Very early and primitive comedy, amateurishly photographed on Dr. Caligari-esque sets (many of the outdoor shots look more like home movies) and with a few too many Keystone Cops-like running around antics for it to have dated well.
Having said that, there are flashes of the Lubitsch Touch, with witty title cards and plenty of his patented subversive naughtiness in a number of scenes, the best being the dashing lieutenant departing for his new assignment and being waved off by literally hundreds of his ex-lovers (and children). The lieutenant himself, though, is not nearly attractive enough, and you can feel how badly Ernst was in need of a lead with the charm and star power of Maurice Chevalier.
Perhaps best viewed as a film student project of a great later director, The Wildcat is still a likeable and sporadically amusing bit of fun, even a hundred years on.
Having said that, there are flashes of the Lubitsch Touch, with witty title cards and plenty of his patented subversive naughtiness in a number of scenes, the best being the dashing lieutenant departing for his new assignment and being waved off by literally hundreds of his ex-lovers (and children). The lieutenant himself, though, is not nearly attractive enough, and you can feel how badly Ernst was in need of a lead with the charm and star power of Maurice Chevalier.
Perhaps best viewed as a film student project of a great later director, The Wildcat is still a likeable and sporadically amusing bit of fun, even a hundred years on.