Cabaret

There is a through line in Visconti’s Cabaret that suggests that the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany accompanied the rise of homosexuality and other such alternative lifestyles. While his work doesn’t condemn these lifestyles, he does draw parallels to one of the world’s most evil groups of individuals to ever grace the planet. Nazi’s and what they stand for play a major role, albeit almost always a background one, in the themes and story of one of the most unusual musicals ever made.

Liza Minelli, daughter of musical superstar Judy Garland, leads in this multi-Academy Award winning motion picture, a film that proves that a musical doesn’t need to be upbeat and full of bright colors and happiness to be successful. In fact, there is very little joy to be found in the film aside from some rather lively musical numbers, all of which are contained to the stage of a singular cabaret hall in 1930’s Berlin. This is a film about the loss of innocence, the rise of intolerance, and a bleak look at how evil can go ignored by those who think it is just a passing fancy that can be easily defeated should it become more than a minor nuisance. 

Director Bob Fosse refuses to allow the musical numbers to swell in the heart and lighten the tone of the film; to do so would be to betray the subject. Instead, he uses them as almost interstitial titles in a silent film, cropping up to spell out what is going in at any given time such as the song Two Ladies playing up the three-way romance that dominates the middle of the film. The closing number, Cabaret, showcases Liza’s singing talent and emphasizes the desperation of the times and is closed out with a brief view of the audience, peppered with Nazis, a stark change from earlier when a single Nazi was present and got thrown out. Shortly afterwards a group of Nazis assaults the man who did the ejecting and throughout the rest of the picture the number of men seen in Nazi attire gradually increases. 

The main character of the film, Sally Bowles (Liza Minelli), is based on Jean Ross, a real cabaret singer and dancer and aspiring actress in Berlin. The character first appeared in the 1937 novella Sally Bowles by gay author Christopher Isherwood. It would be expanded upon two years later into the novel Goodbye to Berlin, the book that inspired the play Cabaret. Jean Ross was disdainful of the character, feeling offended that anyone would associate her with it. She felt the character was apolitical which didn’t represent her views in the slightest. This was confirmed by her surviving family and even Isherwood, himself. 

When Cabaret made the transition to the movies it was not without its detractors. Christopher Isherwood felt that the film version held negative views on homosexuality relegating it to “an indecent but comic weakness to be snickered at…” Indeed, the film, while not quite as harsh as he would make it out to be, doesn’t exactly portray homosexuality in a way gay culture would like it to be represented. The character of Brian Roberts (Michael York) is presented here as bi-sexual, not straight up gay, and his orientation is only ever brought up on a couple of occasions. Sally teases him at first, not sure why he doesn’t seem interested in getting intimate with her, jokingly saying “Do you not sleep with women.” To her horror it dawns on her that that might actually be the case. He softens the blow by saying he has just had bad luck with three other women in the past. 

Later, during holiday with a new acquaintance Sally has made, Baron Maximillian von Heune (Helmut Griem), it comes out afterwards that both of them had intimate encounters with the man. Sally has also gotten pregnant but doesn’t know which of the two men is the father. Cabaret the film was released in early 1972 and homosexuality wasn’t as mainstream then as it is now so it’s understandable the film isn’t as open and embracing of the culture as it could be. This is not a film trying to open people’s minds to the gay scene. In that context the treatment of Brian Roberts as a character is better than it might have been. Gay culture took a turn for the worse in the upcoming decades when having a gay character usually meant they were flamboyant comic relief stereotypes. In Cabaret, Brian being gay is just something his character is and the film doesn’t make much of an issue about it. It’s something he is, not something that defines his character. 

There is a secondary story that plays out that is directly linked into the rise of Nazism in Berlin. This involves a friend of Brian and Sallys, Fritz Wendel (Fritz Wepper). Fritz begins dating a young wealthy woman, Natalia Landauer (Marisa Berenson) who is one of Brian’s English language students. Natalia and her whole family are jewish and as the film progresses the persecution escalates to the point where one evening she answers a knock at her front door and finds their dog murdered and left on the front step. Natalia tries to call off her relationship with Fritz, initially fearing he is gold digging but later because she feels their religious differences are a wedge between him and her parents. He finally breaks down and admits to her that he, too, is jewish and has been hiding his heritage and beliefs to avoid Nazi retaliation. Their marriage is one of the few happy things to happen in the film and it comes with the pall of the rising Third Reich looming ominously overhead. 

Liza Minelli is one of those actresses who can come across as polarizing. Some people love her and some absolutely hate her. Regardless of which side you fall on there is no doubt that she has talent. Throughout much of this film her greatest talent is shuffled aside and she’s being asked to play things a bit over-the-top. This is how the character is written and Liza does it justice. During her stage scenes she carries on like a wanna-be star who doesn’t really have what it takes to make it big. The songs are performed unprofessionally and broadly, as the character would actually be. However, during the final number, Liza pulls out the stops and belts out the title song and here you can actually hear her tremendous singing voice and witness her stage presence, something that she obviously learned from her mother who was a goddess on the stage. Liza is just as good as her mother at belting out those tunes putting some real raw emotion into those lyrics. 

While the art of the cabaret has diminished since its heyday it is still very much a thing. This has mostly translated into the modern day drag shows but you can still find some old-fashioned burlesque from time to time. Seeing them on screen now gives a sense of nostalgia for a time in history that, while not completely gone, is much more rare than it once was. The dance numbers are humorous, naughty (but not too naughty), and punctuate the beats of the story. Joel Grey leads each of these numbers as the master of ceremonies and is so spot on that he, too, would win an Oscar for it. There is no doubt his portrayal is fun to watch and embodies this type of entertainment. Joel opens the film and closes it, too, the perfect Master of Ceremonies, welcoming you to the show and sayin goodbye as the curtain closes.

While not the most uplifting of films, Cabaret is far from drab and dreary. Liza lightens up the scenes with her quirky mannerisms and mindset, often playing up the drama of the moment in a way that feels exaggerated and accurate at the same time. The film gives us some valuable enlightenment into the mindset of the people of Berlin, too, and how they could underestimate the Nazis until it was too late to put a stop to it. It also tells a compelling story about a couple of lovers who shared a brief moment during a tumultuous time in history. They part as friends as Brian returns to England while Sally stays behind, still determined to become an actress. It’s bittersweet and sad, especially on this side of the real history of Berlin. A lot happens during the time we spend with these two and we come to care for them. That is why we feel the ache when they say goodbye to each other in the end. Bob Fosse has crafted a masterful story with a lot of complicated emotions attached to it. It may not have won the Best Picture award for his efforts but he did take home the statue for his directing. This would end up being his most famous film, something he probably wished would be the case for his semi-autobiographical masterpiece All That Jazz. Both are great films and a good showcase for his talents but Cabaret was the one that brought him his Oscar. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Cy Feuer

Best Director: Bob Fosse (won)

Best Actress: Liza Minelli (won)

Best Supporting Actor: Joel Grey (won)

Best Screenplay - Based on Material from Anther Medium: Jay Presson Allen

Best Art Direction: Hans Jürgen Kiebach, Rolf Zehetbauer, and Herbert Strabel (won)

Best Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth (won)

Best Film Editing: David Bretherton (won)

Best Scoring - Adaptation and Original Song Score: Ralph Burns (won)

Best Sound: Robert Knudson and David Hildyard (won)

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Release Date: February 13, 1972

Running Time: 124 minutes

Rated PG

Starring: Liza Minelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Marisa Berenson and Joel Grey

Directed By: Bob Fosse