User Reviews

In celebrating the 75th anniversary of the release of Casablanca, it is easy to overlook another anti-Nazi film, Ernst Lubitsch's "screwball" comedy To Be or Not To Be, a film that skewered the Nazi cause with equal effectiveness. While not as dramatic or filled with memorable lines and patriotic songs, To Be or Not To Be, like Casablanca, the film features two main Hollywood stars, Carole Lombard and Jack Benny and a love triangle in which romance must be subordinate to a greater cause. Set in Poland just before the German invasion of September 1, 1939, the film opens as a mustachioed man bearing a close resemblance to German Chancellor Adolf Hitler is seen walking alone in the streets of Warsaw.

This Hitler, however, turns out to be the actor Bronski (Tom Dugan), a bit-player impersonating the Fuhrer in a play being put on by a Polish theatrical group. Is Hitler "by any chance interested in Mr. Maslowski's delicatessen?" teases the narrator in the opening segment. "That's impossible—he's a vegetarian!" Responding to all the "Heil Hitler" salutes, Bronski asserts "Heil myself" as he walks through an open door. Bronski is playing a secondary role to the famous Polish actor Josef Tura, played by Jack Benny, then a radio star whose trademark straight face and deadpan humor marks the film.

Tura's wife Maria, also a popular Polish actress, is played by Carole Lombard who was to meet a shocking death in a plane crash in January, 1942 shortly after the film was completed. In the film, Maria is two-timing her actor husband by romancing a young flyer Lt. Sobinski (Robert Stack) who falls "head over heels" for the actress. The running gag in the film is that whenever Josef is playing Hamlet and delivers the line, "to be or not to be," it is a signal for Sobinski to get up from his seat in the theater and go backstage to meet Maria in her dressing room. It appears that Tura is more upset about his speech being interrupted than what happens behind the curtain.

The sudden Nazi invasion, however, puts all romantic trysts on the back burner and the mood shifts to solemn. The plot now becomes more involved with espionage and patriotism than acting when Sobinski, now a pilot for the Royal Air Force, discovers that respected Polish professor Siletski (Stanley Ridges) is a double-agent working for the Nazis. When the Lieutenant returns to Warsaw to eliminate the traitorous professor, Maria and Josef team up to help by launching an elaborate charade to trick the unsuspecting Nazis. While the film takes its name from the famous line in Hamlet, Shylock's monologue from the Merchant of Venice, spoken in front of Nazi swastikas, is recited by Jewish actor Felix Bressart, "Have we not eyes? Have we not hands, organs, senses, dimensions, attachments, passions?" he asks the Nazis, "If you poison us, do we not die?"

It is a noteworthy plea for tolerance in the days of rabid anti-Semitism even though the line "Hath not a Jew eyes?" is not spoken. According to Thomas Doherty writing in Tablet magazine, "the word "Jew" was seldom heard on the Hollywood screen, even in war-minded scenarios where the topic of anti-Semitism was front and center." He also quotes film historian Lester D. Friedman saying that "The studio bosses were always—even at this point—afraid of thrusting Jews into the spotlight." Whatever the reason, To Be or Not to Be is marked with the genius of one man, the great Jewish director Ernst Lubitsch who said, "What I have satirized in this picture are the Nazis and their ridiculous ideology," and that the tone and temper of the film "cannot leave any doubt in the spectator's mind what my point of view and attitude are toward these acts of horror."

While the film is a broad and biting satire, from the beginning of production in November 1941 to its completion on December 24th, however, events made sure that To Be or Not to Be, as well as Charles Chaplin's The Great Dictator, was no longer a laughing matter.

Great comedy like Chaplin's Great Dictator, right in the middle of ww2 making fun of Hitler is amazing. Humor is so good on every level and I wish it was longer movie. Anyway, this is one entertaining and enjoyable movie if you aren't a Nazi.

A number of interest points here. A brilliant premise. Material that was daring at the time, that one is amazed at what it got away with even if some of it may be an acquired taste. That it was the final film of the lovely Carole Lombard, who died far too young in a plane crash not long after with much more to give. And that it was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, a personal favourite of mine who had one of the most distinctive directing styles for any director often cited as "the Lubtisch touch".

Found 'To Be or Not to Be' a truly fabulous film, have seen many very good to masterpiece films recently (as well as inevitably some duds) and this stands out among the very best of them. What could easily have been tasteless and offensive, with what it was satirising and considering the time, turned out to be one of the funniest comedies seen recently and ever actually and wartime comedies have seldom been funnier or more original. It also contains some of the best work of all involved. In front of and behind the camera, am aware that sounds very cliched but to me it's true.

