There is no denying that the movie version of the musical version of "I am a Camera" is an artistic triumph, but in repeat viewings of this, I have sadly discovered that overall, the whole movie just lays there while many sequences stand out, particularly those where Liza Minnelli sings. She has never topped her triumph with her Oscar-Winning performance, and even if some detractors say that either Diana Ross or Cicely Tyson should have won that year, she still retains the power of presence, even if the character of Sally Bowles is supposed to be of just so-so talent. Forget the fact that Minnelli is as American as they come, her talents are just too large to indicate that she could be lost in the world of a tacky Berlin nightclub. Like the same era's Josephine Baker, I think Liza's Sally would be more than welcome on the Paris stages of the Moulin Rouge or the Folies Bergere.
Then, there is the fact that the film altered much of its story from the musical, being closer to the original play. Those who have seen the original musical (or its recent revisal, back on Broadway once again) can see the power of the fear factor involving the Nazi's coming rise to power as the old world falls to pieces, lives crumble around them, and yet, Sally goes on singing about "When I go, I'm going like Elsie!". Gone are the stage subplots of the Jewish grocery store owner who courts a non-Jewish German landlady and the neighbors whose sympathies lie with the Nazis as their powers rise and aren't afraid of exposing their feelings of hatred to the world around them. In its place is an almost bi-sexual subplot involving the American version of Sally and the very British version of Cliff (Michael York) and the menage-a-tois that seems to open up with one of their acquaintances.
Certainly, nobody other than Bob Fosse was better selected than to direct this movie, although he was busy with "Sweet Charity" in 1966, leaving "Cabaret" to Ron Field on Broadway. The dance moves that made "Charity" so ahead of its time (especially those involving hats) are very prevalent here, and Fosse instills a delightful sense of trashiness into each and every musical number he creates. Joel Grey sensibly repeats his role as the slimy looking emcee, adding an Oscar to his Tony for the same part, and making us wonder what befalls this strange creature as the curtain falls on his finale "Au Wiedersein".
Minnelli is genuinely sexy here, especially with "Mein Heir", and her vulnerability is obvious with "Maybe This Time", not heard in the original, but added to subsequent revisals. When she gets together with Grey for the newly written "Money Make the World Go Round", it is as if Judy Garland and Gene Kelly have come back to life in "For Me and My Gal", only with a less angelic setting and darker intentions. She rocks the title song off the screen, and it is easy to see why she continues to sing songs from this show more than 40 years after the movie exploded her into the front line of legendary performers.
Two disturbing moments that haunt me to this day are Grey's "If You Could See Her Through My Eyes" (re-installing the lyrics of "She Wouldn't Look Jewish at all!") and the frightening Nazi anthem, "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", where an angelic faced blonde soldier boy increasingly gets angrier and angrier as the older generation looks on in shock as the world around him falls to crap.
Then, there is the fact that the film altered much of its story from the musical, being closer to the original play. Those who have seen the original musical (or its recent revisal, back on Broadway once again) can see the power of the fear factor involving the Nazi's coming rise to power as the old world falls to pieces, lives crumble around them, and yet, Sally goes on singing about "When I go, I'm going like Elsie!". Gone are the stage subplots of the Jewish grocery store owner who courts a non-Jewish German landlady and the neighbors whose sympathies lie with the Nazis as their powers rise and aren't afraid of exposing their feelings of hatred to the world around them. In its place is an almost bi-sexual subplot involving the American version of Sally and the very British version of Cliff (Michael York) and the menage-a-tois that seems to open up with one of their acquaintances.
Certainly, nobody other than Bob Fosse was better selected than to direct this movie, although he was busy with "Sweet Charity" in 1966, leaving "Cabaret" to Ron Field on Broadway. The dance moves that made "Charity" so ahead of its time (especially those involving hats) are very prevalent here, and Fosse instills a delightful sense of trashiness into each and every musical number he creates. Joel Grey sensibly repeats his role as the slimy looking emcee, adding an Oscar to his Tony for the same part, and making us wonder what befalls this strange creature as the curtain falls on his finale "Au Wiedersein".
Minnelli is genuinely sexy here, especially with "Mein Heir", and her vulnerability is obvious with "Maybe This Time", not heard in the original, but added to subsequent revisals. When she gets together with Grey for the newly written "Money Make the World Go Round", it is as if Judy Garland and Gene Kelly have come back to life in "For Me and My Gal", only with a less angelic setting and darker intentions. She rocks the title song off the screen, and it is easy to see why she continues to sing songs from this show more than 40 years after the movie exploded her into the front line of legendary performers.
Two disturbing moments that haunt me to this day are Grey's "If You Could See Her Through My Eyes" (re-installing the lyrics of "She Wouldn't Look Jewish at all!") and the frightening Nazi anthem, "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", where an angelic faced blonde soldier boy increasingly gets angrier and angrier as the older generation looks on in shock as the world around him falls to crap.