''A World Without Men'' (''Die Welt ohne Männer'') is a 1914

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

made in Germany just before the start of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

James Lyon
''Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914: The Outbreak of the Great War''
Bloomsbury (2015) - Google Books and directed by

Max Mack Max Mack (1884–1973) was a German screenwriter, film producer and director during the silent era. He is particularly known for his 1913 film '' The Other''. He directed, and co-starred in, an early film adaptation of ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' ...

. A comedy, it was written by Alexander Engel and Julius Horst. The popular British entertainer

Madge Lessing Madge Lessing (27 November 1873 – 14 August 1966) was a British stage actress and singer, Pantomime, panto principal boy and postcard beauty of Edwardian musical comedy who had a successful career in the West End of London, West End in Lo ...

appeared at the Berlin Metropol in Berlin for four years before the start of World War I and during that period she made a number of films for

including '' The Blue Mouse'' (1913), '' Where Is Coletti?'' (1913) and ''A World Without Men'' (1914).Madge Lessing
-

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

database

Synopsis

A comedy in four acts, the film

parodied A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can also b ...

the concerns at that time in Germany regarding

women's emancipation A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

and

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

. The film centres on a young woman named Gusti (Madge Lessing), one of three sisters who refuse to consider any sort of a relationship with a man, believing that marriage simply confirmed the cruel dominance of men over women. However, Gusti meets a suitable suitor, Dr. Carl Waldeck (Otto Treptow) with whom she falls in love and their growing relationship leads to various comedic situations. She changes her mind about the beastly nature of men as she falls more for her handsome and near-perfect suitor.Rudolf Kučera
''Rationed Life: Science, Everyday Life, and Working-Class Politics in the Bohemian Lands, 1914-1918''
Berghahn Books (2016) - Google Books pgs. 94-95

Cast

... Gusti *Ida Frey ... Paula *Alvine Davis ... Christel *Otto Treptow ... Dr. Carl Waldeck *Herbert Paulmüller ... Dr. Specht *Erwin Fichtner ... Assistant Fritz *Martha Hoffmann ... Ludmilla *Willy Lengling ... Schreiber Süssmilch

References

External links

''A World Without Men''
on

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

1914 films 1914 comedy films Films of the German Empire German silent feature films Films directed by Max Mack German black-and-white films Silent German comedy films 1910s German films 1910s German-language films German-language comedy films {{1910s-Germany-film-stub