To Be or Not to Be (1942)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Ernst Lubitsch

Writers:

Melchior Lengyel (story)
Edwin Justus Mayer (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

6 March 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | War

Plot:

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Actor | WWII | Polish Resistance | Blitzkrieg

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins

Cast

Carole Lombard	...	Maria Tura
Jack Benny	...	Joseph Tura
Robert Stack	...	Lieut. Stanislav Sobinski
Felix Bressart	...	Greenberg
Lionel Atwill	...	Rawitch
Stanley Ridges	...	Professor Siletsky
Sig Ruman	...	Col. Ehrhardt
Tom Dugan	...	Bronski
Charles Halton	...	Producer Dobosh
George Lynn	...	Actor-Adjutant
Henry Victor	...	Capt. Schultz
Maude Eburne	...	Anna
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Gen. Armstrong
Miles Mander	...	Major Cunningham
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rudolph Anders	...	Gestapo Sergeant at Desk at Top of Hotel Stairs (uncredited)
Paul Barrett	...	Polish RAF pilot (uncredited)
Sven Hugo Borg	...	German soldier (uncredited)
Peter Caldwell	...	Wilhelm (uncredited)
Alec Craig	...	Scottish Farmer without mustache (uncredited)
Helmut Dantine	...	Co-pilot (uncredited)
Leslie Denison	...	Captain (uncredited)
James Finlayson	...	Scottish Farmer with mustache (uncredited)
James Gillette	...	Polish RAF pilot (uncredited)
Leyland Hodgson	...	Second Reporter (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten	...	Polonius in Warsaw (uncredited)
Charles Irwin	...	Reporter (uncredited)
John Kellogg	...	RAF Flyer (uncredited)
Adolf E. Licho	...	Prompter (uncredited)
John Meredith	...	English wireless operator (uncredited)
Maurice Murphy	...	Polish RAF pilot (uncredited)
Russ Powell	...	Bystander (uncredited)
Frank Reicher	...	Polish Official (uncredited)
Otto Reichow	...	Co-pilot (uncredited)
Gene Rizzi	...	Polish RAF pilot (uncredited)
Hans Schumm	...	(uncredited)
Roland Varno	...	Pilot (uncredited)
Ernö Verebes	...	Stage Manager (uncredited)
Armand 'Curly' Wright	...	Makeup Man (uncredited)
Wolfgang Zilzer	...	Man in Bookstore (uncredited)

Directed by
Ernst Lubitsch

Writing credits
Melchior Lengyel		(story)
Edwin Justus Mayer		(screenplay)
Ernst Lubitsch		story (uncredited)

Produced by
Ernst Lubitsch	....	producer

Original Music by
Werner R. Heymann

Cinematography by
Rudolph Maté

Film Editing by
Dorothy Spencer

Casting by
Victor Sutker

Production Design by
Vincent Korda

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Walter Mayo	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William McGarry	....	assistant director
William Tummel	....	assistant director

Art Department
Julia Heron	....	interior decorator
J. McMillan Johnson	....	associate art director (as J. MacMillan Johnson)

Sound Department
Frank Maher	....	sound

Special Effects by
Lawrence W. Butler	....	special effects (as Lawrence Butler)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Irene	....	costumes: Miss Lombard

Music Department
Miklós Rózsa	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Eugene Zador	....	orchestrator: Miklós Rózsa (uncredited)

Other crew
Alexander Korda	....	presenter
Ryszard Ordynski	....	technical supervisor (as Richard Ordynski)

Production Companies

• Romaine Film Corporation

Distributors

• Masterpiece Productions (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Masterpiece Productions (1950) (USA) (TV)
• Film Archives Trading Co. (1969) (USA) (all media)
• Warner Home Video (1998) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2000) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Lunaris (1950) (Finland) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV) (1969) (Finland) (TV)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2009) (Finland) (DVD)
• Sonoro Filme (Portugal)
• Spiegel Media GmbH
• YLE Teema (2007) (Finland) (TV)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1959) (Finland) (TV)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating) | South Korea:12 (2003) | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #7834) | West Germany:12

Company:

Romaine Film Corporation

Trivia:

Carole Lombard took the female lead despite the strenuous objections of her husband, Clark Gable.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Tura is disguised as Colonel Erhardt in his meeting with Siletsky he is wearing the uniform of a Major General (actually an SS-Gruppenfuehrer).

Quotes:

Maria Tura: It's becoming ridiculous the way you grab attention. Whenever I start to tell a story, you finish it. If I go on a diet, you lose the weight. If I have a cold, you cough. And if we should ever have a baby, I'm not so sure I'd be the mother.
Josef Tura: I'm satisfied to be the father.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (2008)

Soundtrack:

German National Anthem (Das Lied der Deutschen)

Jack Benny as Hamlet

This is one of the great movie farces of all time. I would rank it very close to my all time favorite "Dr. Strangelove." There are several tiers of interpretation as is true of any noteworthy satire. It is not only poking fun at the stupidity and vanity of Nazism, but at aggressive war in general. Referring to Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) playing Hamlet on stage, Colonel Ehrhardt (Sig Ruman) states, "What he did to Shakespeare we are doing to Poland." Only someone with the comic genius of Ernst Lubitsch could compare the Thespian rape of Shakespeare with the physical rape of a country and make it work.

Jack Benny, although one of the most popular entertainers of all time, never got his just deserts for his acting abilities. Though he utilizes many of his physical mannerisms that worked so well for his comedy routines on radio, in the movies, and later on TV, he also does some very fine acting in "To Be Or Not To Be." He is teamed with the multi-talented Carole Lombard yet keeps up with her all the way. The two work well together. Had Carole Lombard not been tragically killed in a plane crash while serving her country just before the release of this film, she would possibly have been teamed with Benny again. The rest of the cast, including newcomer Robert Stack, keep up the pace and give all the support needed to make Lubitsch's film a winner, in particular the histrionics of Sig Ruman, the definitive Nazi stooge, later parodied in the popular TV series "Hogan's Heroes."

The script which Lubitsch himself helped put together blossoms with hilarious one-liners such as "So they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt?" To read a few of the most famous ones, see IMDb quotes for the film. Better still, rent or buy a copy of this classic and watch it a few times to hear them for yourself. IMDb only lists some, not all, for that would take several pages.

The story sounds like one for a typical romantic or screwball type comedy. A troupe of Shakespearean actors in Warsaw, Poland, appear to be on the road to success due to the fame of the leading lady, Maria Tura (Carole Lombard). Her husband, Joseph (Benny), seems to be in her shadow, though he does his best as the Prince of Denmark, Hamlet. Yet each time he does the famous soliloquy that begins, "To be or not to be," the same man gets up and walks out. This leads Joseph to think he is a failure as Hamlet until later in the film he learns that the young man, Lt. Stanislav Sobinski (Robert Stack), is leaving each time for a rendezvous with Joseph's wife, Maria. At this point Hitler invades Poland and the theater is closed as the Nazi's come to town. A Nazi professor, Prof. Alexander Siletsky (Stanley Ridges), flies in with a list of names of traitors (Polish patriots) who are to be taken care of by the local Gestapo headed by Col. Ehrhardt (Ruman). It is up to the Shakespearean troupe to keep these names out of the hands of the Gestapo and then to escape with their lives. So they use their acting talents to impersonate Gestapo officers and even Hitler himself. Joseph becomes Ehrhardt but botches it when the professor brings up the relationship between Maria and Lt. Sobinski who is now in Warsaw also. The rest of the film involves several funny mix-ups and mistaken identities filled with satirical buffoonery.

Though this was somewhat controversial when first released because some, including Jack Benny's own father, misunderstood the satire, the film is possibly even more funny and relevant today than during World War II when the Nazi menace was for real. Because Lubitsch made the spoof universal in nature, "To Be Or Not To Be" transcends time and space.