A young lieutenant, recently transferred to a remote fort, is captured by a group of mountain bandits, setting off a madcap farce that is Lubitsch at his best.

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‘The Wild Cat’ is Lubitsch's last German comedy and also his most delirious.

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Subtitled ‘A Grotesque in Four Acts’, Lubitsch makes use of extravagant sets, including a military fort that looks like a giant toy box, and eccentrically framed photograms that lend a surrealist touch to his humorous energy.

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With sarcastic humour and skilful insinuations, we find the recurring criticism of society's standards, illustrated here by class differences.

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The film was a failure in Germany and failed to gain international distribution, mainly because it sarcastically portrayed the military as incompetent and deluded.