Coordinates | 28°36′36″N77°13′48″N |
---|---|
name | Cabaret |
director | Bob Fosse |
producer | Cy Feuer |
writer | Joe Masteroff |
screenplay | Jay Allen |
story | Christopher Isherwood |
starring | Liza MinnelliMichael YorkJoel GreyFritz Wepper |
music | John KanderFred Ebb |
cinematography | Geoffrey Unsworth |
editing | David Bretherton |
studio | ABC Pictures |
distributor | Allied Artists |
released | |
runtime | 124 minutes |
country | |
language | EnglishGerman |
budget | $6 million |
gross | $42,765,000 }} |
The film is loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret by Kander and Ebb, which was adapted from The Berlin Stories of Christopher Isherwood and the play I Am a Camera. Only a few numbers from the stage score were used; Kander and Ebb wrote new ones to replace those that were discarded. In the traditional manner of musical theater, every significant character in the stage version of Cabaret sings to express emotion and advance the plot; but in the film version, the musical numbers are entirely diegetic, and only two of the film's major characters sing any songs.
Sally befriends Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem), a rich playboy baron who takes her and Brian to his country estate. It becomes ambiguous which of the duo Max is seducing, epitomized by a scene in which the three dance intimately together in a wine-induced reverie. After a sexual experience with Brian, Max loses interest in the two, and departs for Argentina. When Sally triumphantly tells Brian that she slept with Max, Brian begins to laugh and reveals that he slept with Max as well. After the ensuing argument, Brian storms off and picks a fight with a group of Nazis, who beat him senseless. Brian and Sally make up in their rooming house, where Sally reveals that Max left them an envelope of money.
Later on, Sally finds out that she's pregnant and is unsure whether Brian or Max is the father. Brian offers to marry her and take her back to his university life in Cambridge. After a scene that strongly hints Sally prefers the life of a singer to the life of a mother and housewife, she proceeds with an abortion. When Brian confronts her, she shares her fears and the two reach an understanding. The film ends with Brian departing for England by train, and Sally continuing her life in Berlin, singing "Cabaret" to a highly appreciative audience.
The Nazis' violent rise is a powerful, ever-present undercurrent in the film. Though explicit evidence of their actions is only sporadically presented, their progress can be tracked through the characters' changing actions and attitudes. While in the beginning of the film National Socialist members are sometimes harassed and even kicked out of the Kit Kat Klub, a scene midway through the film shows everyday Germans rising in song to rally around National Socialism, and the final shot of the film shows the cabaret's audience is dominated by Nazi party members.
While he does not play a role in the main plot or subplot, the "Master of Ceremonies" (Joel Grey) serves in the role of storyteller throughout the film, acting as a bit of voyeur in the circus atmosphere. His surface demeanor is one of benevolence and hospitality ("Willkommen"), but when the floor show gets underway, he exposes the audience to the seedy world of the Cabaret. His intermittent songs in the Kit Kat Klub are risque and pointedly mock the Nazis.
The rise of the National Socialist movement and their increasing influence on German society is dramatically demonstrated in the beer garden scene: A boy — only his face seen — sings to the seated guests what first seems an innocent lyrical song about the beauties of nature. This gradually becomes the strident "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" as the camera shifts to show that the boy is wearing a brown Hitler Youth uniform and lifts his hand in the Nazi salute. One by one, nearly all guests in the beer garden get up and voluntarily join in the singing and saluting. The oldest gentleman among them, however, obviously feels differently, and does not share the common exaltation, he obviously has grown wise enough not to join the chorus and turns away uneasily. Max and Brian flee the beer garden after the show of grass roots solidarity, realising that the Nazis will be difficult to "control" now. Earlier in the film the NSDAP enjoyed relative favor with the main characters, due to their strong opposition to Communism, which was a natural risk to the trio's increasingly lavish lifestyle.
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.
