Cabaret - 30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD > Reviews > Life is a cabaret

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Characters / Performances	Good
Soundtrack	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Great singing and dancing
Disadvantages:	Bonus footage is a little tedious

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Valentines Day came and went this year leaving me slightly stunned by Andrew (fondly known as 'him indoors')efforts.
St.Valentine himself would have been proud at how well Andrew wined and dined me, he even took me dancing in the evening.
Although I was extremely pleased by Andrews efforts I was left feeling slightly guilty everytime I looked at the 40p card I had purchased for him. So I decided to buy him a present as a way of thanks.

There I was in Ipswich town centre mooching around the shops trying to decide what to buy on a limited budget, which means no more than £5.00. This may sound mean but as a struggling young actress Andrew may have to wait a while for the porshe. I will not overspend untill I am clutching that Oscar! but a BAFTA will also suffice.

I found myself in Cash Converters hoping to find a wonderful piece of technology at a knockdown price. I ended up in the DVD section, to be more precise the DVD 'we are desperately trying to get rid of this' bin. There I found Cabaret. My reasoning for buying this was Andrew is German, Cabaret is set in Berlin, its only £1.50.

Cabaret was originally a collection of short stories by Christopher Isherwood. It was then produced as a play called 'I am Camera' then turned into a broadway musical where it was renamed 'Cabaret' and finally Bob Fosse brought it to the screen where it won eight Acadamy Awards.

A very young Liza Minelli stars as 'Sally Bowles', an American who has moved to 1930s Berlin and is performing as a singer in the Kit Kat Klub.
Michael York plays the male lead of a gay Englishman 'Brian Roberts' who moves to Germany in search of fun.
Liza and Michael share rooms together and live a hedonistic lifestyle which ends with the pair sleeping together.
Helmut Griem plays Max who comes between the pair by sleeping with them both. Which happens quite a lot in this fim with the odd pregnancy and abortion thrown in.
Joel Grey who plays the Master of Ceromonies is extremely entertaining as a witness to this 'divine decadance' and knows exactly when and where to 'camp it up'.

The overall feel of the movie is the extreme light before the extreme dark. 1930's Germany on the edge of Nazi power. Everyone feels the curtain falling on Germany and is determined to stretch the little light they have left as far as possible.

A very powerful moment is during a bikeride with Sally, Max and Brian as they stop at a drinking tavern and young nazis belt out the old German anthem.

Liza Minelli sings her songs like only she can and my favourite has to be 'Money' which she performs with Joel Grey midway through the film.
Liza undoubtedly can sing but her charater irratated me senseless. I think its her voice, Judy Garland on helium. She gave me a headache after a while.
Michael York was how he always is in a film the perfect English gent except maybe a little more risque with his sexual pleasures.

Technically you can tell that this film is thirty years old. This is only from the point of view of the camera and lighting techiniques, although it did win acadamy awards in this section 30 years ago to the younger eye it may seem a little dated. Also Liza Minelli doesnt look that good anymore.

The special features I found a little tedious but you do pick up some interesting facts about the film especially the technical side.
Special Features are
1997 Documentary 'Cabaret-A legend in the making'
1972 Documentary 'The recreation of an era'
Kit Kat Klub Memory Gallery
Interviews with the stars and creators
Song Menu
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer
Scene Access
Subtitles

Having never seen Cabaret before I was enthralled by the musical, mainly due to its serious undertones.
Regarding Andrew, well it turns out this is his favourite musical ever it being the only musical he likes. He was very pleased that I had scoured the earth for this (!) so pleased in fact that he went and bought me a very expensive jewellery box.

So now Im looking at the jewellery box feeling very guilty that I only spent £1.50............I think Im in a loop.