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Here’s my review of the film, Salon Kitty.
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Short filmTranscript
00:12welcome back it's me beau here on the channel with another film review thanks so much for
00:18checking out this video in today's review i'm going to be taking a look at the controversial
00:261976 drama salon kitty this is one of the more notorious titles in the nazi exploitation genre
00:38and upon its release it was banned in several countries just before we get into the review
00:45guys if you haven't already please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support
00:50is greatly appreciated so salon kitty from 1976 was directed by the italian filmmaker tinto brass
01:01and was based on the novel by peter norden brass not only adapted the film's screenplay but also
01:11edited the film something that he did on many of his projects now this movie first came to
01:19my attention when i was doing some research online into italian cinema i saw various posters of salon
01:29kitty some of which were quite gruesome and uh yeah it caught my eye so i decided to check it
01:37out
01:37having already seen ss experiment camp and gestapo's last orgy yeah i knew what i was getting myself into
01:48i knew there was going to be a lot of uh blood and guts so uh yeah i was mentally
01:56prepared for it
01:57narrative wise the movie followed the nazi commander helmet wallenberg who tasked his men to recruit
02:06dozens of women across germany to go undercover as sex workers the plan was to basically gain
02:17information sensitive information from the various men that used these prostitutes some of which
02:25included foreign dignitaries any noteworthy information would then be passed on to the
02:33higher-ups in command wallenberg who was played by actor helmut berger told his officers to search
02:41far and wide for the very best german women that could handle such a mission it wasn't going to be
02:49easy you know it was a tough operation to go undercover and basically have sex with you know various men
02:57and only the strong-willed and strong-minded would survive anyways the various women were eventually
03:06collected and so began operation salon kitty at first the women were rounded up and given over to
03:16some nazi soldiers as a way to basically test their fortitude with a job like this there was no room
03:25for shyness or modesty as the chosen few would basically end up being performing monkeys collecting
03:36sensitive information over time i mean this whole random sex orgy between the nazi soldiers
03:44and the women you know it was basically this thinning out process to see you know how well these these
03:52women
03:53women would cope but yeah i must say it was a pretty wild scene seeing all these naked bodies rolling
04:00around with all of the lingering close-ups i definitely got the impression that the director
04:09was trying to in some way titillate the audience wallenberg would go on to inform the madam of
04:19salon kitty that the party needed her building and she would basically need to shut down kitty who was
04:28played by actress ingrid thrulen was not happy about this decision but well basically had no other choice
04:37even though wallenberg offered her an alternative building outside of berlin kitty was very upset as for
04:47many years she had worked hard to build up the reputation of salon kitty this whole thing of
04:54course was just a lie by wallenberg as he specifically wanted kitty this very experienced madam to run his
05:05intelligence operation kitty ended up saying goodbye and eventually moved her and her team to this new
05:13alternative building that wallenberg had set up not only was kitty given this new building and business to
05:21run but she was also given a new selection of sex workers something that she was not happy about
05:29the women were of course from the selected group that we'd seen earlier they were of course undercover
05:37kitty had no idea she was basically being used so the new salon kitty opened for business and so began
05:47the intelligence gathering by the undercover sex workers and this was actually where we were introduced
05:53to one of the new prostitutes called margarita who was played by theresa and savoy we saw margarita's
06:03journey as she created this false sense of security for her clients in an effort to obtain sensitive
06:13information she had no qualms about what she was doing no hesitation in her eyes it was all you know
06:22for a good
06:23cause one soldier in particular called hans grew an infatuation with margarita very quickly
06:34and yeah i mean basically became head over heels he fell into her trap and very quickly started
06:44opening up about himself and his feelings hans hated hitler he'd seen the brutality on the war field and
06:55had planned to basically defect to the other side of course all this information was gathered up by
07:03margarita and then passed on to the commandant she later found out that hans had actually been killed
07:11thanks to her and the information that she gathered but instead of feeling triumphant
07:18she suddenly felt guilty for what she had done it finally dawned on her that what she was doing was
07:27wrong
07:27and well she was being used as bait i must say when i saw this play out and margarita had
07:37this sudden change
07:37of heart it just wasn't developed enough so it kind of felt very rushed i didn't mind that the story
07:47went
07:47down this route but yeah it just was uh very underdeveloped anyways margarita would end up confiding
07:56in kitty and incidentally revealed to her that this brothel this whole thing was just a setup an
08:05intelligence operation by vallenberg kitty obviously had no idea and well that was it she absolutely went
08:14berserk and wanted revenge she was lied to you know every step of the way and so yeah i can
08:23understand
08:23her anger for vallenberg ultimately she had a business a thriving business in the heart of berlin and
08:32suddenly thanks to him it was all over now one of salon kitty's most impressive qualities
08:41was the amazing visuals that we saw throughout the film the brilliance of these visuals came from three
08:49key areas number one being the production design the second being the costume design and thirdly
08:58the cinematography all three key aspects unified together and you know just really brought the
