To Be or Not to Be
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Joseph: Oh, darling! You were right this morning. I felt so rotten after the rehearsal I went to Dobosz and told him when he advertises the new play to put your name first.
Maria: Did you, darling? That’s sweet of you. But I really don’t care…
Joseph: That’s what Dobosz said, so we left it as it was.
Maria: [coldly] Oh.
Joseph Tura and Maria Tura in To Be or Not to Be
I. Love. This. Movie.
People say 1942’s To Be or Not to Be is a controversial film due to the fact that it is set in Poland in 1939. The plot revolves around how Hitler’s invasion and the Nazi occupation of Warsaw affects a local theater troupe. Why would that be controversial? Because this movie is a comedy.
And what a comedy! Ernst Lubitsch directs this film PERFECTLY! Not a moment is out of place, every joke lands. The film plays the suspense as much as it plays the comedy. The situations in which the characters find themselves may be farcical, but what makes them funny is the tension. It elevates the humor to the next level. The audience doesn’t want the protagonists to get caught and be killed. It’s such a careful balancing act. Ernst Lubitsch! Master of the careful balancing act!
This movie hits all of its dramatic moments, it hits all the poignant moments, it hits all the suspenseful or action filled moments, and it hits all its comedy right on the nose. If it tipped too far into any one of those genres, it would completely ruin the film. But at no point in this movie does it ever tip too far into an espionage movie or a poignant drama or an outlandish comedy. It is incredible to watch. You don’t feel any strain or the work that must have gone into plotting it or getting the timing right. It just feels effortless. I cannot recommend this movie enough for anyone looking for an absolutely fun ride.
TO SPOIL OR NOT TO SPOIL? That is the question. Read on for spoilers, otherwise go click that button up there that takes you to the Criterion Channel website and immediately watch the movie!
Warsaw, Poland 1939. A theater troupe is rehearsing a serious drama, Gestapo! starring the famed Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) and Maria Tura (Carole Lombard), the husband and wife duo that headlines the theater’s productions. The play promises to be just what is needed during these uncertain times, but the Polish government steps in just before opening night and bans the production. The troupe has no choice but to continue to perform their repertory production of Hamlet. Joseph has his doubts about Hamlet; every night when he begins the pivotal “To be or not to be” speech, a young airline pilot, Lieutenant Sobinski (Robert Stack), gets up and leaves the theater. Is Joseph slipping? Is he no longer the actor he once was?
What Joseph doesn’t know is that Sobinski has been in love with Maria and secretly courting her behind her husband’s back. Maria doesn’t see what the problem could be with a little harmless flirtation during her husband’s monologues. Suddenly, Poland is invaded by Hitler’s armies, Sobinski is flying for England’s RAF, and the Turas find themselves jobless as the theater is closed during the occupation.
Sobinski misses Maria so much he enlists Professor Siletsky (Stanley Ridges) to give a message to her when Siletsky sets off on a secret mission to Warsaw. “Just say, ‘To be or not to be’. She knows.” But something’s strange… When Sobinski mentions Maria Tura’s name to Siletsky, the professor has no idea who she is. But Maria Tura is the most famous actress in Poland! No one can live in Warsaw without seeing her name in all the papers multiple times a year, and Siletsky supposedly was living in Warsaw right up until the invasion! Siletsky is a spy, working for the Gestapo to infiltrate British intelligence, find out the names of family and friends back in Warsaw, and use the information to flush out members of the underground resistance in Poland.
Sobinski is sent on a secret spy mission to Warsaw in a desperate attempt to intercept Siletsky before he can meet with Colonel Ehrhardt (Sig Ruman) and hand over the sensitive information. Sobinski is able to parachute into Polish borders, but the Nazis are hot on his trail. He finds himself unable to meet with his contact, so he takes refuge at the Tura’s residence, enlisting Maria Tura to be his go-between to get the information about Siletsky to the resistance fighters. Unfortunately, Siletsky has a certain message to deliver to Mrs. Tura; since she’s a woman of stunning beauty, why should he not call her into the middle of the Nazi’s base of operations for a light dinner and try to convince her to join their cause?
The remainder of the film puts Maria and Joseph Tura in the most suspenseful and farcical situations of disguises and mistaken identities. Joseph uses the costumes from the cancelled Gestapo! production to dress as Nazis and Maria uses her sexuality in various attempts to get the information from Siletski before he can pass it along to the rest of the Gestapo. The film moves at a deft pace, bouncing from comedy to wartime drama to espionage thriller and back again, sometimes within one scene! The ensemble is amazing, the cinematography astounding for its ability to shift tones lightning fast without anything ever seeming jarring or out of place. Criterion Channel has a visual essay as part of their Observations on Film Art series on how Lubitsch and cinematographer Rudolph Maté used lighting effects to move easily between genres.
Michael: I like this movie very much. You know, sometimes you watch older movies and they have a very dated, older movie feel. I’m always really amazed when I watch an older movie that has a sensibility that we still have today. The script is incredibly clever. It’s very well shot. The make-up and costuming are excellent. The movie has a quick paced, quip filled script with lots of zingers, lots of serves and returns, really great farcical elements. That all obviously existed 80 years ago, and we still do them today. There are certain things that survive because they’re just that good. It’s a fun movie to watch, and this is my second time seeing it…
Jordan: Third. This is your third time seeing it.
Michael: Oh, yeah! So it was my third time seeing it, and it’s just as fun to watch again! It’s just such a well done, well performed movie. There’s not a weak link. There are some stock characters that are used sparingly enough that every time they appear it’s brilliant. Like the over-actor in the theater troupe! They establish him immediately, but then he’s used sparingly enough that every time he shows up, you’re like, “Weeeeeerrrrrrrrrrk!” It’s just a very well done film. It’s still hilarious.
