The Man Without Desire

The Man Without Desire (1923)

A grief-stricken 18th-century Venetian gentleman is thwarted in love and placed in suspended animation. When he wakes up 200 years later, he finds the experiment has more serious unexpected consequences.

Date of release
1923-12-01
TMDB
7.5 / 10 (2)
Runtime
1h 42m
Genres
Fantasy, Romance
Director
Adrian Brunel

Casting

Interesting facts

The Man Without Desire is a 1923 British silent film fantasy drama, directed by Adrian Brunel and starring Ivor Novello, who also co-produced the film along with Miles Mander. The film was Brunel's feature-length directorial debut and has been described as "one of the stranger films to emerge from Britain in the 1920s". The film's theme of loss of sexual desire, and by implication impotence, was exceptionally frank for its time; oddly, however, it appears to have been passed for release without interference by the British film censors, who at this time had a reputation for extreme zealousness where sexual matters in film were concerned.

Production

Brunel's commission for the film was to write and produce a historical drama set in Venice. Feeling that this alone would not necessarily prove a draw for filmgoers, he came up with a story which had an 18th-century core but was framed by a contemporary narrative. The film was given a budget of £5,000, which, while not lavish, allowed for travel to Venice to shoot location scenes.

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