This film is set in Belin beginning in 1931. Despite the rapid rise of Fascism, you would never know it inside the bawdy cabaret where much of the movie is set. Here, it is all laughter and gaiety--no sign of the coming war. The apparent stars of this show are Joel Grey (a master of ceremonies who has no other role in the film) and Liza Minelli (an incredibly screwed up American singer and dancer). The utter banality of the cabaret as well as Liza's personal life are a deliberate counter-point to the seriousness of the day. Despite antisemitism running amok, Liza is oblivious to it all--living her hollow and self-indulgent life. How she screws it up and the bizarre relationships she has are makes up about half the film and the rest consists of song and dance numbers. In many ways, it's like two totally separate films fused together.

Surprisingly, I found I enjoyed the non-musical portion much more. Liza plays a fascinating character--a perfect film example of a borderline personality. This personality disorder is typified by love-hate relationships, self-absorption, self-destructive behaviors, magical thinking and an inability to accept that they are not the center of the universe. It's obvious that the writers had worked with some mental health professionals to nail this so well. While not fun to watch (after all, who wants to watch a self-absorbed idiot?),it was fascinating. Some of Liza's odd and self-absorbed behaviors included sexual relationships with gay and bisexual men which are destined to fail, extreme promiscuity, alcohol abuse, shallowness and magical thinking. Sadly, in some ways this sounds a bit like Ms. Minelli's real life, though I do wish her the best in her recovery.

As for the rest of the cast, they were mostly there for Minelli's character to play off of. Yes, Michael York and others are there, but most of the reason seems to be to provide texture to Minelli's life as well as to provide SOME semblance of normalcy. They see that Germany is slowly descending to Hell, but Liza's character is simply oblivious.

CABARET is a very good film, that I won't argue. But for the film to have garnered eight Oscars--that I find very hard to understand. Now it's true that many of these were for musical or set design awards, but still the film doesn't seem that exceptional. Perhaps I am just missing something or perhaps it's because I've seen other films about the Nazi period in Germany that just seemed better. Or, perhaps it's because I preferred the parts of the film where they were NOT singing--for as a musical, it's songs aren't all that memorable. Aside from the rather annoying "Money Makes the World Go Around" and "Cabaret", most people would have a hard time remembering the songs that play such a prominent role in the film.

Also, while I do agree that Minelli deserved the Oscar for her demanding performance, I was very surprised to see Joel Grey get one as well. Yes, he did also work hard, but he really had no lines at all in the film--everything he did was singing and dancing and clowning around on stage. With no life beyond the stage, it's very surprising that he won. I assume that part of this was because with three nominees for Best Supporting Actor from THE GODFATHER, the three actors split their votes--allowing the unusual performance by Grey to grab the trophy. I know Grey can act, as he's been amazing in other roles, but here he just sings, dances and acts bizarre---an odd choice for the award.

Overall, while this was a very interesting film, I didn't particularly enjoy it. I know MANY disagree with me and they may be right, but given my tastes I just didn't care for the film. In fact, had the film not improved in the second half, I probably wouldn't have finished watching.

A final note to parents. This is a VERY adult film with lots of sexual content and frank discussions about homosexuality and abortion. Think twice before showing it to the kids!

As a long-time fan of musicals, I was aware of the existence of Cabaret, but didn't get down to watching it until only recently. While not my favourite of the musical genre, it is a hugely enjoyable film. Bob Fosse does have a very distinctive style, and this style works. The photography is very good and never sloppy, and the costumes and sets are extravagant. The songs are equally wonderful, as iconic as the title song is, the one song I was familiar with prior to my viewing of the film, the best song for me is the brilliant Mein Herr, and the choreography exudes charisma and energy. The story is the least exceptional asset of the film in my opinion, not bad mind you in fact it's very interesting but everything else was so wonderful, while the writing sparkles. Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey are both magnificent in this movie and are a joy to watch in any of their scenes. All in all, a great film helped by the wonderful music and lead performances. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Two of the most successful movie musicals adapted from Broadway shows are The Sound Of Music and Cabaret. Of course what could Maria Von Trapp and Sally Bowles possibly have in common, other than the times they live in and how they dealt with them.

Cabaret takes place at the tail end of the Weimar Republic era as Sally and her crowd party on while Germany is surrendering its freedom to an authoritarian minded party and its leader. Liza Minnelli is Sally Bowles in what is her career screen role.

With the fading away of the musical genre, we don't get to see Liza Minnelli too often as a singer so be grateful that Cabaret is recorded and popularly available. Her role also calls for a great actress as well, so small wonder she won an Oscar in 1972 as Best Actress. Her award was one of eight that Cabaret received.

Cabaret ran for 1165 performances from 1966 to 1969 on Broadway and it was reversed there in terms of casting. On stage it was an English woman and an American man expatriate it Weimar Berlin and starred Jill Haworth and Bert Convy. Michael York took the role of the rather naive young man who while renting a room, falls in with Liza Minnelli and her hedonistic lifestyle.

Repeating his role as the Cabaret emcee is Joel Grey who was the Best Supporting Actor for 1972. I think it would have almost been impossible to do a film version of Cabaret without Grey. He's one fey and evil man who is quite willing to adapt to the new Germany. My guess is he found a boyfriend later on in Ernest Roehm's SA and later paid dear for it, either killed during the Night Of the Long Knives or died in one of the camps.

I've always loved the contrast between the Von Trapp family who saw what was coming to Austria and took measures to flee and Sally Bowles who kept on in her words, going like Elsie. York could see what was coming as did many others in her crowd. One can only hope she did eventually.

Liza Minnelli's best song was one especially written for the screen version by songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb. With all the awards Cabaret won, amazingly that Maybe This Time didn't even rate a nomination for Best Original Song. In an era when good film songs were at a premium, that was inexcusable.

One other comparison with Sound of Music. The song sung by the young Aryan pure Germans, Tomorrow Belongs To Me is a frightening number. I could see young Rolf who became a Nazi while courting the Von Trapp eldest being part of that.

Cabaret is a film guaranteed to last forever, something that will never date and something we always have to be reminded about.