Mistress of the World

Lore & Background

The plot follows Swedish physicist Professor Johanson, who has succeeded in obtaining bundled energy from nuclear fusion. Sweden's secret service sends agent Peter Lundström to protect him. After an explosion injures Johanson, a group of international conspirators steals his formula. Johanson retreats to a Cambodian monastery, while his daughter Karin and Lundström pursue the thieves around the world, eventually confronting the mastermind Madame Latour in Southeast Asia.

The film was produced by Artur Brauner as a three-hour West German-French-Italian co-production. It was shot between September 1959 and January 1960 on location in Macau, Angkor, Nice, Hong Kong, Naples, Nepal, Sweden, Bangkok, and at the Spandau Studios in Berlin. During filming in Indochina, Dieterle left the production, and cinematographer Richard Angst took over directing.

In West Germany, the film was released in a longer version split into two parts: Die Herrin der Welt - Teil I and Die Herrin der Welt - Teil II. The first part premiered in Hamburg on 14 April 1960, and the second part on 26 April 1960.

Reader's Guide

Mistress of the World is notable as a multinational European co-production that attempted to revive the silent-era serial format in a science fiction spy context. It marked the return of director William Dieterle to German filmmaking after a long Hollywood career. The film's global shooting locations and international cast reflected the ambitions of producer Artur Brauner. However, the film was not received well by critics in West Germany upon its release. Its significance lies in its place as a late example of the Cold War nuclear anxiety genre and as a transitional work between the serial tradition and modern espionage cinema.