I Don't Want to Be a Man
A teenage tomboy, tired of being bossed around by her strict guardian, impersonates a man so she can have more fun. She quickly discovers that being the opposite sex isn’t as easy as she had hoped for. What ensues is a gender-bending comedy decades ahead of its time.
From the archive
I've been researching newly public domain films from 1929 and earlier, along with other pictures of the era that I find interesting, so I'm uploading the best possible copies that I can find. This picture follows a rambunctious young woman who is sent to a new home to settle down. Rather than do so, she dresses up as a man to escape to the night life of her new city. This romantic comedy is mostly known for the drunken kiss that is shared between what appears to be two men, though it turns out that one is just cross-dressing. Otherwise it is a simple but entertaining comedy from a prolific and distinguished director.
Why this is free to watch
I Don't Want to Be a Man (1918) is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. The uploader declared an explicit licence, linked in the source panel. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- Ernst Lubitsch
- Starring
- Ossi Oswalda, Curt Goetz, Ferry Sikla, Margarete Kupfer, Victor Janson
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