Carole Lombard and Jack Benny, freedom fighters. Image: IMDbIMDb
It was playwright Oscar Wilde, of course, who said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.”
You may agree with Mr Wilde, or not, but it’s fun to see this idea spun into a story that parodies both society and itself.
Now, by “society” we mean Warsaw society during the 1939 German invasion of Poland, which, as you know, was the Last Straw in a series of events that begat World War II.
The 1942 comedy, To Be or Not to Be, centres on a troupe of anti-Nazi Warsaw thespians, the headliners being Joseph and Maria Tura (Jack Benny and Carole Lombard), a blithe married couple who take their careers Very Seriously.
This prestigious theatre group is currently staging Shakespeare’s Hamlet, while rehearsing an upcoming play about Nazi Germany. Alas, the group is told they cannot perform the Nazi play, Berlin sensitivities being what they are, even though Poland is still a sovereign country.
The group extends the Hamlet run, but that, too, has a limited shelf life following the events of September, 1939.
So members of the troupe – including the self-absorbed Turas – dedicate themselves to joining the Resistance. Their plan is to infiltrate the occupiers’ ranks by imitating Nazi officials, using costumes and props from aborted anti-Nazi play. What could go wrong?
(It’s fitting that a theatre troupe should Go Up Against the Nazis, given the theatrics and pageantry the Nazis themselves staged in 1930s Germany.)
Yet, the joke is on the actors when they realize the Nazis are uncanny replicas of the characters in the defunct play.
“Adolf Hitler” takes a stroll in Warsaw. Image: Film Int.
To Be or Not to Be uses themes of imitation, duality and repetition. A conversation – or, soliloquy, such as Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” – is repeated throughout the film, and each time these words become more amusing, but also darker, revealing the barbarism of Nazi occupation.
For example, Benny-as-Tura reprises his role from the defunct Nazi play to impersonate a Colonel Ehrhardt, Chief of the Warsaw Gestapo. Tura-as-Ehrhardt chuckles when he learns people in London refer to him as “Concentration Camp Ehrhardt”. Later in the film we meet the actual Colonel Ehrhardt (Sig Ruman), who chortles about his nickname the same way Benny-as-Tura had.
This is how repetition makes the story more sinister. Tura’s laughter is silly – a joke shared between he and the audience – but it’s also an indictment against Colonel Ehrhardt. As for the real Ehrhardt, his laughter is somewhat chilling; he relishes his role as mass murderer.
Each scene lays the groundwork for what comes next. Nothing is wasted. The script treats us to several plot twists, with just as many payoffs. There is no Talking Down to the audience.
To Be or Not to Be is, in fact, a masterclass in screenwriting.
Critics of the day weren’t wild about To Be or Not To Be, and you can’t really blame ’em. The film was released in 1942, when the outlook was fairly bleak for Europe’s occupied nations. Our pal Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote, “[Director Ernst] Lubitsch had an odd sense of humor—and a tangled script—when he made this film.”¹
Modern audiences have a higher appraisal. “To Be or Not to Be did something rare, then or any any time,” writes Geoffrey O’Brien, “by interweaving farce and disaster in such a rigorously structured fashion as to elicit, in the very same scenes, genuine anxiety and a hilarity so acute that is has something like an ecstatic kick.”²
Sadly, this was Carole Lombard’s last film. She would die in a plane crash in January, 1942, when the movie was in post-production. Co-star Jack Benny was apparently distraught at the news of her death, and he cancelled both his radio show that week and his appearance at a preview screening.
We implore you to see To Be or Not to Be. You’ll like how smart and funny it is, and how it never diminishes the the cruelty of war and occupation.
Notes
¹New York Times. (Retrieved July 5, 2019) The Screen, by Bosley Crowther. ²O’Brien, Geoffrey. The Play’s the Thing. Criterion Blu-ray booklet.
To Be or Not to Be: starring Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack. Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Written by Edwin Justis Mayer. United Artists, 1942, B&W, 99 mins.
I once read The War Against The Jews, by Lucy Dawidowicz. A devastating, powerful book. It brought me to tears. The German campaign against Jews began in 1933 and continued until 1945.
I like this movie enough to have seen it more than once. As a parody of Hitler and Nazi Germany, I think Chaplin’s THE GREAT DICTATOR is the better film (which is not to denigrate TO BE OR NOT TO BE), but I highly recommend both.
I have great admiration and affection for people like Ernst Lubitsch who follow their own artistic instincts and respects the audience that will find the truth in their work.
Very good! It’s on pre-order now at Penguin Random House, Barnes & Noble and Amazon 🙂 🙂 The official release is May 10 and I’m excited/very nervous haha.
This is one that I need to revisit. I’ve only seen it once, and found (at that time) that I preferred the later Mel Brooks remake. However, I’ve since come to appreciate some of this film’s stars more, and hope to try it again. I just need to manage the opportunity to see it.
