Was the last shot with the Nazis just there to represent their rising power?
Caleb
More like they had taken over by this point, they now owned the cabaret and had taken control of the place instead of beating people up on the steps outside.
shareNo offense to tim.bo, but I think your interpretation is more on the money. The Nazis may very well have taken over the cabaret - as they took over everything - but I believe the visual symbolism is meant to be taken in a much larger context, both because of the constant presence of and reference to the Nazis throughout - and as a backdrop to - the story, and the hindsight the viewer has from history.
While films like GONE WITH THE WIND or DR. ZHIVAGO, both of which employ sweeping historical backdrops to what are ultimately intimate stories, have the dramatic effect of magnifying the central characters, CABARET contextualizes them, as does CASABLANCA, another intimate story with a historical backdrop. That final shot of the Nazis - along with all of the references to the coming menace that have gone before - is akin to the point of Rick's little speech to Ilsa at the end of the latter film: "The problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world."
Where CABARET departs from this oft-used formula is - rather than the characters' destinies being controlled by the events surrounding them - in the way Sally, Brian, Fritz, Natalia and others continue living their lives almost in counterpoint to what's happening around them. They're each aware of it, to varying degrees, but their actions are in spite of, rather than because of, larger events.
That final shot reminds us of what we already know, but the characters don't yet realize: those larger events will eventually overtake and influence each of their lives in ways they cannot yet imagine.
Poe! You are...avenged!
I think your last point about the ending is exactly what I think makes it so poignant, powerful, and scary.
Throughout the film we all know what's to come. The characters are caught up in their decadence, and love stories, and debates, all without having a clue what's to come. I was completely swept up in the lives of all the characters, and for the most part kept the feeling of foreboding at bay. The ending snapped me back into reality. It literally gave me chills.
"WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW, huh?! WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW!"
Yes, and I think another element that makes it particularly effective - in addition to all that's gone before it - is the marked contrast with the four minutes immediately preceding it: the unbridled optimism (despite the rueful humor of the verse about "Elsie") of the song, "Cabaret," and the Emcee's reprise of his opening speech ("In here, life is beautiful").
As chilling as it is, I've always found the "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" sequence even more so.
Poe! You are...avenged!
Doghouse, I totally agree with what your saying and you make some very good points. I was also wondering, what exactly did you make of the part in the end right before the Emcee's "Auf Wiedersehen, a bientot" speech, where he says "even the orchestra is beautiful" and they show the montage of all the characters before. But this time it's different, the women playing the instruments are no longer "beautiful" but now sweaty and gross, and everything seems more slow motion and the music and images are very distorted. I always took it to mean that since Germany is technically falling apart, that nothing will ever be the same again. And everything on the outside is now ugly and bleak and messed up, it is reflecting what's going on in the cabaret as well. What do you think?
shareGee, here I am being asked for my opinion - I'm always flattered when that happens - and I'm chagrined to find I come up short, unable to add much, if anything, to what you put forth (which is a much more cogent analysis of that montage than any I'd ever been able to come up with).
Picking up on your theme, the slo-mo and "flashbacks" impart a dreamlike quality to the visuals, and seem to convey that the events they represent have passed from reality into memory as a new reality takes over, since, as you say, nothing will be the same again.
Well done, ejs.
Poe! You are...avenged!
LOL! Thanks! I just like to ask other people's opinions sometimes.
shareYou and ejs are both on the right track. Intelligent movies need an intelligent audience to exist, and it's good to see that the "Cabarets" of the cinema world still have a future. Unlike the Kitkat cabaret of course!
I think there's a definite link between the first real image we see (the reflected face of the MC), and the very last: the reflected face of the nazi official. I think Fosse made a very pointed statement there: that the "lightness" of the cabaret act, with its frivolity and decadence, is making way for the "heaviness" of a suppressive force. A Hollywood ending this ain't, not on any levels!
That was very good and effective.
For me that was the most effective bit, as soon as I saw the German boy standing there, I knew something was going to happen. Then he starts singing and it is revealed he is a Nazi.
Something chilling about this.
Yes, quite so. And the pastoral setting, the boy's angelic face and his sweet voice all make it that much more chilling by contrast. It all begins so beautifully, and then the camera pans down - just as the seemingly optimistic words, "Tomorrow belongs to me" are heard - to reveal the swastika armband, and the feeling we've had for a few seconds is shattered.
The words then take on an ominous tone - "somewhere, a glory awaits unseen"..."the blossom embraces the bee"..."soon there's a whisper: 'Arise! Arise!"..."the morning will come when the world is mine" - and the band's previously gentle and subdued playing becomes more aggressive.
