To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

Film Review

Possibly the greatest film satire of them all, certainly one of the most daring and funniest, To Be or Not to Be represents the comedic pinnacle of Ernst Lubitsch's highly productive period in Hollywood - a no-holds-barred assault on the two scourges of the modern era (circa 1942): rampaging Nazis and self-absorbed actors.  Today, the film is almost universally acknowledged to be both a masterpiece and one of the most effective pieces of wartime propaganda to come out of Hollywood during WWII, but at the time of its release it met with a very lukewarm reception.  Many critics considered it to be the height of bad taste and politically dangerous - the fight against Fascism was not a fit subject for comedy.  Lines such as Colonel Erhardt's quip "What [Tura] did to Shakespeare [in his portrayal of Hamlet] we are now doing to Poland" was like a red rag to a bull as far as the critics were concerned and prevented them from appreciating just how effective an anti-Nazi piece the film was.  Ridicule is a far more effective weapon against a national enemy than any quantity of jingositic rhetoric.

To Be or Not to Be may be a very funny film (a precursor to all the anti-Nazi romps that came along after WWII, notably the long-running sitcom 'Allo, 'Allo) but Lubitsch's intentions in making the film were deadly serious.  A patriotic German who was driven into exile when his country succumbed to Fascism, Lubitsch made use of this film to exact his own form of vengeance against a regime that he considered an unparalleled threat to the free world and an insult to the German nation.  Just as Charlie Chaplin had done in his Nazi send-up The Great Dictator (1940), Lubitsch portrays Hitler's supposed master race as nothing more than a motley troupe of comedy villains, virtually indistinguishable from the ham actors who manage so easily to impersonate them (even Hitler himself).  But unlike Chaplin, Lubitsch's line is far from pacifist and the film leaves its audience in no doubt that Nazism is a dangerous menace that can only be defeated by military might and at great personal sacrifice.  The film's title - taken from the famous Shakespeare soliloquy in which Hamlet stumbles into an existential reverie - might easily be taken as a reference to America's gutless ambivalence over entering the war in 1941.  To act or not to act...

Controversial as the film's subject was for its time, Lubitsch's flair for comedy (which was virtually unsurpassed during his time in Hollywood) makes it an irresistible tour de force.  It is a testament to the director's genius that the film still manages to get the laughs (and belt-busting laughs at that), long after the butt of its carefully targetted humour has long since ceased to be (which is more than can be said for Mel Brooks's 1983 remake).  It also marked the career highpoint for its two lead actors, Carole Lombard and Jack Benny, who have never been funnier than they are here (nor has Lombard looked more stunningly radiant).  Tragically, this was to be Lombard's last film role - she was killed in a plane crash during a flight to Hollywood to participate in a war bonds rally, just a few months before the film was released.  It wasn't until Hitler and his mob had been defeated and consigned to the darker pages of history that To or Not to Be acquired the status it now enjoys - a satirical masterpiece that did to the Nazis what they did to Poland, reducing them to the level of a cheap vaudeville act, a fitting retribution.

Film Synopsis

Poland, 1939.  With Germany poised to launch an invasion that will plunge the world into a long and costly war, Warsaw's leading theatre company is busy rehearsing an anti-Nazi play which pokes fun at Hitler and his jackbooted cohorts.  The stars of the show are Josef Tura, an actor whose vanity far outweighs his talent, and his gorgeous wife Maria, who makes a habit of flirting with her admirers.  When the show is banned by the authorities, the company instead mounts a production of Hamlet.  Whilst Tura is blithely murdering the Bard's famous soliloquy, his wife receives a backstage visit from a handsome young fighter pilot, Lieutenant Sobinski, who professes his undying love for her.  Not long after, Poland is invaded by Germany and much of Warsaw soon lies in ruins, its theatres closed for business.   Whilst training in England with the Polish division of the British Royal Air Force, Sobinski meets an important member of the Polish underground resistance movement, Professor Siletsky, but suspects he may actually be a Nazi agent.  Sobinski's superiors send him back to Poland to prevent Siletsky from passing on the names of resistance fighters to the Nazi high command.  Maria is recruited to act as a go-between but is arrested and taken to Siletsky, who suggests she would make an admirable Nazi spy.  To save Maria, Tura must impersonate Colonel Ehrhardt, a high-ranking Gestapo officer, and then Siletsky after Siletsky has been cornered and executed by his fellow actors.  All goes well until Siletsky's corpse is discovered by the Germans and Tura comes face-to-face with the real Colonel Ehrhardt.  If he is to survive, Tura must now put on the performance of his life...