The Wildcat

A military fort is waiting for the arrival of their new lieutenant, but he is captured on his way by a gang of outlaws. To make matters worse for everyone involved, the outlaw leader's daughter has taken a shine to the man.

The Kino DVD calls this film a "playfully subversive satire of military life" and claims that it not only foreshadows the later Lubitsch films (which is obvious), but could be called an "ancestor" to Monty Python and Woody Allen. That may or may not be a fair assessment. This is, in my estimation, not the best Lubitsch comedy, even amongst his early work. I much preferred "The Oyster Princess".

Either way, 1920s silent comedy is usually seen as dominated by Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, with Harold Lloyd sometimes getting an honorable mention. We need to mention Lubitsch more. He may not have had the physical comedy in his films that these other three did, but he was no less of a genius.

What a remarkable film! Within minutes one immediately gets the impression that if 'The wildcat' were made in the modern era, it would be a bombastic, proverbial Technicolor nightmare of a farce. Though there's no color or sound here, Ernst Lubitsch's feature is no less of a spectacle of frivolity. The consideration given to hair, makeup - and even more so imaginative costume design, and stupendous set design and decoration - is only of the utmost playful grandiosity, fetching sights by all accounts and nigh fantastical. This rather goes as well for the framing of each scene, as most of the footage presents to us through cut-outs of wildly varying shape and size. And so it is down the line, including sharp editing: from start to finish, this movie is filled a jovial air of comedy on par with the most robust nonsense of silent stars like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, or Charlie Chaplin. And it's so much fun!

In his direction, and in his screenplay co-written with Hanns Kräly, Lubitsch has a mind for lighthearted silliness that makes the picture a true joy to behold. This is reflected in the (reconstructed) intertitles, the characters, the writing and orchestration of each scene, the overall narrative, and in the guidance of the cast. There are some familiar themes at the core of the story, yet every element is marked with such a sense of caricature and exaggeration as to ensure that no one steps away from 'The wildcat' without having a good time. The assembled actors lean wholeheartedly into that slant, each giving performances of strong physicality and personality - with body language and facial expression heightened well beyond even what is characteristic of the silent era. The nearest approximation that readily comes to mind is in the most enthusiastically madcap moments of 2001 musical 'Moulin Rouge!' - but even that comparison fails to wholly account for the charming gaiety on hand. I'm loathe to single out only one or two figures, but it must be said that Pola Negri is fabulous, a marvel as untamed Rischka - stealing the spotlight with her every appearance on the screen. Only just shy of Negri's terrific display, Paul Heidemann's performance as Lieutenant Alexis is a slick show of flippant impertinence that's gratifying to witness.

Among other things, the movie is built on physical comedy, sight gags, satirical foolishness, and turnabout and upended expectations. Through it all we're treated to a veritable feast of visual bedazzlement, not just in the arrangement of scenes and the fastidious work of the crew but also in the very filming locations. This is nothing if not a labor of the greatest passion and care, and love for film-making; all due commendations as well to composer Marco Dalpane and the Ensemble Playground, whose contemporary score is a wonderful match for the feature. In all sincerity, I find it hard to believe that 'The wild cat' isn't more well known in the years since, alongside those select few silent titles that are most memorably acclaimed: I think this easily stands shoulder to shoulder with the very best of early cinema, as a comedy but also on its own merits broadly. It's clear how much hard work went into the production, and the result speaks for itself as an outstanding, highly enjoyable romp that easily holds up and entertains even 100 years later. So heartily carefree and mirthful is this feature that I'd have no qualms recommending it even to viewers who generally have difficulty abiding titles of the era. Hats off to Lubitsch and all involved: Wherever you can watch it, 'The wildcat' lives up to its name as a rowdy ride of rollicking wit and good cheer - and gets my highest recommendation!

One of the better of Lubitsch's rough mountain comedies, with Pola Negri as the wild daughter of the bandit chief (all of the the bandits' possessions are festooned with skulls, to show how dangerous they are) who falls in love with the handsome lieutenant brought in to marry the daughter of the corpulent and ineffectual colonel of the fort. Like his other mountain comedies -- MEYER FROM BERLIN, ROMEO AND JULIET IN THE SNOW and KOHLHEISEL'S DAUGHTER -- it is a very broad comedy, with much falling down in the snow.