"Chilling" is the most descriptive word for it all, and those three minutes of film are among the most powerful ever assembled.
Poe! You are...avenged!
[deleted]
An incisive observation. There are indeed uncomfortable parallels.
Poe! You are...avenged!
It's a very revealing scene about the insidiousness of the Nazi party.
Though it's hard to see in hindsight, the Nazis were not trying to present themselves as supervillains. They saw themselves as heroes that would save Germany from their (imagined) foes and bring happiness to everyone. They think they are doing a good thing in supporting the Nazis' causes and aren't able to recognize that their extremist intentions will lead them to subjecting 6 million plus people through the worst sorts of torture and degradation.
The boy sings and he is so full of earnestness and hope that he and people like him will conquer the difficulties brought on by WW1 and the Depression. He joined perhaps because he thought things would get better when in fact they will become much worse. It's chilling, but it's also heartbreaking. That boy will not see that promising tomorrow he sings about; he'll only see hate and violence and corruption wrought by his own people.
That's a very humanistic viewpoint, and I compliment you on it.
Poe! You are...avenged!
My interpretation of the ending is that "you can not escape the Nazi's"
shareI just watched this movie again specifically to refresh myself with the ending. Many years ago, I got into an discussion with my boss about it. He claimed that Adolf Hitler was in the audience, reflected in the bell of the tuba.
I said no, that's ridiculous. Bob Fosse is too good a director to be so ham-fisted as to put Hitler in the scene. It was just random Nazis. The purpose was to not only show that the balance of power has tipped in their favor, it serves as a contrast to the earlier scene where the young Nazi was ejected from the club.
Now the Nazis can go where they want with impunity.
I still think that's valid, and I wish I had watched Cabaret again before my boss died a few years back.
Also, the point about the band no longer being young and beautiful is well taken. It served as a metaphor — life is no longer as beautiful as the MC says it is — and perhaps can be taken literally, as the previous band members may have had to flee. Sally and the MC are the only ones deluded enough to think things are going to be the same.
And I'm not sure I'd include the MC among the deluded. Notice how at the end of the movie, he said goodbye in German and French, and then we're waiting for him to finish by saying it in English, but he never does.
I think he had wised up and had joined the Von Trapps in climbing every mountain out of Nazi Germany, and we are left waiting for the other shoe to drop to highlight the fact that he's getting out of Dodge.
I'm sorry your boss is dead, but your assessment of the ending of this wonderful film is not only spot-on, it's one of the best I've ever read. Kudos to you.
share[deleted]
To pasnat, I just wanted to compliment you on your reading of the Emcee's 'vanishing act.' That really rings true. Now I'm trying to remember if the Emcee sings those two phrases at the end of the stage version, and if he adds on the English as well, if so. In all cases, there is the drum roll, and I've found it interesting to see what different directors/productions do with that moment. Of course, the original Broadway version turned mirrors on to the audience, I guess kind of accusingly. I've seen three different versions: The most recent Broadway revival, in which we see the Emcee in a gas chamber, with a star sewn on his coat (I think it was a yellow star, but I'm not sure if it included a pink triangle, indicating he was homosexual--I don't think so); another production in which the Emcee kind of turns into a Nazi (Nazi uniform, doing something--not sure now what--to various Cabaret Girls and Boys--maybe pinning stars and triangles on them, ending with a 'sieg, heil' salute); in the third production, the Emcee pulls down a huge, silk-like curtain, revealing several people standing in a bleak, grey area, completely nude, with ashes falling around them, then blackout. That last was the most effective to me (and to many I've spoken with, who saw it).
Time to watch Fosse's movie again, and see how I feel about his ending (my vague recollection was of being slightly underwhelmed by it, but I'd probably feel different now).
The ending clearly shows the Nazis are ever closer to gaining full control of Germany and that the fate of the club is sealed along with those who work there. It is quite obvious considering the foreboding which takes place throughout Cabaret. Some of the musical numbers juxapostioning with the reality which they are mocking is a chilling reminder of what the Nazis were capable of which the characters in Cabaret were yet to find out making this element even more powerful.
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".
Listen to the music that accompanies that last visual scene of the movie. It is a drum roll that would be made for someone who is about to be executed. The viewer of the movie and the play knows what happened in Germany when the Nazis took power: 6 million Jews were killed. That drum roll is for them, those who are to be executed by the Nazis. The ending was very effective and very chilling.
shareYes, I certainly agree - The ending was hauntingly chilling.
