The Mistress of the World (German: Die Herrin der Welt) is an eight-part 1919 silent film made in the Weimar Republic starring Mia May in the lead role.

The story follows a young Danish woman on her globe-trotting adventures to find the legendary lost treasure of the Queen of Sheba that she hopes will enable her to bring revenge on the man that drew her father to commit suicide and led to her own social destruction.

Teil – Die Freundin des gelben Mannes Young Danish adventuress Maud Gregaards (Mia May) answers an advertisement to take up a position as a governess in China.

She is freed by her travel companion, Dr. Kien-Lung (Henry Sze), but the physician is then kidnapped by the devilish Hai-Fung, who also captures and tortures Maud.

On leaving the ruins Madsen is injured fighting with the natives, and is abandoned by Kien-Lung; the Gem of Astarte is briefly lost in the same encounter.

German: König Macombe Maud, along with, Madsen and Kien-Lung, adventure into Central Africa, to search for the biblical city of Ophir where the treasure lies.

Madsen escapes from captivity with the help of an American engineer, Allan Stanley (Paul Hansen), whom he met in the slave city, and returns to rescue Maud.

The American newspaper publisher, Fletcher, who sent the rescuing aircraft to Ophir, turns her story into headline news, making Maud a celebrity.

German: Teil – Die Wohltäterin der Menschheit The billionaire Maud Fergusson, attempts to start a new life with Allan Stanley.

The wealth gained from the Queen of Sheba's treasure allows the "Mistress of the World" to live a carefree life in Denmark and the two plan to marry.

Hunt also discovers that a young academic Credo Merville (Ernst Hofmann) is Murphy and Maud's son, who is supposed to have died shortly after his birth.

[7] A set was created at Woltersdorf in Germany where a crew of 30,000 people fed by 100 cooks were utilised over the entire shoot and by the end of the production the film had cost six million Marks.

[7] This steady stream of figures resulted in the series being described as "a completely new film experience", and even without the story being unveiled May had given The Mistress of the World a feeling of importance and gravitas.

[11] The Tauentzienpalast was redecorated for the premier and the audience found themselves surrounded by tropical trees and bushes in an attempt to transport them to the exotic world of the film.

[12] The more independent cultural publications were less positive, Berliner Börsen-Courier wrote that the serial did not rise above the average feature and that it lacked a sense of greatness, strength and depth.

"[13] Carjels compares The Mistress of the World to a modern globe-trotting adventure story more akin to an Indiana Jones or Lara Croft film, rather than a more intellect take such as Madame Dubarry.

[13] Although receiving mixed reviews, the public responded positively and The Mistress of the World was the most commercially successful German film of the 1919–1920 season, outstripping The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) in popular appeal.

Whereas the original series of films were intended to be a mix of adventure, melodrama and comedy, the American edit was created to concentrate on the action.

This was reflected in the promotional campaign with 11 of the 13 posters offered to the exhibitors, showing fight scenes or daredevil acts, similar to those used in American serials.