glenn-aylett 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.

seth_milligan By any measure the best production in the Nazi exploitation genre available on DVD. Beautiful, lush cinematography and a provocative script make this one of Tinto Brass' finest films. Andy Warhol described Brass as Italy's best AND worst director, its easy to see why with this movie. While it contains all the prerequisite elements one would expect it manages to rise above mere sleaze, not there is anything wrong with sleaze I might add. It is the Citizen Kane of Nazi exploitation. Not necessarily what might be considered erotic, see Brass' Cheeky! or The Voyeur for titillation, it stands above the crowd creatively and artistically.

DVD_Connoisseur "Salon Kitty" is a cinematic journey into the seedy goings-on at Madame Kitty's Berlin brothel, where the prostitutes are SS-trained, patriotic beauties. While this premise may sound intriguing, the actual delivery is drawn-out and, it must be said, a tad boring. 20 minutes cut have been cut out of this movie and it would have been more effective as a result.Scenes of debauchery are limited but interesting. The scene where the SS girls are viewed with a variety of sexual partners as a test to see how they react is deliciously dark and unsettling. I'm not easily shocked but this particular sequence really pushes barriers of taste and censorship (and should be applauded as a result).The film is atmospheric and the sets (by Ken Adam, famous for his Bond creations) are excellent. However, there are too many musical interludes for my taste. It's like "Cabaret" on acid.A hesitant recommendation, "Salon Kitty" won't be to everybody's tastes. It's a flawed film but it has its moments. Not a film to avoid controversy, animal lovers will be appalled that scenes of real pig-killing are contained. This put me off my hot dog, as did the many scenes of male genitalia. Tinto Brass seems to be obsessed with all things dangly. Trust me, by the end of the film, you'll be wishing that the cast put some clothes on. (An exception to this may be the delightful Teresa Ann Savoy, but I digress.) 6 out of 10 - could have been leaner and meaner.

maatmouse When I bought Salon Kitty, The Director's Cut, I thought I would be doing something quite risky in buying this controversial curiosity. Salon Kitty is the story of a Brothel Madam who is hired by the SS to school a group of perfect 'National Socialist Party' women to become prostitutes for the Third Reich, whilst secretly recording their customer's disclosure of secrets for later use (one supposes) in blackmail.There is a genuine feel of Brass's other work, Caligula in this hugely staged presentation. The sets are impressive but to certain eyes look a bit 1970s and some may be shocked at the imagery on show here, for example, the women being required to 'prove' their worthiness on the project by performing various sex acts on unlikely clients. Berger plays a Nazi officer with more than a passing interest in Margherita as she comes to his home and offers him sexual favours in return for a place on the project.Still, if you want a viewpoint of Brass' work without renting Caligula, which is a highly flawed film, then try this curiosity but it is not for the nervous or fainthearted.