Cabaret (1972 Film)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Cabaret'' is a 1972 American
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
period drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...
film directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse from a screenplay by Jay Presson Allen, based on the 1966 stage musical by
John Kander John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including ''Cab ...
,
Fred Ebb Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita ...
, and Joe Masteroff, which in turn was based on the 1951 play '' I Am a Camera'' by
John Van Druten John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observations ...
and the 1939 novel '' Goodbye to Berlin'' by Christopher Isherwood. It stars
Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, ...
,
Michael York Michael York (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television, and stage actor. After performing on stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Romeo ...
,
Helmut Griem Helmut Griem (6 April 1932 – 19 November 2004) was a German film, television and stage actor, and director. Biography Born in Hamburg, Griem was primarily a stage actor, appearing at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the Deutsches Schauspielha ...
, Marisa Berenson, and Joel Grey. Multiple numbers from the stage score were used for the film, which also featured three other songs by Kander and Ebb, including two written for the adaptation. In the traditional manner of musical theater, most major characters in the stage version sing to express their emotions and advance the plot; in the film, however, the musical numbers are almost entirely
diegetic Diegesis (; , ) is a style of fiction storytelling in which a participating narrator offers an on-site, often interior, view of the scene to the reader, viewer, or listener by subjectively describing the actions and, in some cases, thoughts, o ...
and take place inside the club, with the exception of " Tomorrow Belongs to Me", which is not performed in the club or by the club characters, but is still diegetic, a nationalistic song sung by a Nazi youth and the German crowd. ''Cabaret'' was released in the United States on February 13, 1972, by Allied Artists. The film received critical acclaim and eventually earned more than $42 million in the box office against a production budget of $4.6 million. It won Best Picture citations from the National Board of Review and the
Hollywood Foreign Press Association The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) was a nonprofit organization of journalists and photographers who reported on the American entertainment industry for predominantly foreign media markets. It is best known for founding and conduc ...
, and took Best Supporting Actor honors for Grey from the National Board of Review, the Hollywood Foreign Press, and the National Society of Film Critics. At the 45th Academy Awards, the film won Best Director (Fosse), Best Actress (Minnelli), Best Supporting Actor (Grey), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song Score, Best Art Direction, and Best Sound, holding the record for most Oscars earned by a film not honored for Best Picture. In 1995, ''Cabaret'' was the twelfth
live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...
musical film selected by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


Plot

In 1931
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, a young, openly promiscuous American
Sally Bowles Sally Bowles () is a fictional character created by English-American novelist Christopher Isherwood and based upon 19-year-old cabaret singer Jean Ross. The character debuted in Isherwood's 1937 novella ''Sally Bowles'' published by Hogarth Pre ...
performs at the Kit Kat Klub. A new British arrival in the city, Brian Roberts, moves into the
boarding house A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...
where Sally lives. A reserved academic and writer, Brian must give English lessons to earn a living while completing his
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
. Sally tries to seduce Brian, but he tells her that on three previous occasions he has tried to have sexual relationships with women, all of which failed. They become friends, and Brian witnesses Sally's bohemian life in the last days of the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...
. When Brian consoles Sally after her father cancels his meeting with her, they become lovers, concluding that his previous failures with women were because they were "the wrong three girls". Maximilian von Heune, a rich, married
playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
and
baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...
, befriends Sally and takes her and Brian to his country estate where they are both spoiled and courted. After a somewhat enigmatic experience with Brian, Max drops his pursuit of the pair in haste. During an argument, Sally tells Brian that she has been having sex with Max, and Brian reveals that he has as well. Brian and Sally later reconcile, and Sally reveals that Max left them 300
marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...
and mockingly compares the sum with what a professional prostitute earns. Sally learns that she is pregnant but is unsure of the father. Brian offers to marry her and take her back to his university life in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
. At first, they celebrate their resolution to start this new life together, but after a picnic between Sally and Brian, in which Brian acts distant and uninterested, Sally becomes disheartened by the vision of herself as a bored faculty wife washing dirty diapers. Ultimately, she has an abortion, without informing Brian in advance. When he confronts her, she shares her fears, and the two reach an understanding. Brian departs for England, and Sally continues her life in Berlin, embedding herself in the Kit Kat Klub. Meanwhile, Fritz Wendel, a German Jew passing as a Protestant Christian, is in love with Natalia Landauer, a wealthy German Jewish heiress who holds him in contempt and suspects his motives. Through Brian, Sally advises him to be more aggressive, which eventually enables Fritz to win her love. However, to gain her parents' consent for their marriage, Fritz must reveal his Jewish background, which he does and the two are married by a
rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
. The rise of Fascism in Europe is an ever-present undercurrent and is the overarching plot of the film. The progress of the primary characters can be tracked through their changing actions and attitudes towards the ever rising tide of German Nazism in the Weimar Republic. In the beginning of the film, a member of the Nazi Party is expelled from the Kit Kat Klub by the club manager, who suffers a subsequent beating. The rise of the Nazis in the 1930s is also demonstrated towards the end of the film in a rural
beer garden A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees. Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...
scene. There a blond boy sings to an audience of all ages (" Tomorrow Belongs to Me") about the beauties of nature and youth. It is eventually revealed that the boy is wearing a ''Hitlerjugend'' uniform. The ballad then transforms into a militant Nazi anthem, and by the song's end, one by one nearly all of the adults and young people rise and join in the singing. "Do you still think you can control them?" Brian then asks Max. After the beer garden scene, Brian gets into a confrontation with a Nazi on a Berlin street, which leads to his receiving a beating. In the final scene of the film in the Kit Kat Klub, it slowly becomes apparent in the hazy club that audience members wearing NSDAP uniforms are now sitting in the preferred front seats of the club.


Cast


Historical basis

The 1972 film was based upon Christopher Isherwood's semi-autobiographical stories about Weimar-era Berlin during the
Jazz Age The Jazz Age was a period from 1920 to the early 1930s in which jazz music and dance styles gained worldwide popularity. The Jazz Age's cultural repercussions were primarily felt in the United States, the birthplace of jazz. Originating in New O ...
. In 1929, Isherwood moved to Berlin in order to pursue life as an openly gay man and to enjoy the city's libertine nightlife. His expatriate social circle included W.H. Auden,
Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry ...
,
Paul Bowles Paul Frederic Bowles (; December 30, 1910November 18, 1999) was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator. He became associated with the Moroccan city of Tangier, where he settled in 1947 and lived for 52 years to the end of his ...
, and Jean Ross. While in Berlin, Isherwood shared lodgings with Ross, a British cabaret singer and aspiring film actress from a wealthy Anglo-Scottish family. While rooming together at Nollendorfstrasse 17 in Schöneberg, Isherwood and Ross met John Blomshield, a wealthy playboy who inspired the film character of Baron Maximilian von Heune. Blomshield sexually pursued both Isherwood and Ross for a short while, and he invited them to accompany him on a trip abroad. He then abruptly disappeared without saying goodbye.: "... the American thrilled them by inviting them to come with him to the States and then dashed their hopes by leaving Berlin abruptly, without saying goodbye." Following Blomshield's disappearance, Ross became pregnant with the child of jazz pianist and later actor Peter van Eyck. After Eyck abandoned Ross, she underwent a near-fatal
abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
facilitated by Isherwood, who pretended to have fathered her pregnancy. While Ross recovered from the botched abortion procedure, the political situation rapidly deteriorated in Germany. As Berlin's daily scenes featured "poverty, unemployment, political demonstrations and street fighting between the forces of the extreme left and the extreme right," Isherwood, Spender, and other British nationals realized that they must flee the country. "There was a sensation of doom to be felt in the Berlin streets," Spender recalled. By the time
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
implemented the Enabling Act of 1933 which cemented his dictatorship, Isherwood, Ross, Spender, and others had fled Germany and returned to England. Many of the Berlin cabaret denizens befriended by Isherwood would later flee abroad or perish in
concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
s. These factual events served as the genesis for Isherwood's 1937 novella ''Sally Bowles,'' which was later adapted into the 1955 film '' I Am a Camera'' and the 1966 musical ''Cabaret''.


