Cabaret (1972)

Joel Grey steals the show. - JW

Cambridge University student Brian Roberts arrives in Berlin in 1931 to complete his German studies. Without much money, he plans on making a living teaching English while living in an inexpensive rooming house, where he befriends another of the tenants, American Sally Bowles. She is outwardly a flamboyant, perpetually happy person who works as a singer at the decadent Kit Kat Klub, a cabaret styled venue. Sally's outward façade is matched by that of the Klub, overseen by the omnipresent Master of Ceremonies. Sally draws Brian into her world, and initially wants him to be one of her many lovers, until she learns that he is a homosexual, albeit a celibate one. Among their other friends are his students, the poor Fritz Wendel, who wants to be a gigolo to live a comfortable life, and the straight-laced and beautiful Natalia Landauer, a Jewish heiress. Fritz initially sees Natalia as his money ticket, but eventually falls for her. However Natalia is suspect of his motives and cannot overcome their religious differences. Also into Sally and Brian's life comes the wealthy Baron Maximilian von Heune, who has the same outlook on life as Sally, but who has the money to support it. Max is willing to lavish his new friends with gifts and his favors. Around them all is the Nazi uprising, to which they seem to pay little attention or care. But they ultimately learn that life in all its good and particularly bad continues to happen to them and around them.

From IMDB:

10/10
Divine Decadence
Galina_movie_fan21 February 2009
I just finished re-watching Cabaret and it is even better than I remembered it. It is a dazzling ball at the Satan, the Feast during the time of plague. It is an unforgettable film, made by the master, the screen version of his own stage masterwork. It is dark, prophetic capture of "divine decadence" that paved the road to the most horrifying hell of unspeakable catastrophe that the world had not seen before. Bob Fosse proved in his only second directed film how talented he was in everything he was doing. Shot entirely on the location in Berlin with the Kit Kat Club cabaret of the title as a real centerpiece of the movie, "Cabaret" is a marvel of directing, editing, color settings, that in combination with brilliantly clever and catchy songs, creates the doomed ambiguous atmosphere of uncertainty, hanging onto the present moment, and not daring to imagine to whom tomorrow belongs and what tomorrow will bring. It is impossible to talk about Cabaret and not to mention the international cast of the young talented actors who played the characters of their own nationality. Two definite stars of the film are without doubt Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles and Joel Grey as creepy devilish MC. For me, the film belongs to Liza Minnelli who gave performance of such energy, charisma, and exuberance, that it has become Liza's calling card and, her claim to cinematic immortality. Under her rather intimidating makeup - her eyes that took up the good half of her face, the eyelashes so long that they can reach the opposite wall of the room, the impossible garish colors of her eyelids that probably glow in darkness unmistakably announcing her presence and colored in dark green finger nails that can be considered the dangerous weapon, Sally is vulgar but vulnerable, corrupted but lovable, oblivious but lonely, talented but stuck in the cabaret Kit Kat Club where the music never stops and life is always beautiful ...

In 1973, Cabaret competed for the Best Picture of the Year award with number one of 250 Best Movies as per IMDb users, Francis Coppola's Godfather. Not only it was the equal contender, it won 8 of ten Oscars it was nominated for, including Best Director for Bob Fosse, Best Actress for Liza Minnelli, Best Supporting Actor for Joel Grey (who was against three heavy weights from Godfather - Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall), and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Cinematography. With all my love for Godfather, I believe Cabaret deserved all its awards, and as time goes it proves to be one of the best screen musicals ever made.

https://www2.zoechip.com/watch-movie/cabaret-13330.5304613