'To Be or Not to Be' looks great, immaculately yet atmospherically designed with a real sense of period and beautifully shot without being too glamorous. The music is neither too jaunty or low key, while Lubitsch's direction is one of 'To Be or Not to Be's' biggest stars in its sophisticated style that one can recognise from anywhere.

Regarding the script, it is intricate and full of sharp wit and hilariously quotable lines that as mentioned above in my first paragraph when talking about the material being daring. The opening gag is hysterical and one that one does not expect, while the running joke concerning Robert Stack as Maria's (played by Lombard) admirer is an example of a running joke that doesn't get old prematurely and doesn't get repetitive, dangers with running jokes. 'To Be or Not to Be' is not just non-stop hilarity though, there is also surprising pathos that one doesn't always get in comedy and is genuinely poignant. Affectionate and inspiring are further things to describe and never had any problem with the pace.

Lubitsch's direction is one of two particularly wonderful things about 'To Be or Not to Be'. The other is the simply sublime cast, showing Jack Benny at his funniest and Lombard being an absolute joy in all senses (found her touching too but a lot of it was to do with it being her final film and what a talent she was). Stack is amusing and charming and Stanley Ridges and Sig Ruman are great fun.

Altogether, fabulous. Even in films that fit in the "loved it" category, improvements can be pointed out in order to be balanced, but in the case of 'To Be or Not to Be' there is nothing to fault. 10/10

I'm not sure how many time I've seen it but it doesn't matter. Every time is like the first time. Carole Lombard in her last film before her untimely death is not just beautiful and impossibly funny but modern, profoundly modern. A performance that will still be relevant a hundred years from now. Jack Benny is perfect in what must be his very best film. Robert Stack, beautifully wooden, as usual, reports to duty with a delicious Lubitsch touch. As if all this wasn't enough, this film was made in 1942 and that in itself will give film lovers and historians a lot to tal;k about for centuries to come.

Comedies rarely stand the test of time - this one does: one of the funniest films I have ever seen.

When I was 16 (20 years ago, sigh...), this was re-released for a short time in a local art-house cinema, and my father insisted I go watching it with a friend. Well, teenagers don't normally line up to see 50 year old black and white comedies, but - man, was I glad I did!

This is a pitch black comedy that feels as fresh today as it must have then; in fact, this must have been kind of a shock in 1942. There are no cheesy clean characters or cringe-worthy lines: this is a firework of fast, witty dialogue with an edge and the sexiest, cleverest (and most morally ambiguous) female protagonist I have ever seen in a film before the "New Hollywod" era.

Even the structure and the way the story evolves are very modern; there are flashbacks and twists and turns that might be very common in contemporary films but must have seemed almost "avant-garde" at the time.

The biggest fun, of course, is how Lubitsch takes the pi** out of Hitler's blind, fanatic followers. I don't believe the Nazis have ever been mocked better than in this comedy masterpiece (and I only hope old Adolf has seen it, too). Mel Brooks' remake is not bad, but the original is simply killer.

See it, and then see it again (and again).

Priceless. 10 out of 10

Favorite films: http://www.IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

There is a famous review of this film by the late Sunday Times critic, Dilys Powell which begins 'Is the joke funny?'... what Miss Powell was getting at was that, given the horror of the Holocaust, it is appropriate to laugh at the Nazis. The answer is, ultimately, irrelevant to the viewing of this modest masterpiece.

Lubitsch was, by this time, coming to the end of an exquisite career that defined the nature of sophistication in 'light' cinema. 'To Be or Not To Be' skips lightly over all of the minefield of a subject like this and it is difficult or impossible to think of any other filmmaker who might have managed it (if you look at Mel Brooks' limp remake, you can see why).

In 1996, I presented a massive season of 'the greatest' films in Belfast for the centenary of cinema - 250 titles in 9 months. Of all of them, this was the film which got the greatest ovation - about 5 minutes with a nearly full house standing and applauding! They may have applauded for many reasons, but here are certainly some of them...

The very complicated narrative is presented virtually flawlessly and the comedy is never allowed to hold up the narrative. The principle actors - Carole Lombard (breathtakingly beautiful) and Jack Benny in particular, but many of the supporting cast as well - throw themselves into the affair with a gusto that is completely infectious. Apart from the satirical aspect of the story and the way in which Hitler and the Nazis are mercilessly ridiculed for their authoritarianism and the fear which is their only motivator, the film pokes gentle fun at the vanity of actors in a warm and happy manner. Finally, and most important, is the notion of farce. Farce rarely works in the cinema, but here it does, and in the grand manner - just look at how many times the situation regarding Professor Siletsky changes profoundly during the film - it is dizzying - yet the characters manage to come up with (often self-defeating or inappropriate) schemes on every occasion.

