Cabaret (1972)

A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.

Director:

Bob Fosse

Writers:

Joe Masteroff (based on the musical play "Cabaret" book by), John Van Druten (based on the play by)

Stars:

Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem

Won 8 Oscars. Another 27 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Liza Minnelli	...	Sally Bowles
Michael York	...	Brian Roberts
Helmut Griem	...	Maximilian von Heune
Joel Grey	...	Master of Ceremonies
Fritz Wepper	...	Fritz Wendel
Marisa Berenson	...	Natalia Landauer
Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel	...	Fraulein Schneider
Helen Vita	...	Fraulein Kost
Sigrid von Richthofen	...	Fraulein Mayr (as Sigrid Von Richthofen)
Gerd Vespermann	...	Bobby
Ralf Wolter	...	Herr Ludwig
Georg Hartmann	...	Willi
Ricky Renée	...	Elke (as Ricky Renee)
Estrongo Nachama	...	Cantor
Kathryn Doby	...	Kit-Kat Dancer

Storyline

Cambridge University student Brian Roberts arrives in Berlin in 1931 to complete his German studies. Without much money, he plans on making a living teaching English while living in an inexpensive rooming house, where he befriends another of the tenants, American Sally Bowles. She is outwardly a flamboyant, perpetually happy person who works as a singer at the decadent Kit Kat Klub, a cabaret styled venue. Sally's outward façade is matched by that of the Klub, overseen by the omnipresent Master of Ceremonies. Sally draws Brian into her world, and initially wants him to be one of her many lovers, until she learns that he is a homosexual, albeit a celibate one. Among their other friends are his students, the poor Fritz Wendel, who wants to be a gigolo to live a comfortable life, and the straight-laced and beautiful Natalia Landauer, a Jewish heiress. Fritz initially sees Natalia as his money ticket, but eventually falls for her. However Natalia is suspect of his motives and cannot ...

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Plot Keywords:

cabaret | jewish | nazism | closeted homosexual | bisexual man | 

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Taglines:

Life is a Cabaret

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Genres:

Drama | Musical

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Hebrew French

Release Date:

13 February 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

Кабаре

Filming Locations:

Biergarten, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$42,765,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Allied Artists Pictures, ABC Pictures, A Feuer and Martin Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"Tomorrow Belongs to Me" was written by John Kander and Fred Ebb in the style of a traditional German song, sung by the Nazi youth in the movie, to stir up patriotism for the "fatherland". It has often been mistaken for a genuine "Nazi anthem" and has led to the songwriters being accused of anti-Semitism. This would be most surprising, as they are, in fact, Jewish (This fact has not stopped openly racist and anti-Semitic rock groups, like Skrewdriver, from recording the song and performing it at White Power rallies). It is also the only song sung outside of the cabaret setting to survive the transition from stage to film.

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Goofs

When Brian thrusts the plate of cake at Sally, the cake slides off the plate and slips down to her lap. In the next shot the cake is up on her chest.

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Quotes

Sally: I suppose you're wondering what I'm doing, working at a place like the Kit Kat Club.
Brian Roberts: Well, it is a rather unusual place.
Sally: That's me, darling. Unusual places, unusual love affairs. I am a most strange and extraordinary person.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: Berlin 1931

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Alternate Versions

The bit of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" with a chorus of Hitler Youth singing the song was cut when the film was first released in West Berlin. When the film aired on television there in 1976, the cuts were reinstated.

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Connections

Referenced in Mary Kills People: The River Styx (2017)

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Soundtracks

Two Ladies
Written by John Kander and Fred Ebb
Sung by Joel Grey

User Reviews

Divine decadence

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...