We couldn’t resist taking a look at Nazi Porn flick “Women’s Camp 119,” if nothing else for the sheer fun of getting an especially raised eyebrow from our newsstand man. Well, the movie is bad. Not “good bad” or “scary bad” just plain bad, even the fact that “camp” is part of the title can’t save it.
Murky audio, skittish camera work, two-penny gore and liberal dose of almost quaint soft-porn characterize an effort which can best be described as for afficionados only.
“Women’s Camp 119” called “KZ-9 Lager di Sterminio” in Italian (dir. Bruno Mattei,1977), tells the story of a group of women interned in fictional Rosenhausen, where a nefarious doctor carries out perverse and ludicrous experiments– including the “rehabilitation” of two homosexuals by lip-licking, leering former prostitutes. The love story between the good doctor and his Jewish assistant is, predictably, doomed but final justice awaits an escaped prisoner who gets revenge on the evil doctor. In our staff screening, only half the group sat through the whole thing, and that with applied fast forwarding. Legend has it Mattei, prolific director of z-movies, was once asked what he considered his best film. Mattei is said to have responded, “None of them.”
We asked a second opinion from cult movie critic Robert Firsching. Firsching, whose encyclopedic “Amazing World of Cult Movies” site reviews 1,618 flicks, is especial fan of Italian horror movies of the 1970s. Here’s his take.

Second Opinion: Q&A with cult movie buff

zoomata> Where would you draw the line between genre and dangerous?

Firsching> I think the distinction has a great deal to do with the particular film’s tone. In the case of “KZ-9 Lager di Sterminio,” (ed. note: the Italian title) the film’s point of view is clearly one of condemnation. Although it was released as part of a flood of films exploiting Nazi atrocities, it clearly takes no pleasure in them. I think it is actually a far better education for young viewers than a film like “Schindler’s List,” which tiptoes around the horrors, or the various documentaries providing camp footage which is already so familiar as to have lost its impact. I would include another war atrocity film, the Chinese “Hei Tai Yang 731” (aka “Men Behind the Sun”) as an example of graphic violence being used to hammer home a historical point to jaded audiences.

zoomata> What role does the quality/age of these films have in your answer?

Firsching> I don’t think quality or age play as much of a role as “intent,” for lack of a better word. Consider a film like “Sleepers,” certainly a quality film, but one which teaches that it’s okay to lie in court, commit murder, and basically subvert the entire justice system because you were abused as a child. I found “Sleepers” far more offensive than even the most grotesque of the Italian Nazi films, because all of the ones I’ve seen at least have some moral compass.

zoomata> These films seem to be readily available on the Internet but most people wouldn’t know they even exist–is it a matter of how they’re distributed that makes a difference?

Firsching> “Well, “KZ-9″ is not a film for everyone. It’s brutal, graphic, and quite horrifying. But I don’t think it should be banned or would incite anyone to commit a crime, if that’s what you mean. If anything, a Jewish person seeing the film might be enraged enough to seek retaliation against a German, but I certainly can’t see why Jewish groups would object to the presentation.”

zoomata> Why did Italian directors make such a contribution to what you dubbed “Nazi-themed Sexploitation Films”?

Firsching> Italian exploitation has always been based on taking one successful film and making numerous copies and reworkings of it in a brief span of time, milking all the money out of the concept as long as it lasts. Italian directors had plenty of incentive after Liliana Cavani’s “Il Portiere di Notte” (1973) and Tinto Brass’s “Salon Kitty” (1975) both did well at the box-office. That led to 8 such films in 1976 and 3 more in 1977, as well as 3 French entries between 1976-78. After that, the well ran dry and the Italians turned their efforts to zombies, cannibals, Caligula and Mad Max.

Related links:
www.awcm.com

by Nicole Martinelli

Among the usual videocassettes of dubious taste vying for attention in Italian kiosks are a series of vintage “Nazi-porn” flicks.
The Sex and Violence collection, released as a supplement to cult-movie magazine Nocturno, has sparked debate on a little-known chapter in Italian movie making.

“Love Lager” and “The Gestapo’s Last Orgy” are two titles in a series of 11 cheesy soft-porn knockoffs made by Italian directors in 1976-1977 on the coattails of two important and controversial films.

“Night Porter” by Liliana Cavani and “Salò” by Pier Paolo Pasolini, which explored the tenebrous confines of sex and power in W.W.II, both met with savage criticism and censorship at the time of release. B-grade horror movie directors like Bruno Mattei and Sergio Garrone banked on the publicity of the avant-garde films, but carefully made a hot topic squeak by censors — hard-core scenes were often shot separately and inserted afterwards for foreign distribution.

