Salon Kitty (1977)

Salon Kitty is based on a true story of a brothel madam, Kitty Schmidt( called Kellermann for some reason in this film), who is forced into working for the Nazis when she is arrested for helping Jews escape from Germany and using a fake passport. The Gestapo decide to use her brothel, Salon Kitty, as a listening post where every room is bugged and the working girls report their conversations to the Gestapo each day.Firstly the film is unsettling in places and in one scene, where the prostitutes have an orgy with a group of dwarfs, is unnecessary and not based on fact. Also be prepared not just for conventional sex, but also lesbianism, transvestism and sado masochism, as the brothel catered for the kinkier tastes of its guests. However, once you get over this, Salon Kitty is a good film and based on true events.In particular Ingrid Thulin takes a good role as Kitty Schmidt. Her singing is as good as anything from Cabaret and in one memorable number she dresses up as half woman, half man. Also as one critic pointed, Kitty is the last relic of the decadent Berlin that existed before the Nazis and has little time for the regime, telling one whore who is a convinced Nazi, " I am a madam, I am above ideas", and when confronted by Wallenberg of the SS( based on the real life Walther Schellenberg) tells him when war is declared, " just because the war has started, we don't have to wear chastity belts".Also a good sub plot exists when a prostitute, who is a Nazi, falls for a Luftwaffe officer who hates the Nazis and wants to defect to Britain and gradually comes round to his way of thinking, although tragically he is found out by the bug in the prostitute's bedroom and shot by the Gestapo.Credit is due to the director Tinto Brass, later infamous for Caligula. What could have been a cheap and nasty Naziploitation film, and it inspired countless abysmal and unwatchable Naziploitation film, is actually a very well made film and apart from the tasteless scenes with the dwarfs, many of the sex scenes are tastefully shot and everything is made on location. I would recommend this film to anyone who is interested in one of the Third Reich's more bizarre projects.

"Nazisploitation" is a genre that I would have no qualms in calling completely useless. The genre is riddled with drab and depressingly bad nonsense with films such as The Beast in the Heat and SS Hell Camp being among the worst examples. It's for that reason that I didn't go into Tinto Brass' Salon Kitty with any big expectations - but to my surprise, not only is this film a million times better than the rest of the Nazisploitation that I've seen; it's also a rather well made and actually quite noteworthy slice of classy exploitation cinema that is well worth tracking down. Naturally, the film takes place in Nazi Germany and we focus on the Nazi party. The early parts of the film show various depravities, including some of those experiments that every exploitation fan knows the Nazi's were a big fan of. From there, we move into the film's main plot which focuses on a brothel. Kitty Kellermann has her house of ill repute closed down by the Nazi's and they've given her a new one, complete with new girls...who happen to be SS spies dedicated to revealing detractors within the party.My main problem with this film is undoubtedly the runtime; as while Salon Kitty never actually gets boring, two and a quarter hours is way too long for a film like this and it would have benefited a lot from some more streamlined editing. That being said, I'd rather this film be over two hours long than any of the other Nazi flicks I've seen! Naturally, the film features some rather depraved sequences; including some sex experiments with freaks that I didn't enjoy very much. The majority of the film focuses on the brother, however, and that is a very good thing! Tinto Brass takes his time in building up a sordid and sleazy atmosphere and the central location is very memorable indeed. There are some decent sex scenes in the film too and the cast of beautiful women really does help matter. A lesbian S&M style sequence (that unfortunately only lasts about a minute) was the highlight of the entire film for me. I think it's clear that the director was keener to make an exploitation film than a serious drama; but Salon Kitty does succeed on both fronts, and while this film may be a bit too strong for the art house crowd - if you're looking for some classy top quality exploitation, you will find it here.

