The Great Movie Musicals/The Films I love

I am going to start two new series here on the blog.  The first will be done randomly every so often and it will focus on the films that I consider to be great movie musicals.  This does not mean that they cannot be based on a stage musical, just that their transformation to film has to be something extraordinary and special.  Original film musicals will of course meet these demands as well.  The second series will be titled, The Films I love.  This series will hopefully be posted weekly and each week will feature a different film.  These films could be one or multiple things including films that I think are some of the greatest ever made, films that have had some kind of profound affect on me, films that I don't personally like all that much but are critically superior and thus make me as a film buff love them so, and of course the guilty pleasure films that I've loved since childhood.  I don't want this to be a pompous, look at my good taste series. Instead this series is going to be quite off the wall at times and may contain some unlikely choices for a "best films" list.  Today I am combining the two series together to talk about a film that I truly love for its vision and bold direction and for its musical aesthetic.  It is not only one of the greatest musicals I have ever seen, but also one of the best films I have ever seen.  It's name is Cabaret.

Cabaret is a film that I revisit often, perhaps once a year or so and each time I find it more and more fascinating. It refuses to fit itself into any particular genre whether it is a musical, political commentary, love story, or turbulent drama. It also defies convention by making its main character extremely unlikeable, but in the end you cant help but care for due to her childlike naivete. Cabaret is bold for its (at the time) frank depiction of a homosexual man caught in an unusual time and place in history. Bob Fosse's direction is spot on throughout the story and makes the wise choice to cut all songs out of the film that do not take place within the world of the Cabaret itself, save for one song - Tomorrow Belongs to Me. This number is both chilling and surprisingly relevant to what is happening in this very country today with the current administration and the rise of the Christian right. It successfully demonstrates how an entire country could be swept up by such nihilistic idealism. Liza Minnelli gives the performance of her career as sally and Joel Grey brings depth to the emcee who is mostly noted as a caricature in previous incarnations. His motives are the same - he commentates on events happening within the story - but here in this film he takes on eerie human qualities that set him apart from simply being the master of ceremonies. Still it is Michael York's often-overlooked performance as Brian that is the glue of the story. He provides warmth and true humanity in a setting where there is so little of both. For my money this is the best version of cabaret as all of its songs serve a direct purpose to the story and every plot point is distinct and fully developed. Cabaret has always been a strong story and it continually surprises people throughout the years because its relevance never dissipates - what happened could and probably will happen again.

Though much of Cabaret is a drama, that's not to say that the musical numbers are not spectacular.  On the contrary, they are some of the very best ever put on the screen.  And credit should be given to the legendary Bob Fosse who worked on Broadway for years as a dancer and choreographer before helming this picture.  Before Cabaret he directed the somewhat misguided but always stylish Sweet Charity.  It was a story that too had off color subject matter and frank depictions of human sexuality.  But it was a glitzy sixties movie with big dance numbers and stylized camera movements.  Cabaret is much more gritty and unattractive.  The Kit Kit Club (the cabaret itself) is not a homely place.  It is a dive filled with monstrous characters.  At the beginning of the film the Emcee invites us in exclaiming that "In here life is beautiful!", by the end of the story we see just how wrong he was.  Fosse's choreography and direction reflect this.  It's a realistic film with production numbers that don't try to rival Hollywood of old, but rather serve as a counterbalance to the human drama.  In time the numbers on stage become just as disturbing as whats happening in the world outside of the Cabaret.

Liza Minnelli is a brilliant singer and does her fare share of hoofing in this film as well, but it's her acting that really makes Sally a believable character.  This is not the heroine of your typical musical.   Sally is a drunk and a fiend.  She uses men to get by in life and by the end of the film she has completely destroyed herself and Brian.  When Minnelli has her onscreen breakdown after having the abortion and then minutes later is smiling and singing "life is a Cabaret ol' chum" you cant help but get a little sick to your stomach.  It's a disturbing performance because of how grounded in reality it is.  People have complained that Liza is too good of a singer and that there is no reason why Sally wouldn't be a star.  My argument would be that this Sally in particular is such a despicable person that she prevents herself from ever being a star.  She is on such a self destructive path and she simply doesn't know how to get off of the train.  Again it's a great performance and I would argue that it is more complex than Minnelli's mother, the great Judy Garland, ever did on screen.

What makes Cabaret such a unique film is that unlike most movie musicals adapted from stage musicals, it is a true ADAPTATION.  The film is very different from the play itself and I know many musical theater fans who despise the film because of it.  Bob Fosse's Cabaret is its own beast and I would argue that it is actually much better than the original production that hit Broadway.  It's two leads are much more fully realized and cinematically it gives Cabaret a scope on screen that it could never have had on the stage.  You really feel the rise of Nazism in the film version, whereas on stage it feels a little forced.  Tomorrow Belongs to Me is probably the film version of Cabaret's crowning achievement and the impact the song has on the stage version is quite minimal. I would like to see a film adaptation of the new revival version of Cabaret, because like Fosse's version it is a very different take on the story and it is even darker than the film.   

By taking out the superfluous numbers of the stage production and sticking to only the numbers that happen within the Cabaret, Fosse has concocted a dark commentary on Nazism, society, and show business. As a result he has given us one of the greatest musicals ever put on the screen.

Cabaret (1972)

Dir. Bob Fosse

124 Minutes

Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Writing, Best Picture

Won 8 Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Music Score Adaptation, and Best Sound.

Note of Interest: This was the same year that The Godfather won best picture, but Francis Ford Coppola lost out on Best Director to Bob Fosse and Al Pacino lost out on Best Supporting Actor to Joel Grey.