This is a wonderful work that, I have no hesitation in saying, is absolutely vital for anyone who wants to really understand the glory of the cinema. But to answer Dilys Powell's question... yes, the joke is deliriously funny.

This movie was made before while the US was still playin' both ends against the middle. Makin' huge profits while staying "neutral" The film was not allowed to be released until after, the US entered the war.

Easily the best of the screen versions. The cast is tight and the timing is impeccable. You can really tell that the cast believed in the film. Since America had not taken a formal stance at the time this went into production the producers, cast, and crew were really making something revolutionary and controversial. So much so that the making of this movie was not even mentioned on the Jack Benny radio program. Which is a major deal for those familiar with Old Time Radio, Jack's film career provided excellent material for comedy writers on the radio show, but also the radio show was an excellent opportunity to promote a movie. It is doubtful that this was a missed opportunity, what is more likely is that his sponsor or perhaps the network did not want to advocate a position.

This movie is wonderful for so many reasons. Not only is it hilarious, there is suspense, intrigue, and history. Another poster, mentions the Nazi's jumping out of the plane at the order of a radio transmission by Hitler. The thing to remember here is that the Nazi army was seen as an unstoppable war machine, so efficient, that soldiers would commit suicide if asked. This was less humor than it was to evoke fear of fascism.

Everyone remembers Bob Hope and his travels during WWII, well Jack Benny and Carole Lombard were no slouches either. After all they made this movie. Carole died in a plane crash along with her mother and twenty others returning from a war bond rally before the film was released. Jack went where few if any cameras or radio transmitters could reach. He could be found in the most remote parts of the world entertaining the troops. Not to take anything from Bob, he went there as well, he just had more photo ops.

Bottom line watch this movie--twice, maybe more, the dialogue is so quick and witty there is a good chance you might miss it the first time, them again it is worth at least to looks.

"To Be or Not To Be" doesn't trivialize the barbarity of the Nazi regime as much as it ennobles art and gives an aura of metaphysical importance to laughter, as the main characteristic of the reasonable person. It's precisely because Ernst Lubitsch could laugh at the Nazism that one shouldn't underestimate the sadness and terror that devoured his soul. One could say the same about Chaplin's "Great Dictator", more focused on the inner heroism of the little people while Lubitsch' movie is a love letter to artists, and the work of a true one.

Lubitsch grew up in Berlin and became an acting sensation after World War I before becoming one of the most promising directors of Hollywood. A precocious talent with a sense of sophistication that would be known as the 'Lubitsch touch', he was probably under the influence of that boost of creativity and flamboyance that made Berlin an artistic Mecca in the early 30s (like in Bob Fosse's "Cabaret"). His film opens on Warsaw, a more suitable place for free art once Germany surrendered to swastikas. And as if he anticipated the criticism over his subject, the story features a play named "The Gestapo" and satirizing the Nazis. During a rehearsal, the man playing Hitler (Irish actor Tom Dugan) delivers a hilarious and unexpected "Heil myself". The line gets cut by the director who makes it a matter of ethics not to make Nazis funny, much to the actor's reluctance.

Basically, Lubitsch asks us the question: should we sacrifice a good line for the sake of seeming decency? How many times haven't we felt the necessity to cross the barrier of good taste because it was so tempting. So the line is censored because of the risk of offending Hitler and when the Germans come on a day of September 1939, the play is cancelled once and for all. The situation resonates like Churchill's parable about war and dishonour, fearing the Nazis is the dishonourable attitude, even when meant to play safe, you're never safe with them, so let's just use your best weapon, guns or gags it doesn't matter. While I was wondering if Lubitsch would have been as loose on the Nazis if he knew about the Camps, I was hiding a chuckle because the line "so they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt" kept springing to my mind. Should I feel guilty?

No less than for any movie that dared to turn the subject into laughing matter, from Donald Duck's "Der Fuerher's Face" to "La Vita e Bella". It's because Nazis were human that their crimes were horrific, it's because they were human that they should be mocked. Art is the triumph of the intellect over the brutal force, the sensitivity over cynicism, it can be sophisticated and fancy but it can't really do without powerful sentiments, this is why the film makes a good use of Shakespeare's lines (borrowed from "Hamlet" and "The Merchant of Venice") and even more why it focuses on a married couple, the greatest actress of Poland Maria Tura (Carole Lombard) and her hammy husband Joseph (Jack Benny). The film opens with a sort of vaudevillian mood where Maria exploits her husband's "Hamlet" soliloquy to bring the handsome aviator Sobinski (Robert Starck) to her room, the running gag is not overused so Marie doesn't appear too cheap and Joseph too dumb.