Michael: This is the kind of film that deserves a remake, not because there’s anything wrong with the original, but because it’s such a good story…
Jordan: It was remade by Mel Brooks….
Michael: Oh. No.
Jordan: …in the 80s.
Michael: No. Bad. No.
Jordan: With Anne Bancroft playing the Carole Lombard character.
Michael: Absolutely not. That’s no. I’m not saying he couldn’t do a good interpretation of this movie, but like…No, he didn’t. I don’t even have to watch Mel Brooks’ remake of To Be or Not to Be because I know his sensibility would ruin this… I can see why people would think it would be a good fit.
Jordan: And why Brooks would think it would be a good fit, because he did a lot of Nazi lampooning in his comedy. But it’s schtick when he does it.
Michael: Yes. This is a very high brow version of mistaken identity and impersonation, and I feel as though, without having seen Brooks’ version, his is a very low brow version. So…no, no, no, no, no. Somebody could remake this film with modern day stars and make it good.
Jordan: But they would have to stay grounded. Because that’s one of the best things about Jack Benny’s performance in this movie. He’s a comedian, but he’s so grounded in the movie. He’s still playing the laugh, but he’s not playing for the laugh. He plays the character, which then gets the laugh.
Michael: Yes. This movie is a lot like a stage production of Little Shop of Horrors. It can take itself absolutely seriously, which makes it fucking brilliant and it’s the best musical ever written, or it can just play the comedy and the schtick which then makes it the worst musical ever written. A remake of To Be or Not to Be would have to cast someone like Emma Stone to play Maria Tura, because she’s an actress who would get the laugh because she 100 percent commits and would be so real and in the character.
Jordan: That’s why I think Carole Lombard is so amazing in this role. She’s known for being such a Hollywood beauty, yet she nails every comedic moment in this film. She doesn’t do it by going big or broad, she does it by being very specific and keeping the comedic moments the exact same as her glamorous, sexy woman moments.
Michael: It’s like when the characters talk about at the beginning of the film, “Well, that would get a laugh!” And the director says, “I don’t need a laugh there. We don’t want to play the scene to get a laugh.” There are people who would get ahold of this material and say, “Oh, if I do things this way, it’ll get a laugh” even if doing it that way is cheap and doesn’t make any sense. This story isn’t about getting a laugh at all costs.
Jordan: Which is why this script is so clever. Because that scene you’re talking about shows the actor making the choice to try to get the laugh. And it is funny to the audience watching the film. Then the director character appears to tell them not to do that, don’t try to get the laugh there, this is a dramatic play with life or death situations. It sets up the entire structure of the film.
Michael: I loved the dress Maria Tura was wearing in that scene…
Jordan: Her Ophelia dress?
Michael: Yes. It was beauuuuuuutiful! It’s sad that it’s Carole Lombard’s last film.
Jordan: It is. I always think she was just coming into her own and about to hit just a really great stretch of her career where she was going to be able to do no wrong for a while.
Michael: Yeah. And do we know the name of the actor who played the airman who she was flirting with?
Jordan: Robert Stack, of Unsolved Mysteries fame.
Michael: …What?! …Nooooooooo…
Jordan: [Laughing] Yes!
Michael: [does a Google] *gasp!* If you look at a Google image search, you can actually watch him grow up from that era into his look from Unsolved Mysteries! ….oh, but, he could get it, though…. That was my whole point, that the young airman could get it! You know what the unsolved mystery is? Why he didn’t get it!
Michael: In that scene where Lieutenant Sobinski meets Professor Siletsky in England, I do want to point out that the guy standing immediately stage left of Sobinski does not know any one of the words to that song. He did not come to rehearsal, he was having that nightmare where he was in the scene and didn’t know any of the lines. He was just right of center, so he was all I could watch in that scene, this guy being like, “Watermelon, watermelon, AHHHHHHH! Watermelon, watermelon, AHHHHHHH!” He didn’t even know when to start the “AHHHHH”s! Everyone else started them first, and he was a beat behind! Did 👏🏻 Not 👏🏻 Know 👏🏻 An👏🏻-y 👏🏻 Words. Like half the drag queens I’ve ever seen—not knowin’ their words, still gettin’ paid.
Michael: Then there’s Maria Tura, making her way up the Nazi command chain!
Jordan: It’s one of my favorite moments, where she runs out of the room, yelling, “My Führer!”
Michael: And Bronski plays it really well, too, where he just stops…then backs out of the room. That kind of, “Ohshitohshitohshit!….Fuck it, I’m leaving” moment.
Jordan: And then there’s poor Schultz. Colonel Ehrhardt just blaming him for everything that goes wrong.
Michael: That’s just how life is. You’re the only one doing things right and there’s some idiot in charge thinking you’re doing it all wrong.
Jordan: And blaming you.
There is not enough praise we can heap upon this film. So much of its delights are in the details, so many moments we haven’t mentioned in this review that are just spectacular. We can’t even mention the recurring jokes that are threaded throughout the film because they just don’t live on the page the same way that they do when watching this film! We reviewed two other Lubitsch films that were prime examples of his work. To Be or Not to Be is Lubitsch at his absolute finest, a standout amongst all of his other sensational films. I would actually recommend that this not be your first Lubitsch film since it sets the bar so incredibly high, nothing is going to be able to top it! But by no means let that stop you from watching this movie as soon as you can!
Michael’s Rating: Nine Yorick Skulls
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