In those days, Lubitsch would shoot half a dozen films a year for UFA, and one would always be a mountain comedy shot on site in Bavaria, where he liked to take a working vacation every winter. They were not polished and witty pieces like The Oyster Princess and The Doll, but they were very popular.

While there are not many personal favourites from Ernst Lubitsch early German silent films, done before he had found his signature style, there were certainly gems. 'The Doll' and 'The Oyster Princess' being two examples. The late 1910s-early 20s was a very interesting and worthwhile period in Lubitsch's career, especially to see how he fared early on in his career before properly finding his style with 'The Love Parade' and got even stronger from there.

'The Wild Cat' is another film from the German silent film period and lives up to its wild name all right. Is it one of Lubitsch's very best? No, nowhere close and it is a long way from being a classic. But it is one of the better and more entertaining films of his from his German silent film period in my view, and if asked whether it is recommended my answer would be yes as long as you know what to expect. Which is an entertaining and inoffensive ride but not yet the witty and sophisticated Lubitsch that he became very well known justifiably for.

Admittedly, 'The Wild Cat's' story is very thin, and it is also one that doesn't have a lot of substance and can be a little too controlled in spots.

Maybe it could have done with a little more variety in places.

However, 'The Wild Cat' is well made visually. Really loved the mountain scenery and exteriors and the photography is not claustrophobic or gimmicky, some of it came over as quite elegant to me. Lubitsch's direction is not refined yet, but he clearly seemed to know what he was doing and didn't seem uncomfortable with it. The music is unobtrusive and is not large in scoring or over-complicated rhythmically, allowing the comedy to speak.

Something that does very much happen here. The humour is plenty and it is never less than amusing and actually even very funny at its best (if one disagrees that's fine). It is of the broad kind, not the sophisticated and witty kind that Lubitsch later would be famous for, but not in a way that gets overly silly or vulgar. The situations do suspend a bit of disbelief but have a wild energy about them and don't resort heavily in repetition, while the energy is always there and the characters didn't come over as dull or annoying here. The cast do very well, with Pola Negri handling her very physical comedy with ease and her comic timing is far from flabby.

All in all, very enjoyable if not a Lubitsch essential. 8/10

One thing that strikes you as you watch the early Lubitsch comedies recently released on DVD in the US by Kino is-- how did Lubitsch come to have such an extravagant visual style, only to give it up a few years later? The later Lubitsch movies are certainly handsome, coming as they mostly do from Paramount and MGM, the chicest of the Hollywood studios. But for all the exotic places depicted in his films, it never occurs to him in later years to depict them with wild curlicues of plaster, fortresses that look like birthday cakes, staircases that descend a quarter-mile amid running water, as he does the European fantasy-land in The Wildcat.

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 mountainous wilds, and there's a handsome young officer who's been exiled there because of his love life. And then there's a tribe of wild mountain people including a tempestuous daughter, played by Pola Negri, with whom the officer will fall in love.

As with the mistaken identity plot in The Oyster Princess, you can imagine the 30s comedy this would be the setup for, but it's nothing like this-- which mainly consists of running around and clowning broadly. Only a few bits here and there-- a hilariously exaggerated depiction of the results of the officer's Casanova-like behavior, a delightful bit of comedy on the quarter-mile staircase that plays out with the purity and visual grace of Buster Keaton's single-take descent down six flights of stairs in The Cameraman-- are actually especially funny. (There's also a quite racy "Lubitsch Touch" moment involving his photo, a pair of pants, and where she happens to kiss.)

You wish in vain for Negri and her inamorato to sit down and actually share a scene, heat up the chemistry set, show us some real one-on-one Lubitsch Touch worthy of Billy Wilder's line that "Lubitsch could do more with a closed door than most directors could do with an open fly." But at least in Negri you have a recognizable comic human being, full of life and randiness-- and the ending, though still half-cartoon, has an emotional effect well beyond anything in The Oyster Princess just three years earlier.