The Wildcat

A German comedy from the silent era. There is a fortress in the mountains. Soldiers are stationed there but nobody does any serious work; the commander sleeps through his days and the men chase women. A lieutenant is banished from the city and sent there. He is famous among women; on his departure every woman in the town weeps and a crowd sees him off. There is also a band of robbers in the mountains. Their leader plans to rob the fortress with his daughter Rischka. Rischka runs into the lieutenant. Something starts between them; she robs him, he enjoys it, and the two begin chasing each other. What is interesting is the design. The sets resemble no real place: the walls of the fortress are crooked, the snowdrifts look like toys and the cannon stand about like ornaments. The edge of the frame takes a different shape in every scene; not square but round, heart-shaped or cut like a star. Pola Negri plays Rischka. Ernst Lubitsch directed. The film did not find the audience expected in Germany, and he later put that down to the public not being ready, so soon after the war, for a comedy that mocked the army. An original production for anyone who likes silent cinema and formal play. For a viewer expecting a classical narrative, the film is deliberately absurd and the plot is secondary.