[Italy/West Germany/France 1975]
Reviewed By-Kit Gavin Directed by Tinto Brass Starring: Helmut Berger, Ingrid Thulin, and Teresa Ann Savoy Source: Argent Films [United Kingdom] DVD PAL Region 0
Kitty Kellerman [Thulin] is a mature Madame who runs a whorehouse in Berlin at the tail end of the 1930’s as the National Socialist Party is starting to increase it’s stronghold over Germany and Europe, just before the outset of the Second World War following the invasion of Poland. As well as entertaining with cabaret acts and providing a "service" which is highly regarded over Germany, her activities are taken note of by a politician and SS officer by the name of Wallenberg [Berger]. A large group of women of various shapes and sizes from various different backgrounds are recruited for the brothel owing to their foremost belief in National Socialism and serving the Third Reich.
Having proved their allegiance to the cause, the women initially meet in a large hall, where they must undress, are recorded on film and, have to show their willing to perform in any sexual act "coitus, anal coitus, fellatio and masturbation" with German soldiers to prove their worthiness to the cause. Later, the women are placed in cells with deformed misfits (such as amputees) or social outcasts (such as lesbians or Jews) to further test their suitability, some of whom pass and some of who will just disappear.
Kitty is forced by Wallenberg and the Fuhrer to close her existing brothel, sack her existing whores and take on, as well as train these new recruits in a new more discreet bordello, and building designed for the pleasure and entertainment of the soldiers of the Third Reich. Despite Kitty’s initial misgivings over the choice of girls to be whores, she reluctantly agrees to train them up. Kitty, however, is unaware is that all of the girls are actually there to spy on their own troops by the SS by writing down what each and every one of them has to say, together with their individual tastes and, in some cases, perverse sexual preferences. However, unbeknownst to both the Madame and her bordello of whores, as well as the clientele obviously is that SS has bugged each and every one of the rooms as well, to collaborate the damning evidence of conspiracy or treachery by the prostitutes. Every conversation is written down and recorded by a room of soldiers writing and recording every last word.
One of the girls, Margherita [Savoy], from a wealthy upper class family, with a staunch belief in National Socialism, however meets and falls in love with one of the customers, a Luftwaffe pilot. However Wallenberg has his eyes already on the attractive Margherita since seeing her in the initial cattle market of girls and later in the trials in the cells, having allowed her to survive despite her refusal to participate with an elderly Jew. Neither Margherita, nor Hans Reiter [Bekim Fehmiu], the pilot will admit to the fact of their shared affection for each other. During one of her visits from Hans, he tells Margherita of his wish to revolt against the current leadership of Hitler. Margherita however writes nothing of his treachery in her "log book" of clients, unaware that all of this has been caught on tape.
Later, one of Margerita’s other clients tells her that Reiter was found guilty of treason and was executed. Wallenberg, himself obsessed with Margherita, spares her not making mention of Reiter’s treason, however he chooses to degrade her and make her servile to his every whim owing to his furthering in power and authority. However when Margherita hears of Reiters execution and the smug indifference by her client to his death, dismissing him as a traitor, she takes it upon herself to shoot him whilst in the shower which Kitty covers up, making the act look like suicide. Margherita goes home for a few days before she confronts Kitty, refusing to go back to work at the brothel, as she has realised that bedrooms must be bugged. Realising the truth, and disgusted that her bordello having been used as a front for Internal Surveillance rather than solely for entertainment and sexual pleasure, Kitty and Margherita hatch a plan to destroy the ringleader and Head of Operations, Wallenberg himself.
The main purpose however of the bugging of the rooms turns to be a plot
by Wallenberg himself to oust Hitler and his ministers and to seize power for himself. Wallenberg now has in his hands the ability to blackmail most every member of the Fuhrer owing to their presence and candid admissions in the brothel. However Margherita discovers not only the corrupt Wallenberg’s treacherous plot to seize power, but that his wife Herta [Tina Aumont], is actually of Jewish blood. So Margherita sets about destroying Wallenberg, beating him at his own game by recording his confession of treason and handing in a record of his saying as much to the Fuhrer. Having realised Wallenberg’s treason, he himself is eliminated.
Salon Kitty really does stand out from most other movies in this genre (often crudely dubbed the "Nazi-sploitation" sub genre). Indeed the combination Salon Kitty, together with Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter and the Canadian director Don Edmunds’ landmark cult nasty Ilsa She Wolf of the SS were to provide the inspiration and influence for a series of similarly themed, mostly crude low budget "Women in Prison" movies which were set in Nazi experiment camps. Salon Kitty shines owing to it’s high production values, the casting of Ingrid Thulin and Helmut Berger (who had previously appeared as mother and son in Visconti’s The Damned 6 years before), an attractive female cast of girls in the bordello and solid thorough direction by Tinto Brass. Both leads are professional and deliver superb performances. Thulin is wholly convincing as the Madame and aged cabaret performer. Berger too works once again as a depraved corrupt character, his role being honestly and chillingly realistic, as the power crazed narcissistic Nazi. The film also marked the first role for Brass by the waiflike English blonde nymphette Teresa Ann Savoy, who adds a touch of elegance to the proceedings, as well as turning in an intelligently acted performance. Most of the girls are played by familiar faces from the Italian B-movie scene, such as Paola Senatore, Rosemarie Lindt, and a non small speaking role for Malisa Longo, who shortly after would be the leather pants clad SS warden in a couple of Eurocine produced SS offshoot movies
There are various familiar motifs of Tinto Brass and his own personal vision of eroticism, such as one scene of Teresa Ann Savoy pissing and douching herself afterwards, as well as Brasses insistence on the film being a showcase for the glories and beauty of a woman’s backside. Indeed, Brass’ request when actresses make screentests for his films is that they show him their backside as part of the process. Originally when the film was being cast as Hungarian countess, when asked by Brass to show him her backside, German actress Brigitte Skay refused to do so, and so her character was cut from the screenplay. Also Skay was not especially pleased as she thought the script called for her just to appear from the waist downwards, which may or may not be true.