Production


Pre-production

In July 1968, Cinerama made a verbal agreement to make a film version of the 1966 Broadway musical but pulled out in February 1969. In May 1969, Allied Artists paid a company record $1.5 million for the film rights and planned a company record budget. The cost of $4,570,000 was split evenly with ABC Pictures. In 1971, Bob Fosse learned through Harold Prince, director of the original Broadway production, that Cy Feuer was producing a film adaptation of ''Cabaret'' through ABC Pictures and Allied Artists. This was the first film produced in the revival of Allied Artists. Determined to direct the film, Fosse begged Feuer to hire him. However, Fosse had previously directed the unsuccessful film adaptation of ''Sweet Charity'', a box office failure which made chief executives Manny Wolf and Marty Baum reluctant to hire him. Wolf and Baum preferred a more renowned or established director such as
Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and ver ...
, Joseph L. Mankiewicz or
Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...
. Eager to hire Fosse, Feuer appealed to the studio heads, citing Fosse's talent for staging and shooting musical numbers, adding that if inordinate attention was given to filming the book scenes at the expense of the musical numbers, the whole film could fail. Fosse ultimately was hired. Over the next months, Fosse met with previously hired screenwriter Jay Presson Allen to discuss the screenplay.


Screenplay revisions

As production neared, Fosse became increasingly dissatisfied with Allen's script which was based on Joe Masteroff's original book of the stage version. Fosse hired Hugh Wheeler to rewrite and revise Allen's work. Wheeler was referred to as a "research consultant," and Allen retained screenwriting credit. Wheeler, a friend of Christopher Isherwood, knew that Isherwood had been critical of the stage musical due to its bowdlerizations of his material. Wheeler went back to Isherwood's original stories in order to ensure a more faithful adaptation of the source material. In particular, Wheeler restored the subplot about the gigolo and the Jewish heiress. Wheeler also drew on gay author Christopher Isherwood's openness about his homosexuality to make the leading male character a bisexual man "rather than the heterosexual as he had been in the stage musical." Fosse decided to increase the focus on the Kit Kat Klub, where Sally performs, as a metaphor for the decadence of Germany in the 1930s by eliminating all but one of the musical numbers performed outside the club. The only remaining outside number is "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", a folk song rendered spontaneously by patrons at an open-air café. In addition, the show's original songwriters Kander and Ebb wrote two new songs, "Mein Herr" and "Money", and incorporated " Maybe This Time", a song they composed in 1964 and first released by Kaye Ballard.


Casting

Feuer had cast
Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, ...
as
Sally Bowles Sally Bowles () is a fictional character created by English-American novelist Christopher Isherwood and based upon 19-year-old cabaret singer Jean Ross. The character debuted in Isherwood's 1937 novella ''Sally Bowles'' published by Hogarth Pre ...
and Joel Grey (reprising his stage role) long before Fosse was attached to the project. Fosse was given the choice of using Grey as Master of Ceremonies, at studio insistence, or walking away from the production. He ultimately backed down on his “It’s either me or Joel” threat, but relations between them were cool. Fosse hired
Michael York Michael York (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television, and stage actor. After performing on stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Romeo ...
as Sally Bowles's bisexual love interest, a casting choice which Minnelli initially believed was incorrect until she performed with him. Several smaller roles, as well as the remaining four dancers in the film, eventually were cast in West Germany. Minnelli had auditioned to play Sally in the original Broadway production but was deemed too inexperienced at the time, even though she had won Broadway's Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. By the time ''Cabaret'' reached the screen, however, Minnelli was a film star having earned an Oscar nomination as the emotionally damaged college student in '' The Sterile Cuckoo'' (1969). For her performance as Sally in the film, Minnelli reinterpreted the character and—at the explicit suggestion of her father, film and stage director
Vincente Minnelli Vincente Minnelli (; born Lester Anthony Minnelli; February 28, 1903 – July 25, 1986) was an American Theatre director, stage director and film director. From a career spanning over half a century, he is best known for his sophisticated innovat ...
—she deliberately imitated film actress Louise Brooks, a flapper icon and sex symbol of the
Jazz Age The Jazz Age was a period from 1920 to the early 1930s in which jazz music and dance styles gained worldwide popularity. The Jazz Age's cultural repercussions were primarily felt in the United States, the birthplace of jazz. Originating in New O ...
. Brooks, much like the character of Sally Bowles in the film, was an aspiring actress and American
expat An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...
who temporarily moved to Weimar Berlin in search of international stardom. Minnelli later recalled: In particular, Minnelli drew upon Brooks' " Lulu makeup and helmet-like coiffure." For the meeting between Sally Bowles and Brian Roberts, Minnelli modeled her movements and demeanor upon Brooks; in particular, the scene in '' Pandora's Box'' (1929) where Brooks' carefree character of Lulu is first introduced. Ultimately, Minnelli would win the
Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a lead ...
for her portrayal of Sally Bowles.