In a quarter of a century, public opinion about the films has reversed. “Night Porter” and “Salò” (in which some censored scenes were “reinstated”) were sold recently as supplements to mainstream publications at newsstands. This time around they were hailed as cinema classics by news weekly L’Espresso and daily L’Unità, while the re-release of the sub-genre from an amateurish fanzine seems destined to make brouhaha.

“Finally on video, the most crude and violent Nazi movie ever made…Painstakingly restored from the only existing print at the Center for Experimental Cinema…a must-see of the Eros-swastika genre,” hawks the cover of “KZ-9 Lager di Sterminio” (“Women’s Camp 119).” For our review of the film, see the editor’s notebook.

The publicity ploy seems to have worked — four neighborhood newsstands ran out mid-month of the March issue of Nocturno with videocassette, which retails for about $10 USD.

“We’re currently evaluating whether there are grounds for legal action,” said Emanuele Fiano, former president of Milan’s Jewish community in a phone interview with zoomata. “It’s the coupling of sex and violence with such an important history that disturbs me,” he said. “Young people may find it appealing and it only perpetuates the Nazi myth.”

Fiano admits, though, the matter could well become a legal quagmire — courts are unlikely to block films, now considered offensive, that were originally given the green light for viewers over age 18 a generation ago.

“The (Nazi movies) passed perhaps because they weren’t noteworthy,” commented Alessandro Loppi, cinema critic for Jewish community portal Morashà who is currently working on an encyclopedia of Italian cinema for publisher Treccani. “Or worse yet, to be malicious about it, you could say they weren’t boycotted (at the time of release) because they didn’t offend most people.”

Nocturno editor Manilo Gomarasca, who declined to be interviewed for this article, was quoted in Italian daily il Giorno as saying, “These aren’t films worth giving more importance than they deserve. They’re naive films by today’s standards and they had no political intent nor were they meant to be offensive. “

Perhaps a sort of cinematic Darwinism would seem appropriate for these forgettable films, but a search revealed most are readily available outside Italy, on the Internet.

“Until recently, Americans and Japanese were more interested in Italy’s minor movies than Italians were,” said journalist and pop-culture observer Aldo Dalla Vecchia. The so-called erotic Italian comedies of the 1970s, for example, were rediscovered only recently by mass audiences when Walter Veltroni, former Culture Minister, professed his admiration for Edwige Fenech, first lady of the genre. Then, Dalla Vecchia remarked, “they instantly became cult movies-before that they were considered trash programming and only aired on minor networks at insomniac hours.”

In the March editorial, Gomarasca, after apologizing for Nocturno’s erratic publishing schedule says the magazine distributes these films with the intent of giving cult-film fans the occasion to see rare movies and judge for themselves.

“Personally, I don’t see anything scandalous in the re-release (of the Nazi movies),” said Loppi. “If anything it confirms the way things are in Italy. In a country where people are adequately sensitive, no one would dream of buying certain films, let alone distribute them, shoot them, write them or finance them.”

Further proving the popularity of skimpily-clad dancing girls embellishing all too many Italian TV programs, a retiree spent three-months pension to wish them well upon forced ‘retirement.’ Claudio Baudazzi, 73, took out a quarter-page ad in the Corriere della Sera to bid addio to Maddalena Cornavaglia and Elisabetta Canalis, go-go dancers on satirical program “Striscia la Notizia,” one of the most-watched programs on Italian TV.
Garnish girls (likened to parsley with the nickname “prezzemoline”) have become a fixture in Italian television since Silvio Berlusconi’s commercial networks started using them in 1983 program “Drive In.”
Following tradition, the two, called "veline" on Striscia, are given the boot after a season. Popularity of the current couple tripled their time ‘in office’ but as thousands of young Italian women participated in tryouts to be the next hot-pants clad dancing duo, at least one fan was moved at their passing.
"Profound gratitude for having transmitted such joy, serenity and love to an audience of all ages," wrote Baudazzi who spent around $5,000 for the ad. "In a breath of spring, Maddy and Eli passed lightly over TV screens leaving an indelible impression in the minds and hearts of everyone."

Almost every game or variety show on commercial or state networks now has these gyrating/lip synching girls, dressed in competitively succinct costumes. A constant media preoccupation, they are faulted with contributing to the demise of more sober "Good Evening Girls," once a hallmark at state broadcaster RAI. The Good Evening Girls, who greeted viewers and announced upcoming programs, have been cut by 70% in favor of fast-moving promos. The passing of these announcers, seen up to 60 times a day and praised for composure and correct Italian, was noted in a study by Rome’s Institute for Psychological Studies.

Related links:
www.publiweb.com/cgi-bin/goto?www.veline.cjb.net
Photos, calendar, interviews, video segments of dance routines — one of many sites dedicated to them.

www.striscialanotizia.it/veline.htm
The official veline page — with a hall of fame…