Cabaret (DVD)

Wilkomen to the world of Cabaret. A world of divine decadence portrayed with skill; mixing laughter, romance, sexuality, song and a dash of political rumblings - the perfect cocktail that you'll enjoy drinking in all night. Cabaret was made in 1972, a year when the Godfather could have run away with all of the awards. Instead this film was the only other serious contender in that year's awards ceremonies, picking up eight Oscars and winning many more throughout the year. This film is based on the stage-play of the film of the semi-autobiographical book (getting a bit tenuous now isn't it), 'Farewell Berlin', by Christopher Isherwood. ...  Read the complete review

Ladies and Gentlemen, wilkommen... bienvenue... welcome to the Kit Kat Klub, a world of decadence, delight and depravity- a world where your innermost fantasies and darkest thoughts can be played out in the world of cabaret. If you thought all musicals were light and fluffy stuff, think again! Cabaret the film is the result of a long evolutionary process, being loosely based on two short stories written in the 1930s by Christopher Isherwood, 'Sally Bowles' and 'Goodbye to Berlin'. It then became a stage musical, with songs written by John Kander and Fred Ebb (who also wrote Chicago), and finally it made it onto the silver screen in 1972, courtesy of director ...  Read the complete review

Liza Minnelli has rarely had a better movie opportunity to showcase her undoubted talents than Cabaret, the 1972 satirical dissection of the rise of Nazism in the early 1930's. The daughter of the tortured Julie Garland received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in her first starring role in The Sterile Cuckoo in 1969, and she also featured in the obscure 1970 film, Tell Me That You Love Me, Julie Moon, and appeared with Albert Finney in 1968's Charlie Bubbles, but it will always be as the vivid and vibrant performer Sally Bowles in the decadent Kit Kat club that she will be best remembered. This is with good reason as the film allowed Minnelli to ...  Read the complete review

Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles, Joel Grey as the fey MC of the Kit Kat Klub and Michael York as Bryan, the stereotypical English gent are the three main protagonists in a simply amazing film, which is on the surface a musical, but dig deeper and you find a particularly barbed commentary on the fascist goings on in the Germany of the early 1930's, all mingled in with a story about a night club. It's lavish and sumptuous and Minnelli has never been better than she was here. The musical numbers are staged beautifully and you can enjoy this film on many different levels - you can either soak up the atmosphere and listen to the wonderful music or you can ...  Read the complete review

Saying Cabaret is a good film, is like saying the Taj Mahal is a nice building, or that Ayres Rock is pretty for a lump of rock. It's misses the point somewhat. This isn't a musical as such, at least, that's not the impression you are left with when you have travelled such a magnificently torturous journey through the story. It strikes you that this is one mother of a film that co-incidentally has some of the best show music around. Even now. This film was made in 1972, and hasn't even got the tiniest of wrinkles or a hint of grey in the passing years. The main characters are Liza Minelli and Michael York, and whilst it's adapted ...  Read the complete review