09:06whole story to life in particular i want to give credit to ken adam the film's production designer who
09:15did an outstanding job with his work on the film creating these luscious interiors for the brothel
09:21it was uh very colorful very extravagant with the posh furnishings and theatrical lighting
09:29yeah a very visually striking location adam also produced a very cold and atmospheric look for the ss nazi
09:42headquarters with the shiny marble floors and the draping swastikas it's also fair to say that salon
09:52kitty didn't shy away from its use of nazi iconography which definitely caused some controversy once the film
10:02was released i think because everything looked so decadent and to a high quality tinto brass the director
10:12was accused of somewhat glamorizing the whole nazi ideology while i can totally see that point of view
10:22i did get the impression that the director was trying to criticize the nazi ideology with the use of
10:32exaggerated decadence when it comes to the performances i thought actress ingrid throughlin who
10:40played kitty she stole the show and uh was perhaps the most entertaining part of the film madam kitty
10:49was this loud over the top character that loved champagne and yeah occasionally broke out into song
11:00you know i kind of think that someone like kitty in real life
11:07yeah that would be really annoying you know to hang out with just be too over the top i'm kind
11:13of more
11:13reserved so i'll be like oh yeah just kind of dial it down a little bit please but uh she
11:21the character
11:21you know she was perfect for brass's skewed wartime vision of excess and debauchery i also appreciated
11:32that the director gave the character some layers and didn't just you know make them one dimensional
11:40kitty was like the mother hen you know looking out for her girls when then they were in trouble
11:49and with that said she also was you know happy to stand up for herself you know she wasn't shy
11:56she
11:56was a confident woman so yeah yeah overall just a great performance
12:01theresea and savoy i thought did a pretty good job playing margarita and yeah did the best with the
12:11material she had been given the actress certainly looked the part as she she brought this kind of
12:20innocence to the character and so when you saw her character you know in peril you definitely felt you
12:29know empathy for her but due to the undeveloped script i did think that the character was uh
12:39not fully fleshed out you know there's a lot of potential there but um it was kind of a missed
12:45opportunity the biggest letdown i think for the character was that sudden change of heart that i
12:52mentioned earlier one minute she was with the nazis the next she was against them so yeah i mean that's
13:02okay but like i said it was uh it wasn't fleshed out so yeah overall it was uh a very
13:09kind of
13:11decent but somewhat uneven performance so dislikes for salon kitty from 1976
13:22my biggest dislike for the film would have to be the various musical performances that we saw
13:29from inside the brothel now while i can appreciate the effort and hard work that went into creating
13:38the scenes overall i felt that they just dragged on for way too long and uh yeah really slowed down
13:47the
13:47pace initially it started with the opening titles where we saw kitty performing inside the salon
13:56i mean that was fine it went on for maybe three or four minutes but it was really just establishing
14:02the location but later on in the film there were some other musical performances from kitty doing this
14:11uh cabaret act and uh yeah those sequences just went on for far too long you know just to clarify
14:19i'm not criticizing the efforts of the actress ingrid throughlin i thought she did a pretty good job
14:27you know with all the dancing and the choreography the singing you know she embodied this
14:34woman this provocative character and so yeah no she did a great job it was a poor decision to linger
14:41on those
14:41scenes and have them you know go on for three or four minutes at a time but i did get
14:47the impression that
14:48maybe the director was trying to linger on these you know extravagant you know showbiz type sequences
14:57to act as a stark contrast to the brutal nature of the narrative maybe that was his intention and if
15:08so
15:09yeah it certainly worked but still it didn't need to go on for that long and so ratings for salon
15:18kitty
15:18from 1976 i'm going to be rating this movie a solid 4.9 out of 10 no doubt salon kitty
15:29was a very
15:31ambitious piece of filmmaking from director tinta and brass that uh focused more on the spectacle rather
15:41than the substance of course this movie was based on the real life events that took place
15:48during world war ii in 1939 but it's safe to say that the director definitely
15:58exaggerated these events by inserting eroticism and satire while i found the movie quite entertaining at
16:08times you know you have to take everything with a pinch of salt because this director didn't really
16:16bother with the historical accuracy with that said i can't say that salon kitty was this outright brutal
16:28nazi exploitation movie yes of course there were many moments of shock value inserted in but um
16:38yeah overall it was a very story driven movie compared to some of the other nazi exploitation films like ss
16:48experiment camp salon kitty in comparison is pretty tame ultimately this is a very slow-paced drama that
17:00didn't didn't need to be it went on for over two hours but uh when i think about it a
17:08solid 90 minutes and
17:09this story could have easily have been wrapped up if you've seen salon kitty then please let me know your
17:16thoughts and memories in the comments section below for those who haven't it's a recommendation from me
17:24but as i said be prepared for a very slow plodding erotic drama if you're into controversial european cinema
17:34then i think you'll definitely get a kick out of it but um for those who don't really like these
17:42slow
17:42paced dramas maybe give something else a go yeah well that's all from me today guys i do hope you've
17:49enjoyed this review of salon kitty from 1976 i'll be back next week with another cult movie review
17:57don't forget to like and subscribe and of course guys take care
18:20so
18:26you
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