Cabaret (Movie Review)

Cabaret (1972) [D: Bob Fosse. Liza Minelli, Michael York¸ Joel Grey] This is one of those movies that succeeds in spite of itself. The performances of the central actors hold the movie together, and while the movie runs, we overlook the cliches, the uneasy mix of social and character study. It’s a very competently done movie, nominated for ten Academy Awards, and winning eight (but not Best Picture). Like most “Oscar movies”, it consists of a self conscious mix of entertainment and attempts at serious social significance.
     The main plot is sad romance. York plays Brian Roberts, an Englishman spending time in Berlin to study German, and earning extra money giving English lessons. Minelli plays Sally Bowles, an American working at the Kit Kat Klub trying to become a star. Grey plays the MC at the Kit Kat Klub; he has found his milieu, and is the only character completely at home in his own skin. The time is 1931,  when the Weimar Republic was declining into insignificance. Sally shows Brian around the boarding house, and eventually they start an affair, which is briefly diverted by a the interference of Maximilian von Heune (Maximilian Griem), a bisexual decadent, who seduces them both. Sally becomes pregnant, but she can’t give up her show business ambitions, so she has an abortion. Brian and Sally part.
     A second love story concerns Fritz Wendel (Fritz Wepper), a respectable bank clerk who wants to marry a rich woman. He finds a likely candidate in Anna Landauer (Marisa Berenson), daughter of a very rich Jewish family, whom he meets at Brian’s English lessons. Wendel is a Jew, but has been passing as Christian. Their romance ends happily with a wedding.
     The glue for this combination of tales is the Kit Kat Klub. The skits and songs are alternately satirical, burlesque, and romantic, and provide a chorus-like commentary on the action. There’s no question that the lovers are doomed: Fascism is on the rise and will soon engulf Germany and Europe. But in the meantime, enjoy yourself as best you can. “Life is a cabaret, old chum....”
     I first saw this movie when it came out 40 years ago. It holds up well. The performances are superb, the photography well done, the overall look and feel convincing enough. Several of the songs (written especially for the movie) became hits. But the narrative rhythm frequently falters, especially when the rise of the Nazi Party is depicted. Unusually for an Oscar-winning film, its sociopolitical message is restrained, and the focus is on character and mood. Unusually for a musical, several of the major characters sing no songs.
     Sally’s self-destructiveness elicits pity, Brian’s naivete sympathetic wonder. Grey’s frenetic and knowing performance is all show business, a reminder that a professional performer hides his true self so well that we cannot even guess at it. Wepper and Berenson’s courtship is both amusing and moving.
     All in all, the movie works well: while I watched it, I was drawn into its world. But on reflection, after the effects of the Kit Kat Klub have worn off, it fails to convince. I think it’s the short scenes of the Nazi Party’s rise that punctuate the central stories that mar the overall effect and break the movie’s unity. They seem more contrived than the bizarre performances at the night club. Is the movie about the clash between the anarchic freedom of the Weimar Republic and the disciplined regime of the Nazis? Or is it about two pairs of lovers, whose contrasting stories engage our sympathy and interest? ***