{"id":42283,"date":"2019-01-29T11:09:52","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T18:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42283"},"modified":"2020-12-27T00:43:46","modified_gmt":"2020-12-27T07:43:46","slug":"to-be-or-not-to-be-1942","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42283","title":{"rendered":"To Be or Not to Be (1942)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;So they call me &#8216;Concentration Camp Ehrhardt&#8217;?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Poster-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-42284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Poster-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Poster-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Poster.jpg 666w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAs Hitler ravages Europe, a famous Polish actor (Jack Benny) and his wife (Carole Lombard) are forced to switch their troupe&#8217;s play from a Nazi-satire to &#8220;Hamlet&#8221;. Benny is distressed when a handsome fighter pilot (Robert Stack) gets up from the audience at the start of his &#8220;To be or not to be&#8230;&#8221; soliloquy, not knowing his wife is engaging in an innocent flirtation with this starstruck fan. Meanwhile, a spy (Stanley Ridges) infiltrates the Polish Resistance movement, and it&#8217;s up to the acting troupe to prevent a bumbling Gestapo chief (Sig Ruman) from learning the names of underground members.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Actors and Actresses<\/li>\n<li>Black Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Carole Lombard Films<\/li>\n<li>Ernst Lubitsch Films<\/li>\n<li>Infidelity<\/li>\n<li>Jack Benny Films<\/li>\n<li>Lionel Atwill Films<\/li>\n<li>Mistaken or Hidden Identities<\/li>\n<li>Nazis<\/li>\n<li>Resistance Fighters<\/li>\n<li>Robert Stack Films<\/li>\n<li>Spies<\/li>\n<li>World War Two<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that the &#8220;title of Ernst Lubitsch&#8217;s comedy-propaganda masterpiece&#8221; &#8212; with a script by Edwin Justus Mayer that is &#8220;brimming with clever twists and sparkling dialogue&#8221; &#8212; actually &#8220;refers to the existence of Poland&#8221;, noting that the film is Lubitsch&#8217;s attempt to present &#8220;Poles whom we [Americans] would want to support: they are brave, resourceful, and have an indomitable spirit&#8221;. He points out that the &#8220;continuous deception and disguises are staples of French farce, as is the bedroom intrigue&#8221;, and they &#8220;are typical of Lubitsch&#8221; &#8212; as are &#8220;the moments of screwball comedy (the infighting between Benny and Lombard), the sexual innuendo and downright naughtiness, and the flights into burlesque, slapstick, and outrageous spoof.&#8221; He reminds us that &#8220;the film was roundly criticized for being funny when it&#8217;s about a serious subject &#8212; but Lubitsch strongly attacks both Hitler and his followers, never letting his humorous treatment of them make us forget they are ruthless murderers&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>In <em>Cult Movies 2<\/em>, Peary states that &#8220;Cult movies are often born in controversy&#8221;, and describes in greater detail the reception this film had in 1942, just &#8220;three years after Germany invaded Poland&#8221; and &#8220;three months after the United States entered World War II&#8221;. He notes that Bosley Crowther of the <em>New York Times<\/em> was especially offended by the film; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1942\/03\/07\/archives\/the-screen.html\">Crowther wrote<\/a>, &#8220;To say [the film] is callous and macabre is understating the case&#8221;. However, Peary points out that &#8220;it&#8217;s interesting to note that critics were lenient to those World War II comedies that made no attempt to impress upon viewers the grim realities of Nazi aggression and occupation in Europe, while they jumped on Lubitsch&#8217;s film for daring to be both a comedy and topical&#8221;; in truth, &#8220;the opposite should have been the case&#8221;. Adding greatly to challenges with the film&#8217;s reception was the fact that viewers were devastated by Lombard&#8217;s death in a plane crash on her way back home to Hollywood after selling war bonds; the film was &#8220;impossible to promote&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of Lombard, Peary names her Best Actress of the Year in his <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em> (sharing the award with Ginger Rogers in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=20410\"><em>The Major and the Minor<\/em><\/a>), noting that &#8220;Lombard considered her performance in <em>To Be or Not to Be<\/em> the best of her career&#8221;, and he agrees. He writes, &#8220;She has many moments in which she reveals why she was the thirties&#8217; most celebrated comedienne&#8221;, and adds that he &#8220;particularly like[s] her affected mannerisms and voice when she tells Benny that it&#8217;s of no consequence that he finally asked the director to bill her above him in a play, and her look when he says that he knew she&#8217;d feel that way so the billing will stay the same&#8221;. He writes, &#8220;Also memorable is her sexual-innuendo-filled flirting with Stack&#8217;s young bomber pilot&#8221;: her &#8220;eyes reveal she is lost in fantasies when he tells her, &#8216;I can drop three tons of dynamite in two minutes&#8217;.&#8221; However, &#8220;Lombard&#8217;s Maria switches from being dazzlingly comical to deadly serious, and Lombard reveals how much she had grown as a dramatic actress in the last few years.&#8221; Lombard, Benny, and indeed the entire cast is in top form here; this movie is well worth a look by all film fanatics.    <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Carole Lombard as Maria Tura<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Lombard2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Lombard2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Lombard2.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Lombard2-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Lombard2-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Lombard2-768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Jack Benny as Joseph Tura (nominated as one of the Best Actors of the Year in <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Benny.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Benny.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Benny.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Benny-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Benny-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Benny-768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Robert Stack as Lt. Sobinski<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Stack.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Stack.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Stack.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Stack-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Stack-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Stack-768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Many humorous moments<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Humorous.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Humorous.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Humorous.png 960w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Humorous-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Humorous-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be-Humorous-768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a cult classic. Nominated by Peary as one of the Best Films of the Year in his Alternate Oscars. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<li>Genuine Classic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0035446\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/93439\/to-be-or-not-to-be#articles-reviews\">TCM Articles<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/tobe.html\">FilmSite Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1942\/03\/07\/archives\/the-screen.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/to-be-or-not-to-be\/review\/120721\/\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;So they call me &#8216;Concentration Camp Ehrhardt&#8217;?&#8221; Synopsis: As Hitler ravages Europe, a famous Polish actor (Jack Benny) and his wife (Carole Lombard) are forced to switch their troupe&#8217;s play from a Nazi-satire to &#8220;Hamlet&#8221;. Benny is distressed when a handsome fighter pilot (Robert Stack) gets up from the audience at the start of his &#8220;To be or not to be&#8230;&#8221; soliloquy, not knowing his wife is engaging in an innocent flirtation with this starstruck fan. Meanwhile, a spy (Stanley&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42283\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42283"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59867,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42283\/revisions\/59867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}