I know I say this a lot, but, again, I sure do love your writing. In this case, it’s introduced me to a movie I haven’t seen yet! I love when this happens. 🙂
I’ve seen this movie many times, it’s incredibly funny! In Italian “Concentration Camp Erhardt” is “Colonnello Concentrone”, that’s hilariuos. it’s It’s funny in a really smart and clever way, of course, but it’s Lubitch we are talking about.
I think it’s Lubitsch’s best film and a fine reminder that Jack Benny could have been—and should have been–a movie star. Instead, he made fun of his unsuccessful films throughout his highly successful radio and TV career. The remake with Mel Brooks and wife Anne Bancroft is very entertaining, if not on the same level as the original.
Gutsy comedy. I can’t believe it was green-lighted by a studio during WWII! Lubitsch, Wilder, Sturges, they were all pushing boundaries. The Mel Brooks remake is pretty good too (as expected, good but a tad less sophisticated than the original).
You make a good point about this film being greenlighted during WWII. I hadn’t thought about it in quite that way before, but like you said, Lubitsch was one of those filmmakers who certainly pushed boundaries.
Silver Screenings 
I once read The War Against The Jews, by Lucy Dawidowicz. A devastating, powerful book. It brought me to tears. The German campaign against Jews began in 1933 and continued until 1945.
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Thanks for recommending that book. I’ll look for it at the library.
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I like this movie enough to have seen it more than once. As a parody of Hitler and Nazi Germany, I think Chaplin’s THE GREAT DICTATOR is the better film (which is not to denigrate TO BE OR NOT TO BE), but I highly recommend both.
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Both are excellent films, and courageous for their time, would you say?
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I have great admiration and affection for people like Ernst Lubitsch who follow their own artistic instincts and respects the audience that will find the truth in their work.
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So true. Lubitsch doesn’t talk down to you, does he? He knows the audience is savvy, and he gives us our money’s worth.
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I haven’t seen this but sounds like I better add it to my list – especially with how much I immensely enjoyed “the Great Dictator.”
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Oh yes, you especially must see this film. I think you’d really appreciate it.
P.S. How are things progressing with your soon-to-be published novel?
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Very good! It’s on pre-order now at Penguin Random House, Barnes & Noble and Amazon 🙂 🙂 The official release is May 10 and I’m excited/very nervous haha.
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Yay! Great news!
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This is one that I need to revisit. I’ve only seen it once, and found (at that time) that I preferred the later Mel Brooks remake. However, I’ve since come to appreciate some of this film’s stars more, and hope to try it again. I just need to manage the opportunity to see it.
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Thanks for the heads-up on the Mel Brooks remake. I’ve never come across it, but I’m going to look for it now.
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A great post, Ruth. I am in the mood to see this film again after reading your exquisite piece.
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Thanks! This film never gets old for me.
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I know I say this a lot, but, again, I sure do love your writing. In this case, it’s introduced me to a movie I haven’t seen yet! I love when this happens. 🙂
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Sarah, you must MUST see this film. I think you’d like how smart and funny it is, without diminishing the wartime crisis.
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I found it last night. It’s the movie that has signed me up for Criterion again 😉 I’m pretty happy about this 🙂
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Yay! I love Criterion!
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Meeeeee tooooooo
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I’ve seen this movie many times, it’s incredibly funny! In Italian “Concentration Camp Erhardt” is “Colonnello Concentrone”, that’s hilariuos. it’s It’s funny in a really smart and clever way, of course, but it’s Lubitch we are talking about.
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There really hasn’t been another director quite like Lubitsch, has there?
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Maybe Billy Wilder, who was by the way a huge Lubitsch fan 🙂
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True.
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I’ve seen the Mel Brooks remake (didn’t realize it was a remake) and I’d love to see this one!
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I’m looking forward to the Mel Brooks remake, but I admit I’m not expecting it to live up to this version…which is totally unfair.
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I think it’s Lubitsch’s best film and a fine reminder that Jack Benny could have been—and should have been–a movie star. Instead, he made fun of his unsuccessful films throughout his highly successful radio and TV career. The remake with Mel Brooks and wife Anne Bancroft is very entertaining, if not on the same level as the original.
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Agreed. Jack Benny was terrific on screen, and I think he could’ve had a bigger film career.
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Gutsy comedy. I can’t believe it was green-lighted by a studio during WWII! Lubitsch, Wilder, Sturges, they were all pushing boundaries. The Mel Brooks remake is pretty good too (as expected, good but a tad less sophisticated than the original).
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You make a good point about this film being greenlighted during WWII. I hadn’t thought about it in quite that way before, but like you said, Lubitsch was one of those filmmakers who certainly pushed boundaries.
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I hadn’t known about this film until I read your excellent critical analysis of it. I’m adding it to my queue!
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Oh yes, please, please see this one if you can. If there’s such a thing as a perfect film, this could be it.
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