Though set in Germany, the 1954 musical melodrama Cabaret bears no relation to the 1972 film of the same name. The gossamer-thin plotline involves a famed singer-composer (Paul Henreid), his wife (Eva Kerbler) and his mistress (Elma Karlowa). Hoping to effect a reconciliation with his wife, the composer is prevented from doing so by the intervention of WWI. The story exists only as a peg upon which to hang a series of musical numbers, nostalgically staged in pre-1914 fashion. Curiously, only two old-time song hits are heard; the rest are new compositions, many of them written by director Willi Forst. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi