MovieChat Forums > Cabaret (1972) Discussion > This film is to BLAME for the DEATH of t...

This film is to BLAME for the DEATH of the MUSICAL genre.

posted 15 years ago by cliffcarson-1
49 replies | jump to latest

Don't get me wrong, CABARET is a sensational musical film, but there's a myth going around that films like MAME and LOST HORIZON put an end to the musical as a genre. It was actually CABARET. While I am in agreement of some of the criticism of MAME and while LOST HORIZON did not live up to the memory of the original in the eyes of many people, they are not to blame for the death of the musical as a genre. The blame really belongs with CABARET. After Cabaret it was no longer acceptable for characters to "break out" into song to express an emotion in the traditional sense. Songs had to be presented realistically on a stage or performed for a "reason". If CABARET had never been made, things might have been different.

[–] cts-6 12 years ago

While CABARET may have contributed to the demise of the "break out into song" convention that was common in movie musicals, there was another culprit that had a bigger role in the decline of the movie musical -- television. In the 30s and 40s, Hollywood studios released lots of musicals, most of them original creations or adaptations of novels, short stories and non-musical plays. Hollywood rarely adapted stage musicals back then because of the expense of buying the rights to use song scores. It was cheaper to use some of the hundreds of songs they had amassed for their music libraries, or have one of their in-house composers write the song score.

After the introduction of TV, the studios began making expensive, epic movies to compete with the new medium. To offset the budgets of these movies they fired many of their musical stars and reduced the staffs of their musical units. By the 60s, most movie musicals were adaptations of Broadway musicals. There were a few original movie musicals -- MARY POPPINS and THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE to name two -- but by then most studios were no longer able to create even one movie musical from scratch.

Nowadays it seems that Disney is the only studio willing to take the chance on original movie musicals -- mostly because they can turn them into Broadway musicals in the future.

[–] cliffcarson-1 12 years ago

cts-6,

EXCELLENT point. Television did play a big part in the decline of big screen musicals. In fact, throughout the 50's and the 70's, many television specials were musicals and then there were all those variety shows that capitalized on recreating corny musical skits and numbers of the past, only no where as good. MAME bombed for several reasons. True, it might have been outdated, but Lucy sang and danced periodically on her THE LUCY SHOW and HERE'S LUCY. Audiences felt like they had already seen enough of her doing that and weren't about to spend money to see her do something that she did regularly on her weekly television show. Carol Burnett's variety show didn't help either.

LOST HORIZON might have had a better chance if it hadn't been such a target for the critics to vent their hostility and mean spiritedness towards. It definitely was an ambitious picture that could be enjoyed on several different levels.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is the last successful dramatic musical done in the traditional break out into song in the middle of a reality based scene.

Like I said, I don't count GREASE because that was a silly teenage comedy essentially.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm0d9fU8lyM&list=UUilQc81vlRvdqXe1R _iaLLg&index=1&feature=plcp

[–] TheMichael 11 years ago

I think this needs to be seen at a different angle. The decline of musicals didn't have so much to do with how the songs were presented than the new fave of filmmaking.

Coming around the late '60s a new generation of filmmakers were arriving with new ideas, new ideals, and a desire to test what can be done on screen. Through the '60s, who one best picture? West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Oliver!, The Sound of Music, all these musicals pushed the limits of the old way to film musicals. But after, nothing seemed that impressive. Come the '70s filmmakers want to reach new emotional, political and violent heights that people breaking into song just wouldn't cut it. Which is a shame because, come on, Fiddler on the Roof is one of the best! But only 3 wins. Sure it was popular, and top notch filmmaking, but not adventurous enough.

Then comes Cabaret. Cabaret was done like no other musical. It's incredible sense of cinematography, directing and wild editing once again pushed the limit. And its risque subject matter helped too. It was a musical for the new age of cinema. And look what awards it won!

I don't think Cabaret contributed to the decline of the movie musical. After a decade of epic scale musicals, it was already on the decline. What Cabaret DID, however, was adapt to the new flavor of cinema and help create new possibilities.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (49761343) 10 years ago

This film is to BLAME for the DEATH of the MUSICAL genre.

1776 (1972)
Jesus Christ, Superstar (1973)
Hair (1979)
Fame (1980)
Annie (1982)
A Chorus Line (1985)
Chicago (2002)
Sweeney Todd (2007)
Les Miserables (2012)

[–] TheManInOil 9 years ago

Nonsense.

If people wanted to see groups spontaneously breaking into choreographed song and dance, Cabaret would have had no effect. You could view it as a response to the demand for less silliness in musicals, but it hardly forced that demand into being.

[–] cliffcarson-502-470231 8 years ago

As far as the critics were concerned it did.
http://www.cliffcarson.com

[–] marktayloruk (2388) 2 years ago

Remember Grease?

[–] marktayloruk (2388) a year ago

Grease?

[–] Kowalski (60674) a year ago

YOU GO GIRL!

[–] Zarkoff (752) 12 days ago

Musicals were already fading in popularity when this came out. There have been a few successful musicals since then and they all had people breaking into song without having a realist reason to do it. Even though the genre wasn't nearly as popular as it once was, they showed people would still come to see a traditional musical.

Musicals are still popular on the stage as well. I really don't think Cabaret changed what people would accept from a musical.