To Be or Not to Be

As nervy as it is hilarious, this screwball masterpiece from Ernst Lubitsch stars Jack Benny and, in her final screen appearance, Carole Lombard as husband-and-wife thespians in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who become caught up in a dangerous spy plot. To Be or Not to Be is a Hollywood film of the boldest black humor, which went into production soon after the U.S. entered World War II. Lubitsch manages to brilliantly balance political satire, romance, slapstick, and urgent wartime suspense in a comic high-wire act that has never been equaled.

In occupied Poland during WWII, a troupe of ham stage actors (led by Joseph Tura and his wife Maria) match wits with the Nazis. A spy has information which would be very damaging to the Polish resistance and they must prevent it's being delivered to the Germans.

The film chronicles the adventures of a Polish theater company before and during Nazi occupation, especially those of the resident ham, Josef Tura, and his wife, Maria. The film opens with the seemingly impossible appearance of Adolf Hitler in Warsaw before the 1939 invasion. We discover this is a local actor…

Ernst Lubitsch's black comedy details the efforts of a Polish theatrical company to help the resistance effort. All-round star of vaudeville, stage, radio, screen and television, Jack Benny, is the star with Carole Lombard as his unfaithful but heroic wife. The real trouble starts when a Professor Siletsky arrives in Warsaw supposedly to spy on the Nazis, but in reality to help the Gestapo destroy the Resistance. The theatre group use their skills to impersonate Nazi officers, Gestapo agents, and even Hitler, yet nothing goes to plan…

On its initial release this film was a flop, deemed as bad taste since America had just gone to war. Also, 33 year old Carole Lombard was killed one month previous to the premiere, in a plane crash whilst selling U.S. war bonds, tragically cutting off her distinguished career of screwball comedies asnl light dramas. But as time has passed, the film has received much praise from film historians and has finally made a profit, if belatedly. It is, admittedly, riddled with wartime propaganda, as the Nazis are all bungling incompetents arresting each other and the RAF flyers are all high spirited heroes, but these touches add to the comic value of the piece. Note too that Lubitsch was himself a Berliner of Jewish descent and keen to show his opposition to the Nazis.

Jack Benny as Josef Tura is excellent as the ham actor delivering his one-liners with proficiency, as is comedienn Carole Lombard as Maria Tura ("What a husband doesn't know won't hurt his wife"). Sig Ruman, German in real life, puts his accent to good use as "Concentration Camp" Errhard, and Robert Stack is the airman who destroys Tura's life by walking out on his Hamlet soliloquy. (Martin Hunt)

In occupied Poland during WWII, a troupe of ham stage actors (led by Joseph Tura and his wife Maria) match wits with the Nazis. A spy has information which would be very damaging to the Polish resistance and they must prevent it's being delivered to the Germans.

In occupied Poland during WWII, a troupe of ham stage actors (led by Joseph Tura and his wife Maria) match wits with the Nazis. A spy has information which would be very damaging to the Polish resistance and they must prevent it's being delivered to the Germans.

In occupied Poland during WWII, a troupe of ham stage actors (led by Joseph Tura and his wife Maria) match wits with the Nazis.