Over the next months, Fosse met with previously hired writer Jay Presson Allen to discuss the screenplay. Originally unsatisfied with Allen’s script, he hired Hugh Wheeler to rewrite and revise Allen’s work. To this day, Wheeler is referred to as merely a "research consultant" while Allen retains screenwriting credit. The final script was based less on Joe Masteroff’s original book of the stage version and more on The Berlin Stories and I am a Camera.
Fosse and Feuer traveled to Germany, where producers chose to shoot the film, in order to finish assembling the film crew. During this time, Fosse highly recommended Robert Surtees for cinematographer, but Feuer and the top executives saw Surtees’ 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. Fosse dancer Kathy Doby and John Sharpe were brought on as Fosse’s dance aides.
Fosse cut several of the songs, leaving only those that are sung within the confines of the Kit Kat Klub, and "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" - sung in a beer garden, though in the stage play it is sung first by the cabaret boys and then at a private party. Kander and Ebb wrote several new songs for the movie 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." Interestingly, "Mein Herr" and "Money, Money," which were composed for the film version, have, due to their popularity, now been added to performances of the stage musical alongside the original numbers. The song "Maybe This Time," which Sally performs at the cabaret, was not written for the film. Kander and Ebb had written it years earlier (for their unproduced musical Golden Gate), thus making it ineligible for an Academy Award nomination. Though "Don't Tell Mama" and "Married" were removed as performed musical numbers, both appeared in the film. The former's bridge section appears as instrumental music played on Sally's gramophone; the latter is initially played 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.
Several characters were cut from the film (including Herr Schultz, with Fraulein Schneider's part greatly reduced and the whole romantic subplot removed) and several from Isherwood's original stories put back in. The entire score was re-orchestrated, with all the numbers being accompanied by the stage band.
The following songs from the original Broadway production are missing in the film version, but are still available on the Original Broadway Cast album:
The international ancillary distribution rights to the film are owned by ABC (currently part of The Walt Disney Company), while Warner Bros. (which inherited the film from Lorimar, Allied Artists' successor-in-interest) has domestic distribution rights. Today, Warner shares the film's copyright with production partner ABC.
Fremantle Media (owners of UK DVD rights under license from ABC/Disney) originally planned a Blu-ray release of the film, and several dates in 2008 and 2009 had been put forward, but have now announced they no longer plan to release the film on Blu-ray.
It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, losing both to The Godfather.
The film also won seven BAFTA Awards including Best Film, Best Direction and Best Leading Actress as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture (Musical/Comedy).
In 1995, Cabaret was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2006, Cabaret ranked #5 on the American Film Institute's list of best musicals; the song "Cabaret" was ranked #18 on their 100 Years...100 Songs list in 2004. In 2007, this film ranked #63 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Movies.
The film currently holds a 97% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus "Great performances and evocative musical numbers help Cabaret secure its status as a stylish, socially conscious classic."
Category:1972 films Category:1970s drama films Category:1970s musical films Category:American films Category:American LGBT-related films Category:American musical drama films Category:English-language films Category:German-language films Category:Films directed by Bob Fosse Category:Best Musical or Comedy Picture Golden Globe winners Category:Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Category:Bisexuality-related films Category:Films about entertainers Category:Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe winning performance Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winning performance Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe winning performance Category:Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award winning performance Category:Films set in Berlin Category:Films set in the 1930s Category:Films that won the Best Sound Mixing Academy Award Category:Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award Category:Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award Category:Films whose director won the Best Director Academy Award Category:Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award Category:United States National Film Registry films Category:Allied Artists films
bg:Кабаре (филм) ca:Cabaret (pel·lícula) cy:Cabaret (ffilm) da:Cabaret (film) de:Cabaret (Film) es:Cabaret (película) eu:Cabaret (filma) fr:Cabaret (film) it:Cabaret (film) he:קברט (סרט) nl:Cabaret (1972) ja:キャバレー (1972年の映画) pl:Kabaret (film) pt:Cabaret ro:Cabaret (film) ru:Кабаре (фильм) sh:Cabaret (film) fi:Cabaret sv:Cabaret (film) tr:Kabare (film)This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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