Fifty Years of Film in 50 weeks, #1: The Wildcat, 1921

This post marks the first in a weekly blog series that I intend to keep up throughout the year: I'm going to watch one film per week from successive years, starting 100 years ago. Stay tuned here for upcoming posts as I make my way through the remainder of the last silent film decade, the 1920s, all the way through to 1970. The only hard selection criterion is that it must be a film I've not seen before. This way, I'll have added significantly to my appreciation for film history. I'll be posting on Twitter, @bbandmoviegal, with updates and requests for input to my next's weeks choice. Follow along using the hashtag #50YearsofFilmin50Weeks, and wish me luck!

The Wildcat/Die Bergkatze 1921*

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writer: Hanns Kräly and Ernst Lubitsch
Cinematographer: Theodor Sparkuhl
Starring: Pola Negri, Victor Janson, Paul Heidemann

Why I chose it
I had just watched a celebrated pre-code film by Lubitsch, Design for Living (1932), and I was curious to watch more of his work, especially that from his pre-Hollywood period in Germany. And The Wildcat (Die Bergkatze) was the only film he directed in 1921. Additionally, I'd never seen famed Polish silent film actress Pola Negri perform. Like Lubitsch, Negri had also come to Hollywood in the silent era, and I knew that she had had affairs with both Rudolph Valentino and Charlie Chaplin. I was eager to get a sense of who she was in front of the camera.

'No-spoiler' plot overview
In an unnamed historical kingdom, a group of bandits capture a key military officer who had been banished to a nearby outpost because of his womanizing ways. The Lieutenant becomes enamored of Rischka, the wild, but pure, young woman who entices victims for the group. Ultimately, she lets him escape, but his superiors back at Headquarters wish to punish the bandits; they fail in this mission, but Rischka infiltrates the quarters of the Kommandant. A series of romantic entanglements ensue, with the Lieutenant torn between the Kommandant's conventional daughter and his lust for Rischka. For herself, Rischka would have to give up her own young man for a life of nice dresses. What will she do?

Historical Context
Before Lubitsch came to Hollywood and directed such classics as Trouble in Paradise, Design for Living, Ninotchka, and The Shop Around the Corner, he had worked in German cinema for around 15 years. He was known for his sex comedies and historical epics, a few of which starred Negri. Both Lubitsch and Negri were lured to Hollywood just a year after this film was made.

My Random Observations

• The film was shot in Bavaria, and the outdoor scenes look authentic, with knee-deep snow and frosty breath visible from the actors who did not seem to be dressed warmly enough -- I shivered along with them!
• In a very physical performance, Pola Negri was indeed 'wild'-she gallivanted around the screen, threw snowballs, and even pitched furniture out a window. She seemed to relish looking decidedly less than glamorous; of course, later in the film, we see her looking more conventionally beautiful as she tries to conform to 'society' such as it is.
• Clearly, this film is a farce, with greatly stylized, surreal, internal sets, and costumes that make the men appear more like toy soldiers than real ones (a commentary on the German military). There is quite a wild dream sequence near the end.
• The visuals are striking, especially the choice of all kinds of oddly-shaped 'frame masks' that pop-up throughout. Lubitsch isn't content with basic squares, circles or irises. See screenshots below for a couple of examples. Apparently Lubitsch was poking fun at D.W. Griffith's filming techniques.
• I didn't love the film, but I was impressed by it for its audacity and enjoyed Negri's performance. At about 90 minutes run time it seemed about 30 minutes too long. 
• But isn't it amazing that we can watch a film made 100 years ago?

Screenshots

Rischka's first view of Lieutenant Alexis

Rischka (Pola Negri) makes a play for her prey

Lieutenant Alexis (Paul Heidemann) in an odd frame

The would-be lovers face off

Those expressions!

In her dream sequence, Rischka dances with the
Lieutenant while an orchestra of snowpeople (polar
bears?) plays for them.

Read More
The Wellington Film Society posted an informative essay here.
Fellow CMBA blogger and silent film aficionado Movies Silently reviewed the film here
TCM's write up is here, with more background on Negri and Lubitsch's collaborations.

Where to watch
It's currently on YouTube, here, and has been released on DVD.