Filming

Fosse and Feuer traveled to West Germany in order to finish assembling the film crew. During this time, Fosse highly recommended Robert L. Surtees for cinematographer, but Feuer and the top executives saw Surtees's work on ''Sweet Charity'' as one of the film's many artistic problems. Producers eventually chose British cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth. Designers Rolf Zehetbauer, Hans Jürgen Kiebach and Herbert Strabel served as production designers. Charlotte Flemming designed costumes. Dancers Kathryn Doby, Louise Quick and John Sharpe were brought on as Fosse's dance aides. Rehearsals and filming took place entirely in West Germany. For reasons of economy, indoor scenes were shot at the Bavaria Film Studios in Grünwald, outside Munich. Prior to filming, Fosse would complain every afternoon on the set of ''
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'' is a 1971 American musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Mel Stuart from a screenplay by Roald Dahl, based on his 1964 novel ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory''. It stars Gene Wilder as chocol ...
'' because that film was overrunning and keeping him from starting work on the same stage.


Narrative and news reading

Although the songs throughout the film allude to and advance the narrative, every song except "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" is executed in the context of a Kit Kat Klub performance. The voice heard on the radio reading the news throughout the film in German was that of associate producer Harold Nebenzal, whose father Seymour Nebenzahl produced such notable
Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...
films as '' M'' (1931), '' Testament of Dr. Mabuse'' (1933), and '' Threepenny Opera'' (1931).


Film and stage difference

The film significantly differs from the Broadway musical. In the stage version, Sally is English (as she was in Isherwood's '' Goodbye to Berlin''). In the film adaptation, she is American. Cliff Bradshaw was renamed Brian Roberts and made British (as was Isherwood, upon whom the character was based), rather than American as in the stage version. The characters and plotlines involving Fritz, Natalia and Max were pulled from '' I Am a Camera'' and did not appear in the stage production of ''Cabaret'' (or in ''Goodbye to Berlin''). The most significant change involves the excision of the two main characters: Fraulein Schneider, who runs a boarding house, and her love interest, Herr Schultz, a German grocer. Their doomed romance plot, and the consequences of a Gentile falling in love with a Jew during the rise of antisemitism, was cut. With the removals were "So What?" and "What Would You Do", sung by Schneider, the song "Meeskite", sung by Schultz, and their two duets "It Couldn't Please Me More (The Pineapple Song)" (cut) and "Married" (reset as a piano instrumental, and a phonograph record), as well as a short reprise of "Married", sung alone by Schultz. Kander and Ebb wrote several new songs and removed others. "Don't Tell Mama" was replaced by "Mein Herr", and "The Money Song" (retained in an instrumental version as "Sitting Pretty") was replaced by "Money, Money." "Mein Herr" and "Money, Money", which were composed for the film, were integrated into the stage musical alongside the original numbers. The song " Maybe This Time", which Sally performs at the cabaret, predates the stage musical, recorded by Minnelli in 1964. Although "Don't Tell Mama" and "Married" were removed as featured musical numbers, both still appear in the film instrumentally: the bridge section of "Mama" is heard playing on Sally's gramophone; "Married" initially plays on the piano in Fraulein Schneider's parlor, and later heard on Sally's gramophone in a German translation ("Heiraten") sung by cabaret singer Greta Keller. Additionally, " If You Could See Her", performed by the MC, originally concluded with the line "She isn't a meeskite at all" onstage. The film changes this to "She wouldn't look Jewish at all," a return to Ebb's original lyrics.


