Die Bergkatze1921

A charming lieutenant is kidnapped by a gang of mountain bandits whilst on his way to a remote fort. When the gang leader’s daughter falls for this young officer, his captivity turns into an absurd romantic adventure. What in anyone else’s hands would be a simple melodrama completely derails in Lubitsch’s hands into a madcap comedy full of militaristic nonsense, wild moustaches and amorous pranks.

With his exuberant scenery, expressionist sets and anarchic humour, Ernst Lubitsch turns the army into a playground where logic is, above all, a hindrance. Victory celebrations without a victory, soldiers who’d rather dance than fight, and military manoeuvres that resemble a slapstick ballet. Die Bergkatze (‘The Puma’) is a delightfully unrestrained early Lubitsch film, in which the director clearly had no intention of sticking to a single genre or a coherent plot.

With live musical accompaniment by Bart Maris and classical music students.