La cage aux minets

I saw this film listed on Al Lettieri's IMDb filmography as the last film he made and wanted to make sure and see it. I am a great fan even though his body of work was, sadly, much too short. I found House of Pleasure for Women online and even though I don't understand a word of Italian, with close attention, I could PRETTY MUCH make out what the gist of the story was (mainly through the talent of the leads who spoke so well with their expressions). It is really funny and sweet and kind of brilliant in its own way but unless I learn Italian I will never be sure how to tie together newsreels of Kissinger, a talking horse, an invisible man, and a beautiful blonde woman running around in a white nightgown. But it WORKS. I smiled the whole way through. I am very partial to the handsome and swarthy Lettieri. He gamely plays along with all the silliness and somehow holds it all together with his strong presence, suave manner, and a twinkle in his eye. What an actor.

This is a virtually unknown movie. I taped it off a test feed by an Italian pay TV, many years ago. No wonder, cause it deals with prostitution and sexual violence, contains nudity, defines international drug traffic and other crimes as official US government activities... it even had censorship problems.

The story: women in the rapidly evolving Italian society of the first seventies want to have their sexual appetites satisfied, and the "American Love Company" corporation is not going to miss the opportunity, so they send a veteran of the field to estabilish a new branch and recruit local workforce. Expect a lot of nonsense, random references to famous films and characters, and a light hearted approach to just about everything.

The inversion of roles between male and female triggers many funny situations and bad jokes, but the atmosphere is quite different from the typical Italian B-movie of the same age: "Bordella" is more original, daring and better produced. It also contains the most humorous suicide attempt you can think of.

Italians looking at the cast overview will be surprised to find so many locally famous names. Their performance is good, considering the genre. The soundtrack could well suit a gangster movie, all the songs are cool.

Don't miss the opportunity to see this movie (that is, if you have any), and see how "The Full Monty" could have been written twenty years earlier.