Woyzeck (1979)

Directed by: Werner Herzog

This review contains a Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: The story of Franz Woyzek (Klaus Kinski), a hapless soldier bombarded by bizarrness on all sides.

Kitty Cameo: In one scene a local doctor (Willy Semmelrogge) who revels in experimentation puts on a demonstration for his male students. He holds a female tabby cat in a second story window and says when he drops the cat out the students are to observe how the cat will behave in terms of gravity and following its instinct. He then calls Woyzek over to stand beneath the window.

Woyzeck - doctor Willy Semmelrogge at second story window with tabby cat and male students below plus Woyzeck Klaus Kinski

Kitty Carnage Warning! Once Woyzeck is beneath the window, the doctor drops the cat. This is a real actor dropping a real cat from a real second story window! Woyzeck manages to catch the cat but just barely. Klaus Kinski is somehow able to hang on to the poor animal which possibly dug her claws in to keep from falling.

Woyzeck - doctor Willy Semmelrogge holding tabby cat out of second story window

Woyzeck - doctor Willy Semmelrogge dropping tabby cat out of second story window

Woyzeck - Woyzeck Klaus Kinski barely catching tabby cat in front of male students

Woyzeck - Woyzeck Klaus Kinski holding onto tabby cat in front of male students

After the catch the cat is clearly distressed.

Woyzeck - Woyzeck Klaus Kinski holding onto panting tabby cat in front of male students

In a small blooper, Woyzeck looks back up to the doctor to say the cat is shitting. A shot of the doctor before he dropped the cat is used because you can see the cat’s paws on the windowsill.

Woyzeck - doctor Willy Semmelrogge at second story window with cats paws still showing

The doctor goes downstairs where Woyzeck is holding the cat. Woyzeck is shaking from his nervousness of barely saving the cat as well as the cat defecating on him. The experiment has as much to do with Woyzeck as it does the cat.

Woyzeck - Klaus Kinski holding tabby cat in front of building

As they turn, the cat takes the opportunity to jump out of Woyzeck’s arms and run away. The doctor comments to his students, “Gentlemen, the animal has no scientific instinct.”

Woyzeck - doctor Willy Semmelrogge with Klaus Kinski holding tabby cat in front of building

Woyzeck - tabby cat running away from the doctor and Woyzeck

The cat played a somewhat larger role in the book. The doctor has Woyzeck hold the cat while extracting a tick but the cat keeps biting Woyzeck. Since this would not be practical to show on film, Herzog likely came up with this new scenario. However this action had the potential of going very very wrong! If Kinski had missed catching the cat, it would have been disastrous. To be fair, there is a possibility some kind of padding was placed just out of shot below, but at this time we can’t confirm or deny that such precautions were taken.