- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,375
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
Even at its earliest stages, the Academy Award-winning Cabaret (1972) was a most unlikely film to get made, or at least get well-made.
A production of Allied Artists, which turned out to be the little engine that could, Bob Fosse's Cabaret shines, four decades later, as a brilliant gem in the cinema firmament.
Almost unique in modern annals, Cabaret also shares a major problem with a few other Academy Award winners. While some may have problems with elements due to fade or damage, unless one goes back to the earliest days of the awards, one does not run into many missing original negatives.
Off the top of my head, I can only think of one other that shares the honor - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), which apparently was lost in transit.
In the case of Cabaret, it seems that the OCN went missing before it ever reached Warner Bros. along with other Lorimar product.
Luckily, it appears that a lab (presumably Technicolor) produced a top quality interpositive, which makes Cabaret shine on Blu-ray.
Before we get along with totally happy thoughts, the point should be made, that somewhere along the years of use, the IP was badly scratched for an entire reel. But one would never know it.
From image harvest, to digital clean-up and removal of the errant scratch, one would never know that they aren't viewing a scan from an original negative. The image quality is that good!
Color accurately represents the best 1972 dye transfer prints, with among the richest blacks you'll see on a Blu-ray. I was immediately thinking of Mr. Brando's tuxedo in the opening of The Godfather, or a similar richness seen in The Red Shoes. Shadow detail is exemplary. Grain structure is magnificent. Bottom line is that Geoffrey Unsworth's velvety, contrasty, colorful imagery is reproduced to perfection.
Audio in DTS-HD MA 5.1 is rich and full.
I've always loved this film, which absolutely stands the test of time. One point that has always remained with me, as one of the most chilling to be ever be put on film, comes an hour twenty in, with what appears to be a potentially innocent ballad, begun a cappella, by a lone young man. This grows as the camera pulls back, with others joining in, to show the emerging power of the Hitler youth movement.
Cast is perfect. Michael York, Helmut Griem, Maria Berenson, and the great Joel Grey. Ms Minnelli walks a fine line between life and art at the club, with just a bit of Pookie Adams thrown in.
A double-bill with Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will, which is of the same (Weimar) era, would make a very interesting evening.
Life at the Kit Kat Club would never be the same.
A magnificent Blu-ray of an equally magnificent motion picture, and at under $19, one of the great bargains on Amazon.
While it's only January, I believe that this time next year, as lists are being compiled toward the best releases of 2013, Warner's [SIZE= 14px]Cabaret will be on it.[/SIZE]
Very Highly Recommended.
RAH
A production of Allied Artists, which turned out to be the little engine that could, Bob Fosse's Cabaret shines, four decades later, as a brilliant gem in the cinema firmament.
Almost unique in modern annals, Cabaret also shares a major problem with a few other Academy Award winners. While some may have problems with elements due to fade or damage, unless one goes back to the earliest days of the awards, one does not run into many missing original negatives.
Off the top of my head, I can only think of one other that shares the honor - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), which apparently was lost in transit.
In the case of Cabaret, it seems that the OCN went missing before it ever reached Warner Bros. along with other Lorimar product.
Luckily, it appears that a lab (presumably Technicolor) produced a top quality interpositive, which makes Cabaret shine on Blu-ray.
Before we get along with totally happy thoughts, the point should be made, that somewhere along the years of use, the IP was badly scratched for an entire reel. But one would never know it.
From image harvest, to digital clean-up and removal of the errant scratch, one would never know that they aren't viewing a scan from an original negative. The image quality is that good!
Color accurately represents the best 1972 dye transfer prints, with among the richest blacks you'll see on a Blu-ray. I was immediately thinking of Mr. Brando's tuxedo in the opening of The Godfather, or a similar richness seen in The Red Shoes. Shadow detail is exemplary. Grain structure is magnificent. Bottom line is that Geoffrey Unsworth's velvety, contrasty, colorful imagery is reproduced to perfection.
Audio in DTS-HD MA 5.1 is rich and full.
I've always loved this film, which absolutely stands the test of time. One point that has always remained with me, as one of the most chilling to be ever be put on film, comes an hour twenty in, with what appears to be a potentially innocent ballad, begun a cappella, by a lone young man. This grows as the camera pulls back, with others joining in, to show the emerging power of the Hitler youth movement.
Cast is perfect. Michael York, Helmut Griem, Maria Berenson, and the great Joel Grey. Ms Minnelli walks a fine line between life and art at the club, with just a bit of Pookie Adams thrown in.
A double-bill with Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will, which is of the same (Weimar) era, would make a very interesting evening.
Life at the Kit Kat Club would never be the same.
A magnificent Blu-ray of an equally magnificent motion picture, and at under $19, one of the great bargains on Amazon.
While it's only January, I believe that this time next year, as lists are being compiled toward the best releases of 2013, Warner's [SIZE= 14px]Cabaret will be on it.[/SIZE]
Very Highly Recommended.
RAH
