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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 856

I Don't Want to Be a Man

191845 minGermany
Comedy

Synopsis

Ossi resents the restrictions imposed by her elders and obtains a man's evening clothes to experience the freedom they deny her. At a ball she meets her strict guardian, who does not recognize her. Their rivalry gives way to drunken companionship, and the disguise reveals a side of his behavior that complicates the authority he exercises at home.

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Video edition
Wikimedia Commons
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified.
This copy runs
44:35
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified. No subtitle track in this language.

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Ernst Lubitsch · Public domain

Cast

DirectorsErnst Lubitsch

Historical context

Lubitsch's comedy tests how dress changes the treatment and opportunities available to its heroine. The evening creates both romantic ambiguity and a gap between the guardian's moral rules and his conduct away from the household.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceWikidata — film identity and credits

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 12, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

  • Ossi Oswalda — Alexander Binder; https://www.flickr.com/photos/truusbobjantoo/4533465473/ · Public domain
  • Curt Goetz — Unknown Unknown; This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) as part of a cooperation project . The German Federal Archive guarantees an authentic representation only using the originals (negative and/or positive), resp. the digitalization of the originals as provided by the Digital Image Archive . · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
  • Ferry Sikla — Alexander Binder; NPG-Karte Nr. 537 · Public domain
  • Margarete Kupfer — Wilhelm Willinger; https://filmgator.com/actor/margarete-kupfer · Public domain
  • Victor Janson — Alexander Binder; picclick.de · Public domain

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