Kaput Lager - Gli ultimi giorni delle SS

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.

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.

This film is one hour of boring war action with about 20 minutes of tasteless sleaze stuck in the middle. And even the sleaze is pretty tame compared to director Batzella's later foray into shocking sadism, SS HELL CAMP. You get whippings, castration and a Nazi gets a cup of urine splashed in his face. The rest of the movie is total fast-forward material. Along with most of the offerings from France's Eurocine (HELLTRAIN, FRAULEIN DEVIL), this is one of the worst films in the disreputable genre of Nazi concentration camp exploitation films.

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.

The film lasts for 78 minuets on the Dutch DVD, due to its status in cult fandom, this film is regarded as one of the worst ever, here's why: -Has been 1960s stars wide up here, Gordon Mitchell and Mike Monti. -Luigi Batzella is the director, writer, and editor, and no doubt a one man crew, most of his films were garbage, three to four westerns shot on one wooden town built by Gordon Mitchel, three cheap war films and two erotic horror films, shot in crappy locations. -Despite its 78 minuet running time, there are around 15 minuets of stock footage, of things blowing up, and large amounts of soldiers fighting, inter-cut with around a dozen stupid extra's running around. -Poor lighting, most likely done with broken equipment, shot in Spain using locals as Arabs! (no offence intended) -The camp scenes are shot on the same sets as SS Experiment camp. -No ending, just a soldier throwing down a shovel. -Around twenty actors were used for the entire film.

...But despite all that, today's film students, can learn from it, and hopefully make their own.

God bless you Batzella!

I'm actually a big fan of these cult films, I know their shortcomings, but I'd still pick this over any Hollywood blockbuster coming out today, with overflated money grabbing stars and more CGI than actual film!