Soundtrack


Charts


Certifications


Reception


Box office

The film opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on February 13, 1972, with a single performance benefit grossing $2,538. It started regular showings at the Ziegfeld from February 14, grossing $8,684 in its opening day, and a house record $80,278 for the week. It grossed another $165,038 from 6 other theatres in 6 key cities reported by '' Variety'', placing it tenth at the US box office. After seven months of release, it had grossed $5.3 million in the New York metropolitan area. ''Variety'' estimated that this represented 30% of the film's total compared to the normal 15% for the market, one of the few big-budget films to perform much better in New York. Based on this estimate, the film had grossed around $17 million. By year end, ''Variety'' reported that it had earned
theatrical rental A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is frequ ...
s of $10,885,000, making it the eighth most successful film of the year. Following the film's success at the Academy Awards in March 1973, it reached number one at the US box office with a gross of $1,880,000 for the week, a record for Allied Artists. It remained number one for a second week. By May 1973, the film had earned rentals of $16 million in the United States and Canada and $7 million in other countries and reported a profit of $4,904,000. By the end of 1973, ''Variety'' had updated the film's rentals in the United States and Canada to $18,175,000.


Critical reception


Contemporary reviews

''Variety'' claimed the film received the most "sugary" reviews of the year.
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
gave a positive review in January 1972, saying: "This is no ordinary musical. Part of its success comes because it doesn't fall for the old cliché that musicals have to make you happy. Instead of cheapening the movie version by lightening its load of despair, director Bob Fosse has gone right to the bleak heart of the material and stayed there well enough to win an
Academy Award for Best Director The Academy Award for Best Director (officially known as the Academy Award of Merit for Directing) is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibit ...
." A.D. Murphy of ''Variety'' wrote "The film version of the 1966 John Kander-Fred Ebb Broadway musical ''Cabaret'' is most unusual: it is literate, bawdy, sophisticated, sensual, cynical, heart-warming, and disturbingly thought-provoking. Liza Minnelli heads a strong cast. Bob Fosse's generally excellent direction recreates the milieu of Germany some 40 years ago."
Roger Greenspun Roger Greenspun (December 16, 1929 – June 18, 2017) was an American journalist and film critic, best known for his work with ''The New York Times'' in which he reviewed near 400 films, particularly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and for '' ...
of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' wrote in February 1972 that "''Cabaret'' is one of those immensely gratifying imperfect works in which from beginning to end you can literally feel a movie coming to life." Likewise,
Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...
of ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' wrote a review that same month in which she applauded the film:


Reaction of Isherwood and others

Although ''Cabaret'' (1972) was well received by film critics upon its release, author Christopher Isherwood and other persons upon whom the film's characters were based were less receptive towards the cinematic adaptation. Isherwood himself was critical of the 1972 film due to what he perceived as its negative portrayal of homosexuality: Similarly, Isherwood's friend Jean Ross—upon whom the character of Sally Bowles was based—was ambivalent about the film. She felt the depiction of 1930s Berlin "was quite, quite different" from reality. Nevertheless, she conceded that the depiction of their social circle of British expatriates as pleasure-seeking libertines was accurate: "We were all utterly against the
bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
standards of our parents' generation. That's what took us to eimar-eraBerlin. The climate was freer there." Such ambivalence towards ''Cabaret'' (1972) was not unique among Isherwood's circle. The poet
Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry ...
lamented how ''Cabaret'' (1972) glossed over Weimar Berlin's crushing poverty: Both Spender and Ross contended that the 1972 film and 1966 Broadway musical deleteriously glamorized the harsh realities of the 1930s Weimar era.


