Short Takes

More salient sleaze from Blue Underground. This time Caligula auteur Tinto Brass crafts a visually arresting, often ticklishly erotic exploration of Nazi-on-Nazi bedroom diplomacy during the second world war. Berlin's oasis of carnal delights, more commonly known as a whore house, is home to Madam Kitty (Ingrid Thulin) and two dozen Hitler honies trained by the SS to fulfill every desire. Why? So a squirrelly closet-case honcho named Wallenberg (Helmut Berger) can eavesdrop on the innermost thoughts of German officers in hopes of catching potential traitors with both their pants AND their guard down in moments of post-diddle bliss. But fear not, there's plenty of gender-bending musical numbers, swine butchery and furry midget cavorting to thwart any threat of the plot overtaking the story. Marvel as a gymnasium full of nekkid soldiers, their untethered wangdoodles flopping in unison, march toward an identical female formation of randy recruits with orders to fraternize with extreme raunch. Listen to Tinto's introduction of less-than-subtle pig snorts during a German socialite's dinner party. Behold the pregnant despair and symbolic forboding when a Jewish boy's tin toy is purposefully ground beneath an older girl's shoe. But do the latter two gestures absolve such a languid swim through Nazi excess? The salivatory Ms. Teresa Ann Savoy's icy seductive power will make focusing on such allegedly high-minded quandaries next to impossible for most CineSchlockers. 68 breasts. Six corpses. Nether grooming. Dress ripping. Female-on-female rape. Gratuitous urination. Puking. Amputee diddling. Horse whipping. It's safe to assume the girls didn't catch this part on the recruitment poster, "Your duty is to refuse nothing! Coitus! Anal coitus! Masturbation and fellatio!" (1975, 133 mins, 1.85:1 anam, DD mono, Numbered limited edition features director and production designer interviews, Extensive image gallery, DVD-ROM version of "The Story of Salon Kitty.")