Cabaret
Rated: PG
Genre: Musical
Street Date: February 5, 2013
Available On: DVD, Blu-ray

The Film: The rise of the Nazi party and its impact on Germany society told trough the lives of the patrons and performers of the Kit Kat Klub.

The Extras: Featurettes “Cabaret: The Musical that Changed Musicals,” “Cabaret: A Legend in the Making,” “The Recreation of an Era”

Recommendation: Directed by Bob Fosse, starring Liza Minnelli as singer Sally Bowles and featuring the songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb, “Cabaret” won 8 Academy Awards. What makes “Cabaret” interesting is how different it is from the staged musical it is based on, and yet the chilling effect of the play remains entirely intact. This allows the film to have its own identity and play to the strengths of the cinematic medium rather than trying to replicate the stage play. I wish Tom Hooper’s “Les Miserables” had experimented with the same sort of idea.

The new transfer is gorgeous; you’d never know that they weren’t working with the original materials, and the audio is equally impressive. It’s a great piece of cinema, a history lesson and a tribute to an under utilized form of theater.

-Ryan Michael Painter

(Copyright 2013 Sinclair Broadcast Group)