"Salon Kitty" is certainly a fine exploitation effort, if only a little long at times.**SPOILERS**At the start of WW II, Kitty Kellerman, (Ingrid Thulin) runs in the infamous Salon Kitty in the heart of Berlin, Germany. Soon, Helmut Wallenberg, (Helmut Berger) is installed as the leader of the SS in the area, and takes an extreme interest in the special studio. Recruiting a special selection of women from Germany, he selects them to be prostitutes in the Salon, putting them through a rigorous process that will determine whether they will actually go into service there. After going through the process, Margherita, (Teresa Ann Savoy) manages to gain employment and is soon apart of the burlesque show it puts up as a front. When she starts to develop a friendship with Nazi officer Biondo, (John Steiner) they talk of leaving the order and striking out on their own. When he hears of their treachery and orders his execution, they all learn that the reason for the instituting the facility was to discover whether anyone within the Nazi regime would defect, and must now stand up to his tyranny within the order.The News: One of the biggest and most surprising aspects of the film is the unbridled and purely intentional sleaze on display. There is plenty of nudity, both male and female variants that are shown completely exposed, with lengthy scenes showcasing both in that state, as well as such scenes as close-ups of women shaving their privates or playing with men's privates, which are all the more disturbing. There's almost an obsession with the female rear-end here, as this one has a large amount throughout it. There's also a lot of twisted sexual fantasies re-enacted, featuring a scene where one goes down on a giant dildo made of bread, the prospective hookers having their eroticism tested by forcing them to sleep with hunchbacks, gypsies, and amputees, a giant orgy, actual hardcore masturbation, sex, and lesbianism. Mixed in with the nudity are plenty of scenes of simulated sex. The segment with the eroticism being tested is merely one of the single sleaziest scenes around, presented as a montage where they observe all the actions taking place with no regard for what's happening but just for the cause, and are very disturbing visuals. There's also an incredibly disturbing scene that works just as much for the nudity as what's suggested. As her charge barks orders at her, one of the women places the General's boots on her naked legs and goose-steps around her bedroom. The lights are struck and a single projector image crawls across the wall as scenes from a Nazi propaganda film play out. As the General continues his demands, the prostitute lays on her bed and lets the black-and-white images of Hitler and his Aryan nation wash over her. She does a seductive, serpent like set of poses and then breaks into the Nazi salute. The entire time, Brass keeps his camera firmly in a medium shot, so we can see the monochrome images of insanity projected upon the naked flesh tones of the actress. Even with all of the sleaze as possible, the behind-the-scenes technicians have all accomplished a real work of art. The various garish costumes of Madam Kitty and her girls all personify the 1930s and early 1940s perfectly, as does the superb set design, recalling the Art-Deco movement. Kitty indulges in a number of musical numbers, all summoning the spirit of the early musicals of the past and featuring a strange half-man half-woman makeup job, stylish lighting, and gay chorus boys dressed to the tee. It's appropriately over-the-top in it's decadence and gloriously enjoyable wonders. All of these, though, would be acceptable in a film that simply was either trimmed down or actually went somewhere. Though there's a semblance of a plot, it has far too much down-time to actually do anything with it, simply going along and merely just going from one scene to another with a dull expression, especially in the later half when there's little perversion to get in the way. That needed beefing up with sleaze or toned down considerably, as there's too much in here to take at the time. Had it been shortened, it would be as effective without the boredom.The Final Verdict: A strong, but just inherently dull art-house exploitation epic that will really divide most viewers instantly because of the subject matter. If this sounds like something that will appeal to you, you're a fan of the genre or just extreme films in general, give this one a real watch, otherwise ignore it.Rated UR/NC-17: Continuous Full Male and Female Nudity, strong sex scenes, Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and violence against animals

Made a few years before the even more notorious 'Caligula', this 'Salon Kitty' focuses on a more recent era of despicable history. Set in the earliest years of Hitler's reign and the start of WWII, it handles about power-mad Nazi officer Wallenberg who puts Madame Kitty's luxurious brothel in service of the 'Third Reich' and recruits a bunch of patriotic beauties to serve as prostitutes. But, instead of doing this as a favor for his fellow Nazi-superiors, he blackmails them with the information he gets by having the chambers bugged. This film is infamous and hated because of its topic (I always heard it was as close to propaganda as you can get) and the explicitly of the sexual content. Granted, Tinto Brass does have a bizarre obsession for showing as much genitalia (female AND male) as possible but aside from a few sequences featuring deformed midgets, it's never too sickening. The dullness is what bothered me here! The film is overlong and I wasn't really anticipating all those Cabaret sequences. The screenplay too often handles about pointless intrigues and the plot only gets REALLY interesting around the last half hour when ***SPOILERS*** the young Margherita unravels Wallenberg's vile actions and conspiracies against him. *** End Spoilers ***. Thank God for Theresa Ann Savoy! This stunning beauty (who also played a remarkable role in 'Caligula') makes this exploitation experience ten times more bearable because of her natural charisma and ravishing body. If it weren't for her, I'm sure the ratings for this film would be even lower.