Kaput Lager - Gli ultimi giorni delle SS

This is how John Sturges really wanted his classic film - with nudity, whippings, and castrations! American Major Lexman (Richard Harrison) finds himself amongst Brits in a Nazi prison camp in Northern Africa run by Kommandant von Stolzen (Gordon Mitchell). Taking sadistic Dr. Lessing (Lea Lander) hostage, the Allies make their escape into the desert with the Germans in hot pursuit. As always, Harrison and Gordon do their jobs well and are fortunate in that they are the only cast members who don't get whipped. Yup, there is a lot of whipping going on in this one. Italian director Luigi Batzella (operating under the pseudonym Ivan Kathansky) packs the film with enough fighting and sleaze to at least keep viewers awake for its scant 80 minute running time. Batzella would return to this sub-genre the same year with SS HELL CAMP and, since Harrison isn't involved, I'm not going there.

Whipping isn't my thing, and the war part is a good bunch of BS. But I am a sucker for a good Naziexploitation. The best part of this movie is the sex scene with the Nazi that oddly resembles a touch of Powers Boothe. One of the better scenes I've seen in a while.

Luigi Batzella, best known under his Eurociné pseudonym Yvan Kathansky, has directed a fine piece of nazi camp sexploitation that mixes not so well with a military drama. The fights are badly choregraphed, the actors are a shame and the storyline seems a bit improvised.

Technically this ain't a reference; at times, the image is so dark you can barely see what's happening. Richard Harrisson, the cheapest mustached hero ever, teams up once again with Gordon Mitchell (they worked together for another of Batzella's fine moments, BLACK GOLD) and with newcomer Lea Landers (the terrified girl we appreciated in Mario Bava's RABID DOGS) as an attempt to create thorn characters that will grip our hearts. They fail miserably and we are stuck with a sometimes funny but overall strange movie. Just give an ear to the music playing in the background during the orgy scenes and you'll get my feeling.

This movie is great for Batzella fans like me, but if you're not familiar with this psycho-trashic director, stay away.

Kaput Lager - Gli ultimi giorni delle SS is a bizarre, low-budget entry into the Nazi exploitation genre from the notoriously eccentric director Luigi Batzella.

The film follows Richard Harrison, who finds himself part of a ragtag group sent on a mission to destroy Nazi tanks in Africa. This premise, however, quickly takes a backseat to the real meat of the movie: the POW camp. After our 'heroes' are inevitably captured, they are taken to a prison camp run by the sadistic Gordon Mitchell, where the film descends into sleaze and degradation.

The film is undeniably cheap, with a host of technical issues. The plot is paper-thin, and the editing is jarring, with several scenes feeling completely out of place. That being said, there is a certain charm to the film's unabashed embrace of its low-budget nature. The tank models, for example, are comically obvious toys, but this only adds to the B-movie appeal.

One of the most significant issues with "Kaput Lager" is its lack of nuance. The film is unapologetically explicit in its depiction of violence and sexual content, but it never delves beneath the surface to explore the complexities of the human condition. The Nazis are portrayed as one-dimensional villains, while the prisoners are reduced to little more than victims. There is no attempt to understand the motivations or psychology of the characters, which makes it difficult to engage with the story on a deeper level.

The acting is forgettable, with the exception of Harrison, who brings a touch of hammy charm to the proceedings. The real star, however, is the dubbing. The familiar voices of Italian dub artists bring a sense of cohesion to the film, providing a strange sense of comfort amidst the chaos.

In conclusion, Kaput Lager is a mess of a movie. It's poorly made, morally dubious, and often downright silly. Yet, for fans of bizarre, exploitative cinema, there is a certain train-wreck appeal.

So, if you're in the mood for Nazis, nudity, and nonsense, this film may just be the perfect storm of trashy entertainment. Just don't expect a cinematic masterpiece.

How does one sum up this film? Perhaps as "Tobruk" meeting "Caged Women"- and failing. It is neither a proper war flick nor a real WIP effort. The war scenes are pointless and excruciating. The WIP element is interesting sexploitation, with whipping, castration and some interesting and gratuitous nudity. However it is really a cinematic dog's dinner- your life will not suffer if you miss this one.