Retrospective reviews

In 2002, Jamie Russell of the BBC wrote that the film was "the first musical ever to be given an X certificate, Bob Fosse's ''Cabaret'' launched Liza Minnelli into Hollywood superstardom and re-invented the musical for the Age of Aquarius." In 2013, film critic Peter Bradshaw listed ''Cabaret'' at number one on his list of "Top 10 Musicals", describing it as "satanically catchy, terrifyingly seductive...directed and choreographed with electric style by Bob Fosse...''Cabaret'' is drenched in the sexiest kind of cynicism and decadent despair." In 2024, ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' ranked Cabaret as the best movie musical of all time


Controversies

Although less explicit compared with other films made in the 1970s, ''Cabaret'' dealt explicitly with topics like corruption, sexual ambiguity, false dreams, and Nazism. Tim Dirks at Filmsite.org notes: "The sexually-charged, semi-controversial, kinky musical was the first one ever to be given an X rating (although later re-rated) with its numerous sexual flings and hedonistic club life. There was considerable sexual innuendo, profanity, casual sex talk (homosexual and heterosexual), some evidence of
anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
, and even an abortion in the film." It was also rated X in the UK and later re-rated as 15. On the topic of Nazism, there was little consensus among critics about the possibly fascist implications of the film and play. However, critic Steven Belletto wrote a critique of ''Cabaret'' in the ''Criticism'' journal, published by Wayne State University Press, in which he highlighted the anti-fascist themes in the film present both within and outside of the musical acts. According to Belletto, "despite the ways that the film has been understood by a variety of critics, 'Cabaret''rejects the logic of fascist certainty by staging various numbers committed to irony and ambiguity." The " Tomorrow Belongs to Me" scene was controversial, with Kander and Ebb, both of whom were Jewish, sometimes being wrongly accused of using a historical Nazi song. According to an article in ''Variety'' in November 1976, the film was censored in
West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
when it was first released there theatrically, with the sequence featuring the
Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...
singing "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" having been deleted. This elimination was made "because of the feeling that it might stir up resentments in the audience by showing the sympathizers for the Nazi movement during the '30s." The sequence was restored, however, when the film was shown on
West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...
television on November 7, 1976. Another topic of discussion was the song "If You Could See Her", which closed with the line: "If you could see her through my eyes, she wouldn't look Jewish at all." The point of the song was showing anti-Semitism as it begins to run rampant in Berlin, but there were a number of Jewish groups who interpreted the lyrics differently.


Accolades

''Cabaret'' earned a total of ten Academy Award nominations (winning eight of them) and holds the record for most Academy Awards for a film that did not also win Best Picture. Shortly before the
Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...
, Bob Fosse won two
Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
s for directing and choreographing '' Pippin'', his biggest stage hit. Months later, he won the
Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...
for choreographing and directing
Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, ...
's television special '' Liza with a Z'', thereby becoming the first director to win all three awards in one year.


American Film Institute recognition

* AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs ** Cabaret – No. 18 * AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals – No. 5 * AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – No. 63


National Film Registry

Inducted into the
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
in 1995 among a list of 25 Films that year.


