Salon Kitty - Tinto Brass’ Uncensored Director‘s Cut (1976/Blue Underground
Blu-ray)
Picture: B Sound: C+
Extras: C Film: C-
Tinto Brass’ 1976 precursor to Caligula, Salon
Kitty is the true story of Kitty Schmidt (here portrayed as Kitty Kellermann),
who runs a Berlin
whorehouse. Early on in World War II the
brothel is commandeered by the Nazis and reopens with the regular girls being
replaced by a specially selected staff trained to be expert in the art of
sexual gratification. These new girls
have been planted there in order to spy on the clientele for blackmail
purposes, as well as to extract secrets pertaining to the war. Beyond Kitty’s knowledge, the place has also
been wired and is under constant Nazi surveillance.
This is a story that doubtlessly makes for an excellent idea for a movie. Unfortunately, while the acting in this film
is above average, the story rather intriguing, and with ample amounts of
titillation and exploitation, it still somehow manages to be less than the sum
of its parts.
After some reading on the subject of Kitty and her brothel, it would seem that
unaltered true story would have provided and more interesting backdrop of the
sexual debauchery that takes place, while presenting no additional problems
from a budgetary perspective. The
differences between the stark naked truth and the embellishments are minute. Enough, however, has been altered to make the
story more convoluted than it need be, resulting in a diminished movie watching
experience.
The image on the Blu-ray is excellent, and far exceeds the picture quality of
the prior DVD issue of this title. The
film is presented at 1080p, with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The great Ken Adam of the James Bond films,
as well as several Stanley Kubrick classics, created the production design and it
benefits greatly here.
The sound is presented in English and Italian 1.0 monophonic DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) lossless tracks. Certain sections
of the film were excised before the English dubbing took place. Accordingly, these sequences have audio
presented in Italian with English subtitles. This is done well here, and is not nearly as
jarring as it has been on other films where I have seen reinserted scenes
without dialogue to match, where it jerks you out of the experience. The sound quality is decent, though it would
have been nice to have had the mono track spread out to two channels.
The disc contains two good interviews - one with director Tinto Brass, the
other conducted with (as noted above) Production Designer Ken Adam. Original trailers and radio spots are also
included.
The film showcases some excellent cinematography, and while the movie itself
can at times be a chore to sit through, this new Blu-ray is definitely the way
to go for fans of the Nazisploitation genre looking to add this film to their
collections.
- David Milchick
