Freeze Frame: CABARET

Forty years ago this week, CABARET walked home with 8 Oscars, including best director, best actress, best supporting actor, and five more that included best cinematography. While rewatching the film last week, I couldn’t help but notice how amazingly well it has held up, and thought it would be a good choice for this week’s single shot.

Unsurprisingly, many of the film’s best visuals come in The Kit Kat Club, where Bob Fosse’s staging gets to flex its muscles. The set-ups are actually rather sparse in comparison to modern musicals of a similar ilk, which works to the film’s advantage since it keeps focus on the magnetism of Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey. That helped narrow down my search for a single shot – but from which number? Despite a few sexier options, I went with the conclusion of “Tiller Girls”.

One of the reason I love this musical so much, is it’s ability to underscore its drama and seediness with moments of real commentary and wit. My love for that quality might come from the fact that my first exposure to anything Cabaret-related was seeing Joel Grey perform “If You Could See Her Through My Eyes” on TV when I was a boy.

This shot from “The Tiller Girls” shows how easily this film can turn on a dime. The whole number begins as something unspectacular – a cluster of dancing girls on stage flaunting amongst streamers and confetti, throwing the occasional handful of glitter at the crowd. In their midst, Grey as our Emcee is dressed in drag and step-kick-step’s right along with them.

But then to conclude the number, the girls and The Emcee turn their hats backwards, now suddenly making them resemble military helmets. They prop their walking sticks up over their shoulders, now suddenly making them resemble rifles. As the chorus begins to goose-step, the point is made. The whole number ends with the silhouette you see above.

How quickly choreography can turn into military precision…

I’m a  sucker for a good silhouette image (and musicals usually come with at least one), but this one gets bonus points as it clouds the imagery even more. Glance quickly and you might not notice the tutus or the high heels. It could seem like a still frame from a production of War Horse. Look at it a little longer and you can tell something is amiss.

Besides the fact that the moment arrives without warning, another thing I love is the way it leaves almost as fast as it arrives. CABARET makes its point – the point of the absurd notion of stepping in time with such a hateful idea – and then gets off stage before the applause has died down. It’s one thing to be able to land these stingers and knock us down, but it takes a great degree of confidence not to linger over the audience while we’re on the mat and boast.

Here’s three more from CABARET for the road…

This series of posts is inspired by the “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” series at The Film Experience. Do check out all of the awesome entires in their series so far