the audience applauded

A Major Disappointment

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Set during World War II, the action in this one takes place on board a train populated by young women forced into prostitution by their Nazi captors. An evil dominatrix overseer - the Fraulein of the title - surreptitiously tapes the conversations of the Nazi men who visit the girls, taking advantage of them opening up in these private moments. In this way she can entrap those disloyal to the Reich and have them taken out and executed.Fraulein Kitty is another film which made up the short-lived Nazisploitation sub-genre which existed primarily in the late 70's. Most if these movies came from those purveyors of good taste the Italians but this was one of the few that was of French origin. It was produced by cheap-jack exploitation studio Eurociné who knocked out a variety of low-budget flicks of various kinds. With this one, while they have definitely produced a sexploitation film, it is most definitely very mild by Nazisploitation standards. Most of the ones I have seen are quite monumentally out-of-order to a degree that often boggles the mind. Of course, this makes them somewhat interesting curiosity pieces nowadays. Aside from a distinct lack of graphic violence, the main clue as to why this one is decidedly less offensive in nature is simply due to the fact that the victims here are the Germans themselves rather than the - usually (naked) female - inmates of concentration camps. Admittedly it does focus on a bunch of female prisoners who have been forced into train-based prostitution but for a Nazisploitation effort this is dealt with in an almost tasteful manner. Okay, these things are all relative you understand – it's still the kind of idea that film-makers from the present day wouldn't touch with a bargepole, which, as I said before is sort of what makes this most wilfully tasteless sub-genre so fascinating. To be absolutely honest, though, I actually didn't mind the lesser level of sleaze in this one and thought it made a bit of a change to watch one of these flicks without the associated squirm moments. Zis is good, ya?

With the war effort going against them and talk of a possible coup against Adolf Hitler, the SS seizes upon the idea of using prostitutes to cavort with officers serving on the front lines in order to determine whether they are loyal to the Fuhrer or not. To do that they appoint a prostitute named "Elsa Ackermann" (Malisa Longo) to the rank of an SS colonel and recruit several nubile young women to assist her. They also give her a train to take them to the Western Front and to use for their sexual activities. Although Colonel Ackermann does indeed catch several disloyal officers, she has to contend with a spy within her group who causes her serious problems as well. Now rather than reveal any more of the plot and risk ruining the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that, while this movie had a good premise, the low budget accompanied by poor direction caused everything to seem dull and plodding. As a matter of fact, other than the presence of Malisa Longo and Patrizia Gori (as "Liselotte Richter") there really wasn't anything that remarkable about this film. Because of that I rate it as below average.

Sadistic Aryan officer Elsa Ackermann (Malisa Longo) is given the task of overseeing a Nazi brothel on rails that has been created to help identify potential traitors, cowards and deserters within the SS elite. As the train rolls through the countryside, its high ranking passengers are plied with alcohol and sex in order to loosen their tongues, while Elsa listens in on the conversations, Luger cocked and ready to fire.Relatively tame in terms of violence, Elsa Fräulein SS will no doubt disappoint those looking for some really tasteless entertainment, but the film definitely delivers when it comes to sex and nudity: the ladies Elsa chooses to 'entertain' on the train are easy on the eye and more than happy to bare all for soft-core canoodling with the film's Teutonic top-brass.Elsa even joins in the with the frolicking herself, but being a sadistic bitch she is at her happiest when shooting people in her head for daring to question Der Führer and his Third Reich.Full frontal female nudity; summary executions (virtually no blood though); a decadent Salon Kitty style singalong; the flogging of German cutie Liselotte (Patrizia Gori); some gratuitous oom-pah-pah music; Elsa in thigh high leather boots; a ginger, hippy resistance fighter and his Xmas sweater wearing pal: while this might not be among the most shocking effort the Nazisploitation genre has to offer, there's enough fun stuff to at least make it a serious contender for most enjoyable 'Nazisploitation-on-a-train' movie (admittedly, the only other one I can think of right now is Special Train for Hitler, and that's really bad!).

Elsa Fräulein SS was very likely shot on a shoestring budget, which is a real pity because the story definitely had something going for it. The war is turning on Germany, and Hitler decides to send a train of pleasure to the eastern front. Cunningly, it's actually a spying mission on officers who are suspected of being disloyal to the regime. Off course these are to be executed on the spot, without any form of trial or remorse being shown.The premise could have made for a dark, grim exploitation movie with a message. However what we do get is relatively mild in abuse and violence, which makes it all rather tame (if not lame). Yes there is nudity to be seen, and some scenes are quite brutal but it never gets to a point where it is really upsetting.People have vowed for a remake, which should then focus on the plot planned by Liselotte in my opinion. As she gains support against Elsa, we should be in for a much better finale than the film actually has now.