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Wednesday Cinema: E. Lubitsch – "When I Was Dead" (1915) / "I Don’t Want to Be a Man" (1918)
Event date: 12/16/2026
Location: Musikinstrumenten-Museum, 6 p.m.
Two early comedies by the master of subtle elegance, accompanied live on the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ by Anna Vavilkina.
In *When I Was Dead* (1916), an angry husband fakes his own death following an argument with his wife. To prevent his mother-in-law from remarrying his wife, he returns to his own household unrecognised and disguised as a servant
Fed up with the restrictions imposed by her governess, the young, unconventional Ossi (played by Ossi Oswalda) in *I Don’t Want to Be a Man* (1918) dresses up as a boy and throws herself into Berlin’s nightlife. There, she attracts the attention of women herself and realises that life as a man brings its own particular difficulties.
In Ernst Lubitsch’s two silent comedy films, the main characters slip into different roles in order to subvert social norms, fight for their freedom or pull the wool over the eyes of those around them. The director’s later trademark, the ‘Lubitsch touch’, is already clearly evident – the playful, elegant and ambiguous narrative style in which identity and role models are humorously questioned.
When I Was
Dead Director: Ernst Lubitsch, Germany 1915, 38 minutes, starring Ernst Lubitsch, Luise Scheurich, Helene Voß, Julius Falkenstein
I Don’t Want to Be
a Man Director: Ernst Lubitsch, Germany 1918, 45 minutes, starring Ossi Oswalda, Curt Goetz, Ferry Silka, Margarete Kupfer, Victor Janson
Two films from the collection of the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, Wiesbaden.
At the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ: Anna Vavilkina
The Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ at the Musical Instrument Museum is one of the largest surviving instruments of its kind in Europe. In 1929, it was acquired by Werner Ferdinand von Siemens, the grandson of the company’s founder, from the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company in North Tonawanda, NY. It has four manuals, 1,228 pipes and more than 200 stops. It also features a large number of percussion and effect instruments. Thunderous rumblings and birdsong, wailing sirens and the ringing of bells – the Mighty Wurlitzer’s range of sounds is truly impressive.
Find out more about the MIM’s Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ here.
Start: 6.00 pm
Admission: 10 euros
Book tickets by calling 030 254 811 78 or emailingkasse(at)mimpk(dot)de