There's a fine balance between the romance and the screwball situations and they all get along with the intricacies of a plot that involves a sinister but seductive spy named Professor Siletski (Stanley Ridges), who proposes Maria to become an agent. Meanwhile, the troop must absolutely capture the man, confiscate the documents that contain names of Polish Resistant members and get rid of the spy, and this is where their Nazi costumes get quite handy. So we see Jack benny and all his friends impersonating Nazi officers and even Selitski with variable effects, sometimes with the right timing, sometimes a delay force them to rewrite the script. In a sort of meta-referential nod to his own art, Lubitsch directs actors playing directors, actors and writers, proving that sometimes a good act can be a matter of life and death. Hammy too much and your cover is blown if not your head. Maria proves to be a more restrained actress so she can dodge the Nazis' flair, same can't be said about Joseph and Benny's antics endanger the film's credibility in their exaggerated audacity, the man pushes his luck so often it's a wonder how he did survive.

The film also suffers from a series of contrivances that happen all too conveniently near the end leading to a rushed climax only redeemed by the hilarious ending. Still, the real black spot in the film's legacy is of course the haunting of Carole Lombard's memory. The actress died in a plane crash a few weeks after the film's release, the USA had just entered the war and she was collecting bonds during a tour across America. In a way, she was a victim of that war though she lived far from the ruins and ashes of Poland, her death cut one of the most promising careers short and made Gable so inconsolable he joined the war too... I avoided that film for a long time because of that story, it had saddened me a lot even more because I happen to be afraid of flying.

I couldn't believe how many times she referred to flights during the film, the simple fact that she loved an aviator gives it an eerie feeling, it's just as if the film was doomed to be clouded by tragedy, individual and universal. However, and that might be the secret of "To Be or Not to Be", It's all fiction, it's not reality, the film was criticized when the war was still raging and now it's a classic, once reality is as dead as fiction, what remains is the essence of art.as

Joseph Tura and his wife are part of an actors troop in pre-WW2 Poland. When a handsome young pilot is forced to break off his affair with Mrs Tura to go to England and join the RAF, he sends a message through an English agent who offers to take messages to families of all the pilots when he goes to Poland. Realising too late that Professor Siletsky is a double agent taking addresses to the Nazi's, Lt Sobinski alerts Tura who is forced to play several roles to try and outwit the Nazi's and protect the underground resistance.

Despite having heard it mentioned (and avoided the remake) I had still never seen this film until earlier today. I wasn't sure what to expect as I knew that it had been made during the war and that it's humour might not seem as mocking or sharp today. However I was surprised how funny it actually was while it also dealt with the Nazi issue at the same time. The mocking tone of the film is balanced nicely by a real vein of wit with sharp word play all around. The plot is kept ticking over by this humour until Tura is able to drive the film by his many performances!

The Nazi's are mocked without taking away from the horrors of what they were. The cast are what really makes the film work for me though. Although he takes second billing, I can't help but feel that Benny is the star of the film as he has all the best characters and the lion's share of the lines. Lombard does very well indeed and shows a real ability for quick witty lines – the fact that she died in a plane crash leaving this her last movie should be considered a great loss. The whole support cast, whether Polish actor or German commander, all play very well managing to bring both wit and pathos to the film.

Overall a film that is not as uncomfortable to watch as I suspected it might have been, in fact one that is downright hilarious at times and has all the sharpness and wit that I want in a comedy. When Jack Benny says `so they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt' for the 5th time, I defy you not to be rolling!

While in JoJo Rabbit both the absurd and the dramatic seemed to be achieved by excessive force and stylization, here they are subtler, exist much closer to each other, and on both ends resonate much much deeper. It's a hilarious film and a beautiful film about a very sad time; yet it's never pedantic and it's never obnoxious. Masterful.

This movie about a company of Polish actors during the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 does have laughs (Hitler's "Heil myself!") and it is intricately and cleverly plotted and plays well as an intrigue. But I had a hard time with the mixing of comedy within the context of a real setting. One minute we are witnessing an air raid on Warsaw and the next we have Carol Lombard imagining what a triumph it would be to play the role of a concentration camp victim wearing an elegant dress. Maybe that was meant to illustrate the dominance of personal ego even in the face of tragedy, but the mood shifts were too much for me.

The Nazis are made to appear as easily duped buffoons. Mocking the insanely serious using comedy can work, but it has to be done with some idea of a payoff other than a few laughs. What is the point of making a high-ranking Nazi appear a fool? Is such misrepresentation meant to give comfort in having those viewers in 1942 think that the Nazis would be pushovers? Is being made to believe that Nazis are easily persuaded by simple ruses a worthy goal? I don't see it.

