Film Review
Die Bergkatze (a.k.a.
The Wildcat) is Ernst Lubitsch's
supreme comic triumph, a film that surpasses the director's previous
and subsequent comedy marvels not only in its unbridled hilarity but
also in its artistic brilliance. The film may lack the
sophistication of Lubitsch's later Hollywood offerings, but for sheer
entertainment value it is an unparalleled achievement, certainly for
this era of German cinema.
By 1921, Ernst Lubitsch had established himself as Germany's leading
filmmaker, internationally renowned for his grand historical epics
Madame Du Barry (1919) and
Anna
Boleyn (1920).
Die
Bergkatze marks a return to an earlier phase of his career, the
period marked by his frenetic sex comedies such as
Ich möchte kein Mann sein
(1918) and
Die Puppe (1919). Of
course, by this stage, Lubitsch's confidence and technical
ability had progressed enormously. The skills he acquired on his more
ambitious films are put to good use here, making
Die Bergkatze the most inventive,
extravagant and slickest of his German comedies.
Revealingly, Lubitsch is not content with mocking contemporary society;
he also feels impelled to make fun of the process of filmmaking.
In an attempt to forge their own identity and explore the boundaries of
the new cinematic art, many of Lubitsch's contemporaries were resorting
to increasingly elaborate visual gimmicks. Some, like D.W.
Griffith, had begun experimenting with frame matting to emphasise the
dramatic impact of a scene. Others were using sets and lighting
in an expressionistic manner to exteriorise the inner world of the
protagonists. These were techniques which Lubitsch himself
employed widely in his films, but
Die
Bergkatze gave him an opportunity to go overboard and use these
to comic rather than dramatic effect.
This is certainly one of the most visually expressive of Lubitsch's
films. Every other shot is frame-matted, with the same childlike
abandon of someone who has just discovered a new graphics design
package. The sets (designed by Ernst Steiner, a frequent
collbaorator of the great theatre director Max Reinhardt) are
ludicrously comical and render the characters that inhabit them even
more absurd. Even the exteriors, set in the Bavarian alps, have a
warped expressionistic quality, although nothing compares with the
mind-bogglingly weird dream sequence featuring a gang of musical
snowmen. With an almost adolescent glee, Lubitsch is cocking a
snoot at his more serious rivals and showing the world
that he is not only a filmmaking genius but also a comedy anarchist, the Monty Python
of his day.
Unfortunately, neither the public nor the critics quite saw the
joke. Even with a star of the calibre of Pola Negri in the lead
role, giving immense value in a rare comedic part,
Die Bergkatze proved to be an
immense flop in Germany and failed to get an international
distribution. The main reason for the film's failure was its
humorous portrayal of the military as self-deluded incompetents, not a
popular point-of-view for a country that had recently suffered a
crushing defeat in the First World War.
In spite of the frosty reception it met with, this film was always
fondly regarded by
Lubitsch,
who considered it to be the best thing he made in Germany. It
presages much of his later work, both in its subject (power
struggles in male-female relationships) and in its
effortless use of comedy. The pathos and absurdity of the human
mating ritual would feature heavily in the director's later films, but
seldom with as much unrestrained hilarity and artistry as in
Die Bergkatze, Lubitsch's supreme
comic masterpiece.
© James Travers 2010
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Ernst Lubitsch film:
Lady Windermere's Fan (1925)
Film Synopsis
In the mountain town of Piffkaneiro, hundreds of desolate women gather to bid a
sad farewell to Lieutenant Alexis, the popular military man who has
touched all their hearts and left each one of them with a permanent
reminder of their liaison, in the form of a child. Alexis may be
a first-class lover but he is a lousy soldier, so to punish him for
neglecting his duties he is sent to a fortress in the icy wasteland
outside Piffkaneiro. On the way to his new posting, Alexis is
attacked by a band of notorious mountain bandits. These include
Rischka, a beautiful but wild young woman who forces the lieutenant to
strip to his underwear when he tries his seductive charms on her.
Alexis lives to tell the tale, but once he has arrived at the fortress
he is confronted with another potential female conquest, the daughter
of his new commandant. The latter informs Alexis that he must
show exemplary behaviour if he is to marry his daughter, an outcome
that his wife has already resolved to happen. To prove himself,
Alexis leads an attack on the bandits, where once more he is humiliated
by Rischka, who turns out to be more skilled in the art of war than he
is. The fortress commandant mistakes Alexis's resounding defeat
for a great victory and organises a grand party to celebrate his
success. During the festivities, Rischka and her robber friends
break into the fortress and end up being mistaken for party
guests. Alexis's third encounter with Rischka proves to be a
revelation, for by now the amorous lieutenant realises he has found his
one true love...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.