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Released by: Intervision Picture Corp.
Released on: June 3rd, 2014.
Director: Rino Di Silvestro
Cast: John Steiner, Lina Polito, Giorgio Cerioni, Erna Schurer, Solvi Stubing
Year: 1976
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The Movie:
From the director of Werewolf Woman and Hanna D. comes 1976's Deported Women Of The SS Special Section, Rino Di Silvestro's second entry in the Nasisploitation genre, his first being his directorial debut, 1973's Women In Cell Block 7. When the movie begins, some women are, ummm… deported by train, and herded in like cattle really, off to a Nazi castle/camp/compound thing lorded over by various members of the SS Special Section. Hence the title. There's some legitimate truth in advertising here.
At any rate, the guards shoot at two women who try to escape, which means the rest of the gals are going to do what they're told. The women are let into the facility where they promptly get their hoo-haw's shaven clean. Some of them get their heads shaved too, but the Nazi's seem pretty inconsistent here as to who they shave and why. One of these new prisoners is the lovely Tania Nobel (Lina Polito), a woman who once led an aristocratic life and who pushed away the amorous advances of a Nazi named Erner (John Steiner) in favor of a resistance fighter. Well guess who is in charge of this castle/camp/compound thing? You guess it, Herr Erner… with some help from his right hand man, Doberman (Giorgio Cerioni).
He's still got a thing for Tania, and you can't blame him really because she's a fox, but he obviously holds a grudge. He sends her off to solitary confinement for a while and then has a change of heart when he invites her to his quarters for a fancy dinner after which he puzzlingly tries to impress her a most unorthodox manner. This doesn't exactly work and after Tania gets sick of pushing Erner away she goes on a hunger strike. This lands her in the infirmary where a sympathetic doctor informs her of an escape tunnel… but they'd better watch out for Helga (Erna Schurer) and Fraulein Greta (Solvi Stubing), two Nazi bitch types who don't take kindly to escape attempts.
This one takes a good half hour or so to really get going but once John Steiner starts to get more screen time things definitely pickup because he just goes for it here, chewing through the scenery and seemingly having a blast playing Erner as the most despicable man he can. At the same time, he also brings a ridiculous sense of pompous arrogance to the role that suits it really well. He's pretty over the top here and he makes what would otherwise be a pretty pedestrian (prolonged hoo-haw shaving sequence notwithstanding) Nazi camp trash fest something more. Supporting efforts from the female cast are fine, the ladies are pretty much all cast for their looks rather than their thesping, but it's Steiner's show all the way here and if nothing else, you will remember his work on this picture.
The movie is technically quite well shot and features some pretty decent camera work. The score suits the action, drama and trashy exploitative nature of many of the scenes quite effectively and, yeah, the slow start doesn't help much but once things pick up, this is stupid and trashy enough to entertain.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Deported Women Of The SS Special Section arrives on DVD from Intervision framed at 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen in a watchable enough transfer that starts off kind of mucky and murky with some tape sourced opening credits but improves from there. Like Gestapo's Last Orgy, this looks like it was taken from an older analogue master, so don't expect miracles, but yeah, it's watchable enough even if detail is soft and the darker scenes get muddy.
Audio chores are handled by an English language Dolby Digital Mono track, there are no alternate language options or subtitles offered. The quality is fine, if a little flat in spots. The dialogue is easy to understand and the admittedly impressive (and at times almost epic) score sounds pretty good.
The main extra on the disc is a thirty-six minute long featurette entitled A Brief History of Sadiconazista in which author Marcus Stiglegger, who has written about Nazisploitation films in his book Nazi-Chic Und Nazi-Trash, gives us a pretty interesting rundown of how and why these movies came to exist early in the cycle before offering up some insight into the effectiveness, popularity and historical accuracy (or lack thereof) of many of the pictures. It's a welcome piece that sheds some light on this often (and understandably) mistreated genre and it's a good addition to the disc. This documentary was also included on the Gestapo's Last Orgy DVD.
The disc also includes a twenty-nine minute video interview with the late director entitled Camp Rico where Di Silvestro discusses how he got into filmmaking through acting and writing which eventually lead to directing. From there he covers the making of The Women In Cell Block 7 and Deported Women Of The SS Special Section including locations, his attempts at authenticity and his feelings on the different cast members he worked with throughout his career. In the nine minute What Does John Steiner Think? featurette we get input from the film's leading man on why he took the role (he openly admits he did it for the money), what it was like working with the cast and crew and his thoughts on some of the sleazier aspects of the production. It's quite amusing, Steiner definitely has a sense of humor about this part of his career. Menus and chapter selection are also included.
The Final Word:
Deported Women Of The SS Special Section isn't particularly good but it is scuzzy and sleazy enough to appeal to fans of the Nazisploitation genre and John Steiner kind of rules as the male lead. Intervision's transfer won't win any awards but the extras included on the disc go a long way towards making up for that, rounding out the release of this oddity quite nicely.
