Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved. |
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The Wildcat
[Die Bergkatze]
(1921)
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This Ernst Lubitsch comedy satire of German mountain films stars Pola Negri, Viktor Janson, Paul Heidemann and Wilhelm Diegelmann.
Described by Lubitsch as a ‘grotesque comedy,’ this film is full of fun, phrenetic comic performances that are topped by Negri herself.
Wild mountain girl (Negri), daughter of the leader (Diegelmann) of a band of brigands, falls for a young lieutenant (Heidemann) following a chance encounter. Little else is presented that resembles a story. The main attraction of the film is the non-stop parade of sight gags, cartoonish performances, fireworks, and twinkling comedic winks to the audience. Negri makes a fine comedianne who shines during the fort invasion sequence.
One distinctive characteristic of the film are the many shot masks that decorate the production: circles, squares. ovals, rectangles, octogons, diagonals, squiglies, etc. frame the majority of the film’s shots and impart an impish playfulness to the narrative. Some of the masking choices made by Lubitsch (and, presumeably, cinematographer Theodor Sparkuhl) are comic in themselves, as in the soldiers’ early shower scene. The production design follows suit as some of the sets are just this side of ridiculous.
The film was photochemically restored in 2000 by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung from a 35mm nitrate camera negative held by the Burdesarchiv-Filmarchiv. A high-definition 2K digital restoration was conducted in 2014 following the content of the 2000 restoration.
While the film is not often mentioned among Lubitsch’s films, possibly due to its comic opera silliness, multiple viewings will make it a favorite of audiences that are sure to become Lubitsch fans (if they are not already so).
— Carl Bennett
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 Kino Classics
2023 Blu-ray Disc edition
The Wildcat (1921), black & white, 85 minutes, not rated, with When I Was Dead [Als ich tot war] (1916), black & white, 37 minutes, not rated.
Kino Lorber, K26195, UPC 7-38329-26195-5.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region A Blu-ray Disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 27.2 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate (music) and Dolby Digital (AC3) 1.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Mbps audio bit rate (commentary); German language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; 8 chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 14 March 2023.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 9 / audio: 8 / additional content: 7 / overall: 8
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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered in high-resolution from the 2000 35mm restoration prepared from the original camera negative held by Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv as produced by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung. Lost intertitles have been restored from German censorship records. All of the dust, speckling, processing flaws, exposure fluctuations, splices, significant frame jitters and other flaws have been allowed to remain but are rarely distracting, although we do wish that digital image stabilization had been done. The picture quality results are very-good to excellent and are a significant improvement over Kino’s 2006 DVD edition noted below.
The film is presented with a music score compiled and composed by Marco Dalpane and performed by the Ensemble Playground small orchestra. The pleasing score is always appropriate to the film’s action.
Supplementary material includes informative and entertaining audio commentary by film historian Anthony Slide; the short film When I Was Dead [also known as Where is My Treasure?] (1916), directed by and starring Ernst Lubitsch; and audio commentary for When I Was Dead by Joseph McBride, author of the book How Did Lubitsch Do It?
By far, this is the best-available home video edition of this film and it is highly recommended. Worth purchasing as an upgrade of the earlier DVD edition noted below, this BD edition would be an excellent introduction to the films of Lubitsch for the uninitiated.
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USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .
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 Kino International
2006 DVD edition
The Wildcat (1921), black & white, 82 minutes, not rated.
Kino International, K518, UPC 7-38329-05182-2.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 5.4 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; 16 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $29.95.
Release date: 5 December 2006.
Country of origin: USA
Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 4 / overall: 7
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This DVD edition has been mastered from the 2000 35mm restoration prepared from the original camera negative by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung. While this is the case, the picture quality is only that of a very-good 35mm duplicate positive. Some dust and speckling remains present in the materials. Lost intertitles have been restored from German censorship records and are presented here in English (with English subtitles only for inset shots with text written in German).
The film is presented with a lively music score compiled and composed by Marco Dalpane and performed by Ensemble Playground, a small orchestra.
The supplementary material consists solely of a Lubitsch filmography.
This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film, which still looks pretty good on upscaling HD systems.
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| USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era. |
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Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 0 NTSC DVD is also available directly from . . .
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 Masters of Cinema
2010 DVD edition
Lubitsch in Berlin (1919-1921), black & white, color-toned black & white, and color and black & white, 581 minutes total, BBFC Classification PG, including The Wildcat (1921), black & white, 82 minutes, BBFC Classification PG.
Eureka Entartainment,
unknown catalog number (MoC99), unknown UPC number.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 2 PAL DVD disc (six DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; German language intertitles, optional English language subtitles, chapter stops; six slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; £49.99.
Release date: 25 January 2010.
Country of origin: England
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This PAL DVD edition has been mastered from the same 35mm restoration materials prepared by the F.W. Murnau Stiftung as for the 2006 Kino International edition noted above.
Among the supplemental material is a short essay on the film by Anna Thorngate.
North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.
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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 2 PAL DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Purchase supports Silent Era.
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Other silent era ERNST LUBITSCH films available on home video.
Other silent era EMIL JANNINGS films available on home video.
Other silent era POLA NEGRI films available on home video.
Other GERMAN silent era films available on home video.
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