Cinema
To Be or Not to Be
Ernst Lubitsch · 1942
Synopsis
Warsaw, 1939. The troupe of Joseph Tura and his wife Maria rehearses a satirical play about the Nazis, which the Polish government has banned so as not to offend Germany; Hamlet is staged in its place. Every evening, when Tura launches into the soliloquy “To be or not to be”, a young air force lieutenant, Sobinski, leaves the auditorium to join Maria in her dressing room. Germany invades Poland; Sobinski makes his way to London, to a Polish squadron, where he meets a professor about to leave for Warsaw.
Context
The screenplay, based on a story by Melchior Lengyel, is by Edwin Justus Mayer and Lubitsch, the latter uncredited. The film, which brings together Carole Lombard and Jack Benny, was released in the United States in February and March 1942. Its satire of the Nazis, in the middle of the war, unsettled audiences, and part of the press thought it improper to laugh at so real a threat; critics today regard it as a classic of comedy. In France it was first released under the title Jeux dangereux, before being reissued under its original title.
Who it is for
A black-and-white comedy of one hour forty, which ridicules the Nazi occupier.
Prizes and reception
Poorly received on its release, it was added in 1996 to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry.