During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Screenwriter: Edwin Justus Mayer
Stars: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack
A complex and timely satire with as much darkness as slapstick, Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not To Be delicately balances humor and ethics.
Ernst Lubitsch (January 28, 1892 - November 30, 1947) was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch." In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his distinguished contributions to the art...
as Maria Tura
as Joseph Tura
as Leutnant Stanislav Sobinski
as Greenberg
as Rawitch
as Professor Siletsky
as Colonel Ehrhardt
as Bronski
as Dobosz
as Captain Schultz
as Anna
as General Armstrong
Producer: Ernst Lubitsch, Alexander Korda
Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Director Of Photography: Rudolph Maté
Original Music Composer: Werner R. Heymann
Production Design: Vincent Korda, Julia Heron
Sound: Frank Maher
Make Up / Hair: Gordon Bau
Source: based on a story by Melchior Lengyel
Tagline: The Picture Everyone Wants To See.
Genres: comedy, war
Certificate: Passed
Categories: screwball comedy, nazi occupied poland, world war two, year 1939, love triangle, gestapo, poland, impersonation, satire, double agent, warsaw ghetto, jealousy, british intelligence, reference to william shakespeare, disguise, backstage, polish resistance, acting troupe, bomber pilot, blitzkrieg
Year: 1942
Runtime: 99 min
Country: USA
Language: English, German
Color: Black and White
Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
Sound Mix: Mono
It isn't, I am sorry to say, Lubitsch's most intriguing comedy, nor is it the best of Jack Benny vehicles, but it will do until another buggy comes along.
A masterpiece satire around the Second World War is more likely to be appreciated now after some distance.
Lubitsch understood at the time, even if many critics and filmgoers didn't, that all those elements and all that rule-breaking make To Be Or Not To Be brilliant. Full Review ...