Also, I, too, thought I recall seeing Adolf Hitler's image at the end. But, I just re-watched most of the film on TCM and did not see it so I must have been mistaken.
‘Six inches is perfectly adequate; more is vulgar!' (Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Re: An open window).
I'm probably overthinking things, but why, at the end, did the MC **not** say "Goodbye" after he said "Auf wiedersehen" and "A bientot"? Because to this point, for all similar phrases in the song, he said German-French-English, such as "Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome."
shareThere's a very good explanation for this, and it is in "pasnat"'s post slightly above yours.
Also, I, too, thought I recall seeing Adolf Hitler's image at the end.I re-watched last week, and you can see three nazis but none of them is Hitler.
The complete silence as the credits rolled really got me. I had goosebumps. A musical where there is no music as the audience packs up and leaves? Gutsy and ultimately devastating...
The "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" part was one of the most powerful yet simply filmed moments in my cinematic memory. I was sort of waiting for the customers to do the Nazi salute back to the young German soldier, but perhaps that would have been too much at that point in time.
I've seen the Broadway version of this, but only just last night saw the second half of the film version on TCM. I was so riveted and surprised by the daring choices that I think I'm going to watch it in its entirety TONIGHT.
It's a brilliant, brilliant ending in so many ways, and the complete silence as the credits roll works just as powerfully today as it did when I first saw this in 1972.
This is a GREAT thread.
I too just watched the film on TCM, for the first time in at least 30 years. Not only does it still have "legs," but I had forgotten how different a film version of a movie can be from its original Broadway version.
As for the reflection images, both at the beginning and the end: the very first thing I noticed was the distortion of the images, first of the MC, then at the end, of course, of the crowd. The MC's distortion symbolizes his view of life in Berlin, and in the end, that distorted view comes to fruition with the reflection of the crowd, specifically the Nazis.
I always felt that The Godfather was one of the greatest films ever made, but after watching Cabaret again after all these years, I can slightly question the Best Picture decision.
I wasn't born until almost a decade after "Cabaret" was filmed. While always a music theater fan, I somehow never felt the urge to seek it (the film) out. I owned the Broadway revival soundtrack as a teen, enjoying Cumming's "Wilkommen" and little else. In my mid-twenties, I finally heard Liza sing "Maybe This Time" and "Cabaret" and immediately bought the film soundtrack. But again, I wasn't very in love with the music and found much of it forgettable and dragging. I then saw a very decent stage production where, with the music in context, I did find myself very interested in the story. But still, not nearly enough to seek a movie out from the early 70's of a show that I'm not that nuts about to begin with.
Now I'm 29 and SO HAPPY that I sometimes CANNOT sleep. And thanking the gods for TCM. My jaw kept dropping at the smart, risky, daring choices Fosse made. I was shocked. Shocked almost that I COULD still be shocked. I couldn't believe that I only saw the second half of the film and immediately bought it on Amazon. I didn't even feel I had to rent it first to make sure I liked it in all its entirety. I was THAT positive of its significant achievement.
This gushing should probably be in a different thread, or better yet, remain in my head, but I was so excited to find other "Cabaret" fans actively posting.
As a poster said, it can be surprising how a film musical can be SO different from the stage version. In the vast minority, there are examples of it being greatly improved upon transferring to stage. "Chicago" in my humble opinion, is heightened by fantastic choices, frenetic editing that echoes that era, and dumping songs that just don't matter.
I grew up with the film of "West Side Story" and thought it was utter perfection. And then I saw it onstage. (Performed traditionally, and then most recently, the bi-lingual Broadway revival.) And HATED both. The film wisely moved "Gee, Officer Krupke" to BEFORE the fatal rumble. (Can not believe on stage they once sing such a happy little ditty just after their supposed "friend til the end" - Riff- had been murdered.) Also, Bernardo is barely in the stage version. When he dies, it's hard to care. But the film wisely fleshed out his character as much as they did with Riff, so we are able to care for them evenly. And "America" really works as sung by Bernardo and Anita and their friends in the film, rather than Anita and her gal pals onstage. The Sharks in the Broadway version have very little to do. The film makes them just as important to the story as the Jets are.
So in my opinion, the films "Cabaret", "Chicago", "West Side Story" and hell, I'll add "Fiddler on the Roof" are better than the stage versions that inspired them.
To keep this about 1% on topic, what's your vote for the better "Cabaret" - film or stage?
Blame Red Bull and too much time on my hands today for blathering on. ;)
I think "Cabaret" has proved to be one of those rare birds--a project that can work equally well on film AND on stage.
I say that as someone who harrumphed quite loudly when the Sam Mendes production took Broadway by storm years ago.
I remember thinking after reading about this production "they've made it darker? HOW?" But it worked.
The movie is my favorite of all time. I've stopped counting how many times I've seen it. I just saw it again on TCM and was re-riveted all over again. It never ages. It could be released today and would win every award in sight all over again.
"West Side Story" and "Fiddler On The Roof" are excellent stage-to-screen transfers, I agree.
The movie version of "Chicago" also works beautifully, but it owes QUITE A LOT to Fosse's "Cabaret", and I think Rob Marshall would be the first to admit that.
Welcome to the (Kit Kat) Club!
Yes, omniscia, I was also quite stricken by the credits rolling with no music playing! The fun and games, the decadence, the art of life in pre-WWII Germany is now gone, replaced by Nazi thugs. I finally watched Cabaret yesterday for the first time, and I've never seen it on stage, so I can't add any insights about the different endings the way others have, but I really liked the way the film ended - from Liza singing 'Life Is A Cabaret, old chum' through the credits - that part alone would be enough to make me see it again.
Liza has become such tabloid fodder in recent years, and a bit of a punchline for the philistines among us, but I saw a segment on TCM where Robert Osborne talks about people who worked with her years ago, who said how they'd never seen anything like her on a movie set, and that her pure joy in and love of performing just showed in everything she did - and that's so apparent in Cabaret. Going from her last number to the menace of the Nazis in the mirror to the silence of the rolling credits was striking, to say the least.
"You will not hear me scream!" "I Will.
But it is not your screams I want.
Only your life."
As you know, this is a film version of a Broadway play. In the stage version, the mirror is used as a device to confront the audience. At the end of the evening, as the MC bids the audience good night and exits, the mirror (which is the first thing you see in both play and film) lowers again and directly faces the audience as the house lights come up. No curtain calls. Make of it, what you will. The effect in the theatre was chilling, confrontational, and POWERFUL.
Of course, Mr. Fosse couldn't do that in the film, so he employs the mirror for a (slightly) different effect.
Cabaret is one of my favourite films. It is so intriguing the way the cabaret mirrors life and the audience all the way through.
Have you noticed the uncanny, out-of-tune ringing noice at the end? It rings throughout the MC's final song. That is terrifying. It somewhat signifies a cacophany or disharmony of the time, that something is not right, maybe as a warning or a wake-up call that only we, the audience, can hear.
I think the MC resembles the old role of the Fool - the person who by making jokes was allowed to critisize society. He is often gazing knowingly into the camera, directly at us. I think he knows what is going on, but he cannot do anything but point it out with a sly smile.
Powerful stuff.
I always thought it was simple, especially after that montage: "The party's over."
Also, for those who thought they saw a glimpse of Hitler in the bar, there is one really quick shot earlier in the film of Joel Grey with a Hitler mustache he has put on himself-- races by, really. So maybe that is what you are thinking about.
[deleted]
This shot was the big innovation of the '66 play and all the revivals since: having a fun house type mirror showing the actual audience in attendence. It must be a powerful device to those who are lucky enough to see a Broadway performance of it.
shareMaster of the Ceremonies' role in this framing is essentially important, as he took the role of Christopher Isherwood himself in pointing out and commenting. His role is more obvious and he truly resembles to the Ancient Greek way of a narrator, not only as a presenter of the Cabaret shows, but also as he constantly gives comments and hints about the plot and the future of Germany. This role of his is most dominant at the end of the film. After Sally sung 'Life is a Cabaret', Bob Fosse shows us that maybe life isn't a cabaret, but the cabaret is life himself. After Sally got off the stage, the stage lights first shows the Master of Ceremonies and then the light passes through the curtains in addition of a montage sequence of past events in the film and stops at a distorted reflection of the audience, in which we can see that almost all of them became Nazi's. Hence, the place which first ridicules about the Nazis became a Nazi territory itself. The Cabaret ignored the Nazi problem and found it something to kid about, but the Nazis even invaded the Cabaret, which is the life itself, meaning the total dominance of the Nazi force in Germany.
The film's ideas about the culpable force of the Nazis is very different from various other films and documentaries about Nazis; of course Hitler and the Nazi Party are to blame, but the German people who didn't see the serious problem ahead and didn't react to it and the ones who fell into their traps are also to blame, according to Bob Fosse. In this way and in a way of focusing on the loose morals of the society; the Cabaret puts 'Cabaret' into the Nazi films