The Wildcat

Best of the Lubitsch slapstick farces released by Kino
For all the exotic places depicted in his later films-- Monte Carlo, Venice, the mittel-European settings of The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg or The Shop Around the Corner, Stalin's Russia, Hitler-occupied Poland-- Lubitsch never returned to the wildly cartoonish style on evidence in these early comedies released by Kino, which are quite eye-opening, full of wild curlicues of plaster, fortresses that look like birthday cakes, staircases that descend a quarter-mile amid running water. They're undeniable visual treats, unlike anything you've seen before, even when the knockabout comedy is not up to the visual imagination on display-- or the abilities of star Pola Negri, for whom "wildcat" is the perfect role.

The Wildcat is a sort of burlesque on a genre of military romances buried so deeply in the mists of memory that they still seem familiar even when it's hard to think of an actual example of what's being parodied (The Desert Song?). There's a fortress on the edge of...

And now for something completely different...
Of the four DVDs in the `Lubitsch in Berlin' series, "The Wildcat" surely stands out as the most bizarre and uniquely different, especially when compared to all the other well-known German silent films with their seriousness and gloomy Expressionist styles. In total contrast to the work of his contemporaries, namely other legendary directors like Fritz Lang, FW Murnau and GW Pabst, Ernst Lubitsch had a style of his own, and "The Wildcat" is a prime example. Today this comedy can be compared to Monty Python, but "The Wildcat" in its introduction simply calls itself "A Grotesque", and this is exactly what comes to mind when seeing the very odd and even indescribable sets and interiors. The military fortress where much of the action takes place looks like something between a fairytale and a nightmare, and not satisfied with the effort to create such bizarre sets and props, Lubitsch takes the visual uniqueness even further with many scenes filmed through differently shaped frames. Not...

Die Bergkatze
Alexis, a notorious soldier (Paul Heidemann), is sent away to get away from all the women that can't resist his charms. There he is handed the daughter of his commander, but he finds himself enchanted by a ruffian who stole his pants on his journey to his new home. Rischka (Pola Negri) has been brought up to give orders and to take what she wants. Her father and a band of theives target Alexis's new home, but little do they know that Rischka plans to start a romance with him.

This movie is very silly and is not meant to be taken seriously at all, though most people who seek out foreign films will expect something profound. It is artistic, however, due to the use of oddly shaped lenses for the entire film. This does not detract from the humor, though.

What makes this movie interesting to most silent movie fans is Pola Negri. Negri is notorious in film history as a vamp, but she is completely different in this film. One would never guess her reputation by her role...

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