I ask myself why this film and Benigni's "Life is Beautiful" seriously bothered me whereas I found Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" and Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" hilarious and trenchant. I think it is because the latter two are marked as satire from beginning to end, whereas the former two are stories set in a real time and place. While the targets of Chaplin's barbs in "The Great Dictator" are immediately obvious, the slight remove from reality makes all the difference.

It has long been controversial to make a comedy out of war and tragedy, but often it is among the best ways of dealing with a difficult subject. Being able to satirize evil and imagine humour even in the most desperate of plights is a big part of coming to terms with these things. And when done in the right way, it can make some of the most compelling works that cinema has to offer. With To Be or Not to Be, director Ernst Lubitsch, who had spent most of his career making sophisticated and often innuendo-laden comedies with absolutely no political content, surprised everyone by tackling the most urgent of topical issues head-on, yet still maintaining the frivolous comedy style that was his forte.

Co-written with Melchior Lengyel (who had provided Lubitsch with his earlier hit Ninotchka) To Be or Not to Be features a brilliant premise – that of actors turning their skills to do underground work. As such it takes a light-hearted yet affectionate view of stage acting (which is where Lubitsch started out). This was a rather timely subject in Hollywood at the time. In the early days of sound, a lot of theatre actors had been called in to do the talkie business, but now the trend was shifting towards subtler, more naturalistic performances, as especially encouraged by directors like William Wyler and George Stevens. And there's nothing wrong with that approach – Wyler and Stevens were making some excellent pictures – but as a result the good old ham actor was becoming a somewhat marginalised figure. To Be or Not to Be makes the theatrical scenery-chewers into the heroes. The debate between the different styles is itself the subject of many of the gags, for example Lionel Atwill continually having to be reminded not to overact. The young Polish airman who woos Lombard is named Stanislaw, perhaps after Stanislavski, the nemesis of ham actors.

The casting of To Be or Not to Be is like a celebration of the little hams. You won't find theatrical legends like Charles Laughton or John Barrymore here, but supporting players like Atwill, Felix Bressart and Tom Dugan are exactly the sort of people who were now a dying breed in the Hollywood movie. Here they can be seen at their unashamed best. The two leads on the other hand are not hams at all, but they were among the best comedy actors of the era. Jack Benny was ironically a master at underplaying scenes, often at his funniest when doing very little, such as drawing out the pause before beginning Hamlet's soliloquy. Carole Lombard was a consummate comedienne, often adopting a tone of complete sincerity that made little throwaway lines (like her enraptured "It certainly does (interest me)" when Robert Stack is talking about his bomber) sound comically ridiculous. But she could turn that sincerity to dramatic purpose as well, for example her very genuine look of trepidation when she is questioned trying to leave the hotel.

And finally let us talk of Lubitsch himself. There isn't much to say about Lubitsch's direction here that I haven't said in one of my many other reviews of his pictures. One thing that is specifically worth mentioning now though is the attention Lubitsch gives to minor performers. Another feature of the more modern directors is that they gave very little screen time to bit players. The aforementioned Wyler would often get supporting players to do their scenes with their backs to the camera so as not to draw attention from the leads. Again this is not intended as a criticism – it is right for Wyler's dramas. But Lubitsch was one director who always found a little bit of camera time for even the most inconsequential of actors. There are obvious examples in To Be or Not to Be with the many members of the acting troupe, but notice how in the scene with the Polish aviators in Britain, he treats several of them to close-ups. These aren't "face-in-the-crowd" close-ups that you might see in a montage. Instead it's as if each of these men has become a lead character for a few seconds, even though they will soon disappear from the story. But Lubitsch did not do this indiscriminately. In the scene where Lombard passes on the photograph at the bookstore, there are two Nazis in the background. We don't catch a glimpse of their faces, we just have to know that they exist. It seems that when Lubitsch lingers on a character's face he does so out of affection. And that is really the attitude that permeates To Be or Not to Be – contempt for the villains, affection for the heroes, even through all the wit and satire. It is this ideal that really makes that fusing of the tragic and the comic work.

This comedy excels due to witty dialog and superior direction. Set against the backdrop of Hitler's invasion of Poland, due acknowledgment is made of the tragedy of that event. This was a wartime picture, after all. But the satire serves as a perfect antidote, and "To Be or Not To Be" is simultaneously funny and sharp. Right after I watched this movie, I wanted to watch it again--it was that entertaining. The stars and character actors were all superb. Having Jack Benny play the lead was an inspired casting choice. Felix Bressart and Tom Dugan as Greenberg and Bronski, sort of the Rosencranz and Gildenstern of this movie, are hilarious. If you have not yet seen this movie, rent or buy it and treat yourself to a real gem!

