US (1972): Musical/Drama
Winner of eight Academy Awards, including Best Director (Bob Fosse), Best Actress (Liza Minnelli), and Best Supporting Actor (Joel Grey), Cabaret would also have taken Best Picture if it hadn't been competing against The Godfather as the most acclaimed film of 1972. (Francis Ford Coppola would have to wait two years before winning Best Director, for The Godfather, PartII.)
Brilliantly adapted from the acclaimed stage production, which was in turn inspired by Christopher Isherwood's book Berlin Stories and John Van Druten's play and movie I Am a Camera, this remarkable musical turns the pre-war Berlin of 1931 into a sexually charged haven of decadence. Minnelli commands the screen as nightclub entertainer Sally Bowles, who radiantly goes on with the show as the Nazis rise to power, holding her many male admirers (including Michael York and Helmut Griem) at a distance that keeps her from having to bother with genuinely deep emotions. Joel Grey is the master of ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub who will guarantee a great show night after night as a way of staving off the inevitable effects of war and dictatorship. They're all living in a morally ambiguous vacuum of desperate anxiety, determined to keep up appearances as the real world -- the world outside the comfortable sanctuary of the cabaret -- prepares for the nightmarish chaos of war. The cast also features Fritz Wepper, Marisa Berenson, Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel, Helen Vita, Seigrid von Richthofen and Gerd Vespermann. Director-choreographer Fosse achieves a finely tuned combination of devastating drama and ebullient entertainment, and the result is one of the most substantial screen musicals ever made. (ABC Circle Films/Allied Artists) (Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com)
10 nominations, 8 Awards
· Actress 1972: Liza Minnelli
· Supporting Actor 1972: Joel Grey
· Directing 1972: Bob Fosse
· Art Direction/Set Decoration 1972: Rolf Zehetbauer & Jurgen Kiebach - Art Direction, Herbert Strabel - Set Decoration
· Cinematography 1972: Geoffrey Unsworth
· Film Editing 1972: David Bretherton
· Music Scoring Awards (Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score) 1972: Ralph Burns
· Sound 1972: Robert Knudson, David Hildyard
· Best Picture 1972: Cy Feuer - Producer (ABC Pictures, Allied Artists)
· Writing (Screenplay based on material from another medium) 1972: Jay Presson Allen