and Grey took us there 40 years ago and continue to do so to this day. The hypnotic spell of "Cabaret" lives and breathes on this splendid disc.

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classic movie

Über den Film von Bob Große was zu Schreiben hieße Eulen nach Athen tragen! Ich hatte das Glück diese Stück 2003 in New York im Studio 45 zu sehen! (Molly Ringwald als Sally Bowles - das war noch schöner als der Film!

I bought this 1972 dvd as it has been so long since seeing the original and there have always been such excellent reviews. It didn't disappoint. The acting; the atmosphere created of that decadent period was brought to life but the major enjoyment was seeing again Minelli's superb portrayal of Sally Bowles. She was just brilliant.

Es perfecta

C'est vrai qu'on dit plus quand ça ne va pas !! Alors je dis là que c'est parfait !!Merci