Legacy

''Cabaret'' has been cited by ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
'' as among the greatest films made and in ''Movieline'' magazine as one of the "100 Best Movies Ever". It was included in Film4's "100 Greatest Films of All Time" at #78 and in '' The San Francisco Chronicle''s "Hot 100 Films of the Past", being hailed as "the last great musical. Liza Minnelli plays Sally Bowles, an American adrift in pre-Nazi Berlin, in Bob Fosse's stylish, near-perfect film." David Benedict has written in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' about ''Cabaret'' influence in musical films: "Back then, musicals were already low on film-goers' lists, so how come it was such a success? Simple: ''Cabaret'' is the musical for people who hate them. Given the vibrancy of its now iconic numbers – Liza Minnelli in bowler and black suspenders astride a bentwood chair belting out 'Mein Herr' or shimmying and shivering with pleasure over 'Money' with Joel Grey – it sounds strange to say it, but one of the chief reasons why ''Cabaret'' is so popular is that it's not shot like a musical." The film has been listed as one of the most important for queer cinema for its depictions of bisexuality, arguably transgressive at the time of its 1972 post-Code release and has been credited with turning Liza Minnelli into a gay icon. Film blogs have selected it as "the gayest winner in the history of the Academy." The February 2020 issue of ''
New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...
'' lists ''Cabaret'' as among "The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture at the Oscars."


Home media

The film was first released to DVD in 1998. There have been releases in 2003, 2008, and 2012. The film's international ancillary distribution rights are owned by ABC (now part of
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
),
Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...
(UK),
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
(which acquired the film as part of its purchase of
Lorimar Productions Lorimar Television, formerly Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Lorimar Distribution, was an American production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969
, which had acquired the film library of Allied Artists) has US domestic distribution rights. In April 2012, Warner unveiled a new restoration of the film at the TCM Classic Film Festival. A DigiBook edition was later released on
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
on February 5, 2013. Before this restoration, ''Cabaret'' had been sold on a
standard-definition Standard-definition television (SDTV; also standard definition or SD) is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high-definition television, high or enhanced definition. ''Standard'' refers to offering a ...
DVD from Warner Bros., but the film was unavailable in high-definition or for digital projections in cinemas. The original camera negative is lost, and a surviving interpositive had a vertical scratch that ran through 1,000 feet, or 10 minutes, of one of its reels, as confirmed by Ned Price, vice president of mastering and restoration for Warner Bros. The damage ostensibly was inflicted by a grain of dirt that had rolled through the length of the reel, beginning with a scene in which Michael York's character confronts a pro-Nazi boarding house resident, and had cut into the emulsion. The marred frames were digitally restored, but "the difficult part was matching the grain structure so the fix was invisible." After automated digital repair attempts failed, the 1,000 feet of damaged film was hand painted using a computer stylus. Warner Archive Collection reissued the Blu-ray on November 20, 2018, without the DigiBook.


See also

*
List of American films of 1972 This is a list of American films released in 1972. Box office The highest-grossing American films released in 1972, by domestic box office gross revenue as estimated by '' The Numbers'', are as follows: January–March April–June is ...


Notes


References

*


Bibliography

Francesco Mismirigo, ''Cabaret, un film allemand'', Université de Genève, 1984


External links

*
''Cabaret'' at AllMovie
* * *
''Cabaret''
essay by Stephen Tropiano on the
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabaret 1972 films 1972 drama films 1972 LGBTQ-related films 1972 musical films 1972 controversies 1970s American films 1970s English-language films 1970s German-language films 1970s historical drama films 1970s historical musical films 1970s LGBTQ-related drama films 1970s musical drama films ABC Motion Pictures films Allied Artists films American historical drama films American historical musical films American LGBTQ-related films American musical drama films Best Film BAFTA Award winners Best Musical or Comedy Picture Golden Globe winners Censored films English-language historical drama films English-language musical drama films Films about anti-fascism Films about male bisexuality Films about Nazi Germany Films about political repression Films about writers Films based on adaptations Films based on musicals Films directed by Bob Fosse Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award–winning performance Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award–winning performance Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe winning performance Films produced by Cy Feuer Films scored by Ralph Burns Films set in 1931 Films set in Berlin Films set in cabarets Films shot at Bavaria Studios Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award Films that won the Best Sound Mixing Academy Award Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award Films whose director won the Best Direction BAFTA Award Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award Films with screenplays by Jay Presson Allen Gay-related films LGBTQ-related controversies in film LGBTQ-related musical drama films Liza Minnelli soundtracks United States National Film Registry films Works about the Weimar Republic