The Wild Cat
(Die Bergkatze) (Projektions-AG Union, Germany, 1921)
Dir.: Ernst Lubitsch; scen.: Hans Kräly, Ernst Lubitsch; cast: Pola Negri (Rischka), Victor Janson (The Commandant), Paul Heidemann (Alexis), Wilhelm Diegelmann (Claudius), Hermann Thimig (Pepo); DCP 2K, 88’ (transferred 20 to 24 fps), black and white; intertitle/subtitle language: DE/EN, PL; source: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung.
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch “The Wild Cat” was released in Germany on April 12, 1921. The first screening ended in scandal and a huge brawl that wrecked the cinema. As it turned out, the audience was infuriated with a scene that showed the protagonist, played by Negri, slapping Austrian officers in the face. The reception in Poland was much calmer. The film, billed in “Kurjer Warszawski“ as: “An extraordinary futuristic romp. Thousands in attendance”, was released nationwide on August 29, 1921.
A grotesque at its core, “The Wild Cat” is a story of a love between the daughter of an outlaw and an Austrian officer. Making broad use of slapstick tropes, the director intended the film to parody German expressionism, a style that was highly popular at the time of the film’s release. The picture, which did not shy away from strong erotic overtones, nevertheless turned out to be Ernst Lubitsch’s first flop. The director believed the film failed primarily because it was released too soon after the war, the wounds opened by the conflict still too fresh and too painful to allow the audience to laugh at the events of the story.
“The Wild Cat” remains one of the most extraordinary films in Pola Negri’s career. The amount of raw acting talent that Lubitsch managed to extract from Negri is breathtaking even today. The picture was proof that Negri, a foremost tragic actress of the period, also felt very comfortable in genres that aimed primarily to entertain the audience.
Grzegorz Rogowski
In 2014, the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation digitized the master copy printed in the course of photochemical restoration work performed on the original negative preserved by the German Federal Archive. The intertitles were reconstructed from censor notes.
Sat, Apr 21 | 2pm | Kino Iluzjon
music: Sutari