In 1940 the American public was shocked when Charlie Chaplin released his first all talkie movie THE GREAT DICTATOR, in which he lampooned Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Despite the new European war, we were yet still at peace with both Axis states. Hollywood, with rare exceptions (BLOCKADE, CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY, ESCAPE) had been gingerly tackling the Nazis and Fascists. Yet public reaction to THE GREAT DICTATOR was odd. It had a big box office success, and yet many were appalled because it chose to say Hitler could be laughed at. Chaplin's response was that if he had been laughed at to begin with he would never have become such a threat.

Actually other voices were beginning to stir in Hollywood. One was the great comedy director Ernst Lubitsch, who poked an occasional jab at the Nazis. Lubitsch had to wait until 1941 for a full assault on the Nazis - TO BE OR NOT TO BE, a film that looked at the German invasion of Poland, and it's occupation of Warsaw. It had an interesting cast. The lead went to Carole Lombard, who had many comedy performances under her belt. She played Maria Tura, the leading lady (and wife) of "that great actor" (as he always prefaces his remarks) Joseph Tura. Joseph is Jack Benny.

Of all the leading men in her career, Lombard never played opposite one who was really more of a star in a different medium. Typical co-stars for Lombard were John Barrymore, Fred MacMurray, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, William Powell, Robert Montgomery, Clark Gable, and Fredric March. Here it was Benny, who while he had a string of movie credits was basically a radio comedy star (and later would be a television star). His best films (GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE, ARTISTS AND MODELS, CHARLIE'S AUNT) were not record breakers at the box office. In fact, while his performances were good in these, he did not necessarily shine in them (Laird Cregar, in one simple moment in CHARLIE'S AUNT, got the biggest laugh of the film). Nobody realized that his performance as Joseph Tura would be his best one, and that within two years he'd make his final starring fiasco in THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT.

Benny and Lombard proved to work well together as the egotistical, but oddly loving couple of theater hams. In fact the actors making up the Tura company are all good, including Lionel Atwill (who briefly is seen playing Claudius to Benny's Hamlet), Felix Bressart as Greenberg (who dreams of doing the Shylock speech from THE MERCHANT OF VENICE), Tom Dugan as Bronski (who hopes to play Hitler on the stage), Charles Halton as Dubosch (the stage manager, and the head of the Warsaw underground), and Maude Eburne as Lombard's cynical maid Anna. The screenplay did give plenty of time showing the difficulties and tensions of a stage company working together, and of handling temperamental stars and their egos.

While putting on a play lampooning the Nazis (whom Benny and the others dislike), the government of Poland (Frank Reicher) says that due to the growing problems with Germany the play can't be produced. So the troop put on Tura's production of HAMLET. Benny as the Prince of Denmark (giving the great soliloquy) goes through the proper steps, although knowing the comedian from Radio one expects him to start it with "WELL!". But he finds that a man in uniform (young Robert Stack) leaves his seat in the middle of the third aisles just as he begins, "To be or not to be...." He does not know (until later in the film) that Stack had arranged to do this to keep a rendezvous with Lombard in her dressing room. Subsequently he treats her to a plane flight (he is a Polish Air Force pilot). When war comes he and his fellows fight, but the survivors make it to England.

The grimmest section of the film is the occupation scenes. Like the comedy in THE GREAT DICTATOR, because we know what actually happened these scenes seem slightly unreal. But in 1941/42 they still get the fears and difficulties of the occupation across. Signs of stores and streets we saw hanging normally earlier are in ruins (including a delicatessen). The theater is boarded up. Had Lubitsch wished to do a tragic film he could easily have done so. But he allows the situation to blossom into a black comedy.

Stanley Ridges plays Professor Siletsky, a secret German Agent who has fooled the Allies into going back to Warsaw. He has the names of families of the pilots. Stack is sent back to Warsaw to stop him, and contacts Lombard who helps. Soon the entire theater group gets involved. But will their theatrical egos blow their anti-Nazi plans? That is the running theme of the concluding portion of the film.

Also along for the ride is Sig Ruman as Col. Ehrhardt, the Gestapo Chief who relishes the name "Concentration Camp Ehrhardt", but who keeps running afoul of Professor Siletsky (it is the Professor, isn't it?), when he makes seemingly harmless comments about Hitler. His reaction is usually to yell for his adjutant, Schultz (Henry Victor), whose whole purpose is apparently to be there to be yelled at.

The film was a great success, but the death of Carole Lombard in a plane crash a month after it was shot cast a shadow over it. Yet it was a fitting swan song for that divine comedienne's career.

Beneath all the one-liners and amusing gags, this classic comedy has an undertone of satire that is quite effective. Jack Benny plays his role with just the right amount of exaggeration for it to work perfectly, and he, Carole Lombard, and the rest of the cast help Ernst Lubitsch to tell a lively yet worthwhile tale. There are a few slow spots early in the movie, but after it hits its stride, everything fits together well.

