Should be restored

Haven't heard anything.

CABARET falls into a category I call "stepchildren." You've heard of so-called "orphaned" films (those whose copyrights have not been renewed because the producing company has gone defunct, and they've fallen into the public domain)? Allied Artists, the original copyright holder, ceased production in the late 70's and their library was acquired by Lorimar, which in the late 80's, was in turn swallowed up by Warner Bros, who now has ownership of CABARET. So it's not exactly an "orphan," but WB treats it very much like a "stepchild," neglecting it in favor of their own, home-grown product.

This sort of thing happens a lot. Some studios, back in the day, acquired ownership from the producing studio of films they were remaking, and then literally locked the originals away to keep them from public view. MGM did this with the original versions of ROBERTA and SHOWBOAT, for example. Since the advent of home video, some studios have been smarter than others about their "stepchildrens'" marketability, and will happily take profit from wherever they can get it, no matter who the original producing company was.

About the only thing I can think of is for everyone who'd like to see a new, state-of-the-art release of CABARET to lobby Warner Home Video, and when enough do, maybe they'll see the light. Since the 40th anniversary of its release is coming up next year, this would be a particularly good time to do so.

Contacting TCM might help, too, since they have a sort of limited partnership deal with WB for exclusive marketing of some of their titles (via their "Vault" series), at least two of which - THE BIG CIRCUS and SOLDIER IN THE RAIN - were Allied Artists titles. They may also be favorable to the idea of a 40th Anniversary screening at next year's TCM Film Festival, and since such special presentations are often the impetus for some long-overdue restoration, this could also light a fire under WB.


Poe! You are...avenged!