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Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

"To Be or Not to Be" starring comedian Jack Benny, 1942 image1.jpeg A wishful thinking absurd wartime comedy about Dumb Nazis and Smart Polaks. Plot: A bad Polish actor is appearing on stage as Hamlet when the war breaks out and Warsaw is occupied by the invading Germans. His wife has had the annoying habit of entertaining young Polish officers backstage during his "To be or not to be" soliloquy. When one of these officers comes back from England on a Secret Mission to thwart the Gestapo the actor takes charge and comes up with a plan for them to harass the Germans and escape to freedom. In 1942 Nazi Germany under Hitle r had conquered most of Europe including France and American morale was at a low point. As a kind of followup to Chaplin's prewar The Great Dictator (1940 prior to America's entry into WWII in Dec. 1941) this was mainly a Jack Benny vehicle. Benny, Jewish, was the most popular American radio comedian of the time and only appeared in a few movies, but this is his one famous leading role and worth a look-see if only for that. His wife in the film, Carole Lombard, was a very popular Hollywood star married to the "King of Hollywood" Clark Gable (Rett Butler in "Gone with the Wind"). Lombard was killed in a tragic airplane crash returning from a troop entertainment tour just before the movie was released. In the film Benny is the Polish ham actor playing Hamlet in occupied Warsaw. He and his theater company dress up as German soldiers to bamboozle the German military command and thwart Gestapo's efforts to wipe out the the Polish underground leadership. At one point Benny impersonates Hitler himself on a visit to Warsaw, phony mustache and all. Director Lubitsch, known for sophisticated comedies, was a refugee from Hitter Germany and obviously relished the idea of making fun of the Nazis on screen but the public at this stage was in no mood for fun and the film, unlike the big success of Chaplin's earlier Dictator, was a flop at the box-office despite the star appeal of Benny and Lombard.In retrospect it can be seen as a World War II Hollywood landmark that is funnier now than it was then. Both comedic and dramatic with certain languors here and there it still stands the test of time fairly well and is certainly a picture of some historical importance. The film was produced by famous British Hungarian film impresario Alexander Korda (The Thief of Bagdad) and the script was written by expatriate Hungarian writer Melchior Lengyel. A digitally restored print was shown in a series or restored classics here in Budapest last month, (October, 2017) Alex, BudapestSent from my iPad

Is difficult to imagine is that comedy so at ease, without the exaggerated facial expressions and movements jokingly, completely just script operation, distinctive characters show and the storyline of the conflicting collision out a very exciting laugh, or a fine sense of humor and amusing humor. Let me think later "La Grande Vadrouille" in the group play interspersed and coincidence echoes. As amazing actor, hapless Colonel, loyal soldiers, war machine heartbeat.Revisit the classic comedy, from beginning to end immersed in the plot to create out of the atmosphere of joy, the director of the comedy elements with effortless, structure, lines, performing, narrative and music and drama are called perfect, textbook style comedy film.

To Be or Not to Be is a film that carries the real horror and dread of Europe facing the threats and devastation of Hitler and the Nazis, and never forgets that, but is also a light, screwball comedy about the art of performance and the enjoyment we all get knowing someone is getting something over on another guy. Lubtisch's filmmaking and comic timing moves like a precise slab of butter (if that's a weird analogy), smooth and on point all the time.It follows a Polish theater company that see a the Germans invading, bombing their town, and the two stars of the company played by Jack Benny and Carole Lumbard, embroiled in a plot with a Nazi-leaning professor and even going up to Hitler himself. Nevermind they don't have Polish (or even most German) accents, they don't bother pretending on that front ironically considering the trickery on hand. This is meant to be a piece of world war two theatricality that can and does endure because it deals with showmanship, actor ego (from Benny with his Hamlet to the side characters trying to get Shylock just right) and playing a character as it's main focus (if there's any modern film that owes It's debt to Lubitsch and how people put on ruses in such high stakes it's Inglouious Basterds, down to a climax in a theater full of Nazis).And as funny as Jack Benny is, especially when his character reacts to that dear of a bomber pilot who has the hots for Carole Lombard, I think Lombard really makes this even better than expected. She's exquisite, ferocious, precocious, sexy, and yet terribly serious about her craft and the people she loves, plus the theater itself. You see just charm and grace radiating off her, and yet she completely gets how to make Mary always reacting and figuring things out. Benny is the big wonderful goof of the movie, while Lombard is the star.Its sublime entertainment and I only regret not seeing it sooner; Mel Brooks made a remake in the 80s which is good but nowhere near the impact of this picture. Just the scene with the Germans marching into town and Lubitsch's cut aways to the citizens looking on in shocked-but-passive disbelief makes it a must see alone.

Actors and actresses are remembered for their performances of the great classics, in anglophone culture usually Shakespeare. And yet, as many an actor has said, the only thing harder to do than great tragedy is great comedy.And the only thing harder than that is a convincing mixture of both.And that is what this movie is.There are a lot of Lubitsch comedies that I can watch over and over, especially those he did with Jeannette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier. It mixes the most serious tragedy with the cleverest comedy, taking you from one to the other flawlessly.There is nothing funny about Felix Bressart's delivery of Shylock's speech; his character has every reason to believe he may be killed by the gestapo. It is deeply moving.Yet there is nothing funnier than when a young man walks out on Joseph Tura's/Jack Benny's "To be or not to be" soliloquy.I've seen this movie several times. I marvel at it every time. It is by turns deeply moving and wonderfully funny. It is, indeed, one wonderful movie.