Very few film-makers can make something like this succeed, because they take themselves too seriously. Lubitsch does not, and as a result this film provides a caricatured but relatively insightful portrayal of the Nazis, with a light-hearted yet appreciative look at those who opposed them in the occupied countries. The right kind of lighter touch can sometimes be more effective in commenting on important issues than the heavy, emotionally laden harangues that are all too common.

While providing good entertainment, this movie also brings out the Nazis' inherent insecurity, pettiness, and short-sightedness, while also demonstrating their growing capacity for destroying the innocent. For example, the wonderful character actor Sig Ruman is greatly entertaining as a Nazi bureaucrat, yet he also cleverly brings out the pathetic side of such persons.

Aside from a couple of good gags, it starts off just a little slowly. A lot of time is spent on Robert Stack's character, who is (through no fault of Stack's) not very interesting. Likewise, the subplot involving him and Lombard takes up a lot more time than it was worth. Other than that, though, it moves briskly, with many entertaining scenes while it develops the story. As the pace picks up, the members of Benny's acting troupe get some fine moments of their own, Benny himself has some fine scenes with several other characters, and everything builds up nicely towards a good finale.

Only Ernst Lubitsch could have balanced all of the aspects of this film and had it come out right. He satirizes the Nazis without diminishing the evil they represented, delivers a comedy amidst the light drama of a resistance movement, and adds a little element of romance besides. The timing for the film was extraordinary; while it was being shot America had not yet entered the war, and before it was released, Carole Lombard had tragically died at age 33. The film opens a troupe of Polish actors rehearsing a play satirizing the Nazis in August, 1939, a month before the invasion, and it was highly topical at the time.

Lombard is simply radiant in her last film, and finds the right restraint and touch between comedy and cooing out double entendres. Jack Benny is funny in the role of her husband, a ham actor whose wife begins talking to an ardent admirer in her dressing room when he begins Hamlet's soliloquy. The other man (Robert Stack) is a Polish airman who soon sweeps them up into an effort to stop a spy within the resistance's ranks.

As always Lubitsch treats his viewers with such respect, letting us connect the dots without hitting us over the head with explanations or plodding along linearly. His humor is so clever, and varies between an actor raising an eyebrow which the audience will know the meaning of, and things like the repeated line "So they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt?". He also gets in a lot of jabs at the idiocy of the fascists, the most memorable being when two Nazis are told to jump out of a plan without parachutes and do so with a couple of Heil Hitler's and no questions asked. There are also moments that are quite touching, such as the Jewish member of the company quoting 'The Merchant of Venice' ("If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die?").

My favorite lines were the sly repartee from Carole Lombard to elude the Production Code: Stanislav: You might not believe it, but I can drop three tons of dynamite in two minutes. Maria: Really? Stanislav: Does that interest you? Maria: It certainly does.

Siletsky: Shall we drink to a blitzkrieg? Maria: I prefer a slow encirclement.

Husband and wife Carole Lombard (Maria) and Jack Benny (Joseph) are the leading lights in a Polish Theatre Company during the outbreak of World War 2. They are currently performing "Hamlet" and soldier Robert Stack (Sobinski), who is obsessed with Lombard and attends all her performances, is there in the audience on every occasion. Lombard and Stack arrange meetings with a pre-determined code. When Benny gives his "To be or Not to Be" soliloquy, that is Stack's cue to get up and leave and go backstage, much to Benny's outrage at someone getting up and leaving during his finest moment! When traitor Stanley Ridges (Professor Siletsky) passes through Poland on his way to deliver a list of names of Polish Resistance members to Hitler, the actors jump into action to prevent him reaching Germany with the list. Can they get away with their daring charades?

This film is funnier than I expected and had me laughing out loud on a few occasions. Jack Benny is excellent in the lead role and the whole cast are on form. There are loads of humorous scenes and the film has a great ending to round things off. It's a shame that they cut Carole Lombard's line about what could possibly happen in a plane from the film. This would have given extra poignancy to the film given that she died in a plane crash after making this film. I think the line should have remained in there.

Basically, a gang of actors come good and defeat the Nazis through various deceptions. It's lightweight entertainment that really does entertain.

This is a quite brilliant Ernst Lubitsch film which manages to skilfully combine wartime dramatic pathos with wonderfully barbed humour, without doing so in an overtly propaganda-laden way. Set in Warsaw, just before and then during the initial German occupation which itself triggered World War 2, it starts in a relatively light-hearted manner as we're introduced to an acting troupe headed by husband and wife team Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, he the hammish, self-confident leading man, she the toy-boy-chasing leading lady. When the group's latest production, topically called "Gestapo" is closed down for fear of reprisals by the fearful authorities, they and their company join the local resistance. Amongst the rest of the cast are two spear-carrying extras who each dream of bigger parts, one who recites Shylock's "If you prick me do I not bleed" speech any chance he can, the other convinced he could pass for Hitler to the general public. When these foibles are adroitly woven into the plot at a climactic stage later in the film you appreciate how well written and crafted the movie is.

I've never seen Jack Benny in any other feature and only know him for his deadpan humour on American TV much later than this but he's great here as the cuckolded husband pressed into action by the Polish resistance, struggling to balance his personal life with the National Good. His timing is spot-on and really you have to wonder why movies didn't also become his medium the way they did for say Bob Hope, but if this is his one major film role, then it's certainly a memorable one. Lombard I've sometimes not appreciated in some of her other roles but she's delightful here, coquettish, but clever with it.

The film shows the Polish resistance running rings round their German occupiers and also lampoons Hitler in bold fashion which surely wouldn't have been lost on wartime viewers. I loved the interwoven plotting as well as the frequent laugh-out-loud gags - right from the first humorous "Heil Myself" to the last "To Be Or Not To Be" running gag. There are only a couple of misfiring jokes like when Lombard complicity moans "Heil Hitler" when receiving a kiss from the Polish traitor or the too obvious "Friends, Romans and countrymen" line from Benny but there are far more hits than misses for sure.

For me this film could have worked as a drama without the comedy and as a comedy without the drama. That's how strong both elements are here and yet put them together as well as Lubitsch does here and you have something special.

About that there is no question.

German-occupied Warsaw, WW2. A band of actors, headed by husband-and-wife superstars of Polish theatre, set out to prevent a German spy from revealing key members of the Polish underground and families of Polish airmen fighting in Britain.

Lightly entertaining. Is a comedy-drama but doesn't entirely succeed in either area. More weighted to comedy, the comedy is largely farce, with the usual sequence of problem arises - much consternation and mad scramble for a solution - gets fixed by something that causes another problem - rinse and repeat. There are some good, even great, comedic moments but they are few and far between as the movie largely trades in cheapish gags.

While predominantly a comedy, the movie had potential as a drama. There's the intrigue re the spy, the plight of the Poles in Warsaw, the general examination of war and its consequences. However, with the emphasis on comedy, these sub-plots and themes largely take a back seat. There's also a romantic angle, which just cheapens the drama.

Overall, entertaining and not a bad way to spend 100 minutes, but not brilliant.

Having seen most of Ernst Lubitsch American films, we had missed this one because it's not played often these days. "To Be, or not to Be" is a wonderful satire that only a director like Lubitsch, with his European background could have pulled. The film is a good comedy that seems to has kept some of its freshness intact.

The film works because of the great contribution of Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, who sadly, died before the film had its premiere. They play the Turas, a Polish theatrical couple that foresee the Nazi invasion of their country.

In fact, Jack Benny, a man associated as a comedian, first on radio, then on television, was an actor with an uncanny sense of timing. Mr. Benny was a natural for this type of comedy, as he proves in the film. His pairing with Carole Lombard was a stroke of genius. In fact, for being associated to lighter fare, he demonstrates with his take on Joseph Tura, he was an actor of stature.

Carole Lombard is seen as Maria Tura, a grand dame of the Polish theater. Ms. Lombard gave a marvelous performance and her contribution to the success of this film is amazing. Robert Stack is seen as the pilot Sobinski. Other faces in the cast include Felix Bressard, Lionel Atwill, Sig Ruman, George Lynn, and others that are perfect under Ernst Lubitsch guidance.

This is a film to be treasured because of the work of Jack Benny and the impeccable direction of Ernst Lubitsch.

Sometimes classics live up to their reputations and sometimes they don't. This one didn't. It wasn't bad - some quite funny bits, likeable, never boring, but nothing outstanding, except perhaps in the subject matter. I've been watching a few Lubitsch movies recently and I ended up watching this one within a few days of watching Shop Around the Corner. I was struck by how much sharper and wittier "Shop" (which I felt was everything it was cracked up to be) was in comparison to To Be or Not To Be. Benny's character was a little too buffoonish, Lombard's character was a little too boring (though the first scene between Ehrhardt and the false Siletsky was excellent). Unfortunately, this film was just a little too over-the-top, silly, and conveniently plotted, without ever tapping into the fun of a real screwball comedy. Oh well...

Cheaply made, unconvincing story of assorted characters pretending to be somebody else in wartime Poland. Supposed to be a comedy, but very few chuckles. Weak script does not help. It was Carole Lombard's last film, but she appeared in much more entertaining vehicles. Plus, in this one, her good looks had rather faded.