Costume design as much as the mesmerising set design really adds something to the luxuriant feel of the film. There are some wonderfully kitsch numbers, performed by Thulin with gusto (over dubbed by Annie Ross – who also dubbed Britt Ekland in The Wicker Man - during the songs) with a real eye opening number at the start of the film, and one later where Thulin appears briefly topless. Some might dismiss the songs as padding out the film (as if it needed it), but actually they balance out as much as add to the kinky depravity found elsewhere in the movie. Each one has a slight edge to it and isn’t just another "number" to fill in time, from the words or events going on around them. There are moments of genuine excess and perversion, some might find themselves flinching during some of the scenes with amputees, etc when the women are being inducted. Despite some of the outrageous and disturbing situations which take place, it is all presented so well it never seems to be exploitative.
In addition to the scenes of gender bending and rampant sexuality (never quite reaching hardcore but pretty damned close), and frequent full frontal nudity – both male and female, there are some disturbing scenes. The most memorable of those scenes is the non-simulated slaughter of pigs being strung up, their throats being cut whilst Nazi soldiers flirt and chase the women working in the slaughter house. This is summed up by the sounds of the pigs grunting noisily which fades into a party held by Margherita’s German upper class family at dinner, no doubt a subliminal social comment addressed at the greedy wealthy by the director. Excised from the export print is a powerful rather than nasty little sequence where a small Jewish child, playing with his toy in a public aquarium, has it crushed underfoot, with underlying sadistic glee by one of the loyal women recruits [Sara Sperati] who later will cater for the more Sadean tastes of the clientele in the Salon. The scene has no dialogue, yet is a very powerful scene. Other statements are portrayed by showing the SS officers as preferring to skip in the nude and spend their times together in bath houses. Wallenberg initially receives his orders and instructions from a somewhat camp John Steiner who delivers his cold clinical instructions, sitting there, fully frontally nude.
The film has been presented in a glorious widescreen, anamorphic print in it’s correct aspect ratio of 1:85:1. Colors are bright, crisp and natural. The fullscope of Tinto Brass’ vision as well as the beautiful art deco sets, and the arty use of color and angles by set designer supreme Ken Adam can be fully appreciated. The additional footage, taken from the scenes previously unreleased to cinemas and videocassette, is visible only by the fact that it is slightly grainier than the rest of the film which really shines. Dialogue is crisp and clear, without any noticeable dropouts, hiss or pops. Audio is delivered for the most part in English, however where scenes were never recorded into English, it is delivered in Italian with white English subtitles beneath. No full length Italian track is offered. One anamoly, which exists both in this version and the release from Blue Underground is when Wallenberg is observing Susan [Rosemarie Lindt] in the cells with the amputee. The dialogue in both versions is delivered in Italian yet an English track exists for this short sequence – as it was featured on the Redemption release on VHS. Maybe the track has since been lost or damaged? Most all of the cast members have been dubbed, however Berger, Thulin and Savoy all dub their own lines.
Extras for the film include an original export trailer for the film which really should be par for the course when it comes to DVD releases, yet some lazy DVD companies still continue to release barebones DVDs. As well as the trailer for the film, Argent have included trailers for other releases in their "Forbidden Fruits" line – and their "Westerns Trail". The main extra on the disc however is a lengthy enjoyable and brand new, informative interview with its director Tinto Brass who talks about the film and its stars in pretty good English.. Brass clearly still feels much affection for the project and enjoys discussing the movie.
The film under review has been well presented by Argent Films in the UK, with artwork in keeping with both the film and with Tinto Brass’ familiar fetish for a large rounded female posterior, using original poster artwork. The blurb on the back of the cover is slightly inaccurate in that it proclaims the film to be the first release in the world ever of this particular version of Salon Kitty, as this longer version has been released in the United States by Blue Underground, in a limited edition 2 disc release, and a single disc edition (with different cover art) forthcoming. However, the release from Argent film is a considerable mark up from the films previous incarnations in the UK, which was considerably cut for it’s theatrical release [distributed by 20th Century Fox!! in 1977], and a definite mark up from the release by Redemption Video over a decade ago, which was a tamed down export version which excised some of the slightly kinkier scenes and all scenes of male frontal nudity, normally flaccid penises, even in non-sexualised contexts. This release, taken from Brass’ own print is longer than all the earlier incarnations on video however, which ran 129 minutes (PAL format) with an additional few minutes of perversion here and there.
For the sleaze aficionado or admirer of erotic cinema it really is a must have. Some might find this one of Brass’ films to be overlong (not however as long as the infamous Caligula) and Salon Kitty displays similarities in thematic ideology to Caligula, however the film here is definitely a much better film. A highly recommended disc of an intelligent, erotic, political and unusual movie. Some viewers might find Nazi motifs and erotica offensive, however Salon Kitty is nowhere near as offensive as most all the others in the subsequent SS movies churned out of Italy between 1976 and 1978, in fact, it is more arthouse and erotic than exploitative. None the less it is also extremely seamy and sleazy too. The DVD won’t appeal to everyone, some dismiss it as overlong – or the imagery might be too offensive for some sensitive types out there. However the DVD comes on sale for general release in the UK from the end of April – recommended!
THIS DVD IS TO BE RELEASED APRIL 25th 2005!
Story: 4 BITCH SLAPS Audio: 4 BITCH SLAPS Video: 4.5 BITCH SLAPS Extras: 3 BITCH SLAPS Overall: 4 BITCH SLAPS
