Film Review: Reviewed By Tony Sloman; 5 out of 5

This is a tremendously effective and affecting adult musical version of writer Christopher Isherwood's Berlin memoirs, via I Am a Camera and the hit Broadway show. The tale is transformed here through the Oscar-winning magic of director Bob Fosse (replacing first choice Gene Kelly) and star Liza Minnelli into a lasting screen classic, pulling no punches as it depicts the rise of Hitler and the spread of anti-Semitism through the twilight world of the Berlin cabaret. As the emcee of the Kit-Kat club, Joel Grey positively exudes decadence, and also collected one of the movie's eight Oscars. Fosse achieves several compelling cinematic moments, notably a chilling crescendo of emotion as a young Nazi sings Kander and Ebb's hymn-like Tomorrow Belongs to Me. If brash Minnelli seems a mite too talented for the Sally Bowles character, it really doesn't matter: she is, quite simply, magnificent in this role.

Plot Summary

Bob Fosse's Oscar-winning musical drama, based on Christopher Isherwood's memoir, starring Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey and Michael York. A love affair develops between cabaret singer Sally Bowles and naive young Englishman Brian Roberts in the decadent Berlin café society of the 1930s, against a background of the gradual rise of German fascism.