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#1

Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/5/05 at 6:01pm

Is this worth watching? I saw it in a store and wanted to get it but didn't. How faithful is it to the original?
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#2

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/5/05 at 6:03pm

The movie is much more drawn-out than the original stage musical. I know this is probably blasphemy, but I'm bored out of my mind whenever they're not in the Kit Kat Club.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
#3

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/5/05 at 6:04pm

It is good, but very different. I also don't care much for Liza as Sally. The scenes with Joel Grey as the Emcee in the Kit Kat club make it worth seeing by themselves. Fosse was the director, choreographer. The story has some majorly different turns though.
I stand corrected, you are as vapid as they say.
#4

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/5/05 at 6:37pm

i enjoyed it even thought it was different from the show. I reccomend that you do see it and Joel Grey is reason enough to watch it in my opinion.
"At the opening night party, they had clowns on stilts, jugglers, a chocolate fountain, popcorn, hot dogs. [My son] looked at me like I had been holding back. Like, 'This is what you do?' I had to tell him, 'No, no, darling. Opening nights don't usually look like this.' It's usually a dark bar with a bottle of vodka." ?Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Jan Maxwell plus i proudly share the title of the shortest member over the age of 10 with wickedrentq!
#5

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/5/05 at 6:40pm

I think it one of the best films of all time. Brilliant direction and choreography by Fosse. Different from the original, but anyone who does not like Liza in this film has something serious wrong with them.
#6

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/5/05 at 6:45pm

Michael York was yummy when he was younger, especially in that powder blue sweater!! re: Cabaret movie
#7

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/5/05 at 7:05pm

I don't particurly enjoy Liza anytime. Is that so wrong?
"You know just because you put a smiley face after it doesn't change the fact that it was an a-hole comment." ~ Sumofallthings
#8

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/5/05 at 7:34pm

by all means, buy it at once! it is a cinematic masterpiece of the 70's! in the film, the subplot used for the stage musical is replaced by the one from the play I AM A CAMERA, upon which the musical is based (along with isherwood's BERLIN STORIES). also, the character of clive in the play is expanded into the part of max, who joins in a provocative menage-a-trois with sally and brian (changed from cliff), creating some marvelous sexual tension. songs that were "cut" end up as background music. i LOVE that the movie is considerably different from the stage musical, making both very uniquely enjoyable experiences. and as a bonus, the DVD has a few nice extras re: Cabaret movie
RIP glebby <3
#9

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/5/05 at 7:36pm

This movie is so worth buying. It is wonderfully fragile with translating the stage musical into a film...it really pulls it off, unlike ACL.
#10

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/5/05 at 8:11pm

Rath, I feel the same way. My sister and I watched it again a few months ago and just fast-forwarded to the scenes at the Kit Kat Club, because the rest is just boring.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
#11

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/6/05 at 4:09am

ANYONE who claims they only enjoy the Kit Kat Klub scenes in the movie CABARET obviously only like musicals that are empty spectacles with no subtext.

The songs in the KKK are comments on the scenes that surround them! That is what made the stage play brilliant and makes the movie even more so.

The script for the film is mostly taken from I AM A CAMARA and virtually none of the dialogue or situations from the stage musical appear. Even the characters are changed: Sally is American, Brian is British. Fraulein Schneider and Fraulien Kost apppear only briefly. Her Shultz and Ernst are gone. All of the plot songs are removed, leaving just the CABARET songs. Normally this would not really be a musical in my estimation because the songs are not part of teh plot, howevere Fosse uses the as commentary on the plot. Still in a 124 minute film there is barely 1/2 hour given over to musical numbers.

It is NOT a dull movie at all. But almost Chekovian: little seems to be happening but a lot is going on.

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

#12

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/6/05 at 4:28am

This is one of my favorite movies - and I think it's one of the best films ever made - nevermind one of the best films made from a musical. I think it's perfect in every way!
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson
#13

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/6/05 at 5:09am

frontrowcentre, thank you for making sweeping generalizations about what you assume to be my musical preferences.

Actually, I really like Cabaret as a stage show, so obviously it can't be an issue of liking only "empty spectacles." I just don't like many of the changes that were made in the stage-film translation.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
#14

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/6/05 at 10:03am

Sally is American in the movie because Liza Minneli was incapable of doing a British accent. In the original I AM A CAMERA, both Sally and Chris/Cliff/Brian are British. The Broadway musical made Cliff American to appeal to American audiences.

Kander & Ebb wanted Liza to originate the role on stage, but Harold Prince insisted Sally be British. When Liza substituted for Julie Andrews in VICTOR/VICTORIA, they rewrote the lines to make her character Canadian!
#15

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/6/05 at 10:06am

And was she also a first rate hooker?
" ...the happiness in the tune convinces me that I'm not afraid."
#16

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/6/05 at 1:20pm

orangeskittles said :" frontrowcentre, thank you for making sweeping generalizations about what you assume to be my musical preferences. Actually, I really like Cabaret as a stage show, so obviously it can't be an issue of liking only "empty spectacles." I just don't like many of the changes that were made in the stage-film translation."

I apologize if what I wrote seemed an "sweeping gereralization." I based it only on what your wrote: "My sister and I watched it again a few months ago and just fast-forwarded to the scenes at the Kit Kat Club, because the rest is just boring."

I agree that as a film of the stage musical the movie CABARET has so little in common with its source material that it really doesn't count as a movie version of the show. But, as I said, it is an excellent film all by itself and I do not find it boring at all. The songs by themselves would be nothing more than flashy entertainment without the surrounding scenes.

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

#17

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/6/05 at 1:22pm

The fact that they replaced Frau Shneider and Herr Schultz with a "younger more apealing" couple

That's incorrect. Fraulein Schneider is still old, as is Kost, and still rents apartments. There was another character in the movie that was Jewish.
Mama Korey

The Beauty Is: Kelli O'Hara Online

#18

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:07pm

The "younger" couple were still based on people and incidents from Isherwood's writing. I prefer the stage show and can't really even compare the movie. Each are wonderful in their own right.
#19

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/6/05 at 2:12pm

"It is NOT a dull movie at all. But almost Chekovian: little seems to be happening but a lot is going on."

I agree completely. There's a lot of very powerful subtext. If you only watch the Kit Kat Klub scenes, you're really missing out on one hell of a film.
#20

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/7/05 at 12:14pm

Elphaba3 I'm so with you. Footlooser YES IT'S WRONG! liza is Cabaret. ask any body on the planet besides the small broadway community. The first thing that comes to mind when they hear Cabaret. They will say Oscar winner Liza Minnelli..... If you can't tell I love Liza...
#21

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/7/05 at 12:44pm

the film is a masterpiece. It won, I believe it was eight Oscars; including Fosse for best director, Liza Minnelli, for Best actress and Joel Grey for best supporting actor. It is an incredible movie, truly unforgettable.
"Blow out the candles Robert and make a wish. Want something, want SOMETHING."
#22

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/7/05 at 12:47pm

The movie would be worth it for the "Tommorrow Belongs To Me" sequence alone. When people ask "How could the Holocaust happen" I refer them for a simple explaination to this scene. Chilling.
#23

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/7/05 at 12:50pm

Great great great movie. Joel Grey is so awesome...and I didn't have any problem at all with Liza.
#24

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/7/05 at 12:53pm

I bought it several years ago, before I knew anything about Cabaret, and I LOVED it. Like people have said, it's different but still good. New characters are in it and add to the story......the older ones are still in the movie too, but named have been changed and roles dimishined......Interestingly enough, I think that the Herr Shultz character is called Herr Ludwig......

Anyways, RENT IT!!!!!!
#25

re: Cabaret movie

Posted: 5/7/05 at 12:57pm

It's interesting how they changed it so the only people who sing are people singing songs as songs and not characters bursting out into song. Therefor only the perofrmers at the Kit Kat Klub and the soldier singing in the park actually have songs. Cliffs songs as well as the songs for the other couple are gone. It makes it more of a movie with music than a movie musical.

Updated On: 5/7/05 at 12:57 PM

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