To Be or Not to Be
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
Director(s)
Ernst Lubitsch
William McGarry
William Tummel
Cast & Crew
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CinemaSerf
So, a Polish acting company are busy putting on “Hamlet” whilst the Nazis are preparing something altogether more menacing across the border. “Joseph” (Jack Benny) and wife “Maria” (Carole Lombard) are the stars of the show, and she has no shortage of admirers including an air force officer “Sobieski” (Robert Stack) who bravely decamps to the UK following the invasion to join the RAF. Rather foolishly, as it turns out, the enthusiastic young “Sobieski” confides some highly confidential information about the resistance to fellow citizen “Prof. Siletski” (Stanley Ridges) who is about to return home to Poland. No sooner has he left than they discover he is really a Gestapo spy and is now equipped with a list of those resistance fighters working in Warsaw. The only way they can think of to retrieve the list (and it’s duplicate) is for him to return and for the troupe to capture the unsuspecting traitor by pretending to be just about everyone from his handler to the Austrian corporal himself. Can they obtain the document and get themselves back to Blighty or are they all going to end up against a wall? This is an entertainingly paced drama, laced with comedy and even a little from the bard himself as Benny plays multiple roles and Lombard has a go at stabilising the plot as the glamorous counter-spy. Along the way this pokes fun at the eccentricities of the espionage industry, suggests an amiable degree of stupid pomposity amongst the conquerors - especially Sig Ruman’s goose-stepping “Col. Ehrhardt” and you have to keep your wits about you else you might lose track of just who’s beard is real or stick-on. I can imagine this sailed quite close to the wind in 1942, but for me it’s the kind of black humour that ridicules successfully their nemesis whilst simultaneously and comedically exposing their brutal excesses. Ernst Lubitsch, like the theatrical characters themselves, offers us a frequently quite wittily written and engaging ensemble effort that both Benny and Lombard hold together well, it has some precision timing and it’s well worth a gander.
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To Be or Not to Be FAQs
The directors of To Be or Not to Be are Ernst Lubitsch, William McGarry, and William Tummel.
The cast of To Be or Not to Be includes Paul Barrett as Polish RAF Pilot (uncredited), Miles Mander as Major Cunningham, Danny Borzage as Member of Audience at Performance of Hamlet (uncredited), John Roy as Member of Audience at Performance of Hamlet (uncredited), Russ Powell as Warsaw Bystander (uncredited), Frank Reicher as Polish Official (uncredited), Jack Deery as Member of Audience at Performance of Hamlet (uncredited), Wilbur Mack as Member of Audience at Performance of Hamlet (uncredited), Sven Hugo Borg as German Soldier (uncredited), Henry Victor as Capt. Schultz, Maurice Murphy as Polish RAF Pilot (uncredited), Dorothy Vernon as Member of Audience at Performance of Hamlet (uncredited), and more.
The duration of To Be or Not to Be is 1h 39 mins.
Yes. You can watch the To Be or Not to Be trailer on this Fanbiz page on Fanziz.
To Be or Not to Be was released on 06 Mar 1942.
To Be or Not to Be is listed under Comedy, War, and Romance on Fanbiz.
To Be or Not to Be has 1 review on Fanziz, with an average rating of 7.0/10. One reviewer wrote: "So, a Polish acting company are busy putting on “Hamlet” whilst the Nazis are preparing something altogether more menacing across the border. “Joseph” (Jack Benny) and wife “Mar..."
