To Be or Not to Be

Composite Score: 86.6

Starring: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges, Sig Ruman, Rom Dugan, Charles Halton, and Henry Victor

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Writers: Melchior Lengyel and Edwin Justus Mayer

Genres: Comedy, Romance, War

MPAA Rating: Approved

Box Office: $4.58 million worldwide

My take on Watching This Film:

                To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 dark screwball comedy film about a troupe of Polish actors who find themselves partnered with the Polish resistance when World War II breaks out and the Nazis occupy their town. It’s a fascinating film to look back on, since it was produced during World War II, but we watch it now with the full context of the end of the war added to it. It’s wild to me that such a comic film would be made in the midst of such a dark time about the time as it was unfolding, but such is the triumph of early 1940s Hollywood. For perspective, this would be like an American studio making a dark romantic comedy about Ukrainians resisting the Russian invasion, complete with actors portraying caricatures of Russian generals and Putin himself all for laughs, without any lingeringly heavy moments. It’s unthinkable in the current state of the world where even a comedy about World War II that directly makes fun of Hitler (which this film also did) receives mediocre reviews from mainstream critics (Jojo Rabbit). Nonetheless, To Be or Not to Be works brilliantly as a comedy without ever losing sight of the weight of its subject matter. Lubitsch, his writers, and his cast recognize the need for humor in the midst of darkness, and they bring it consistently across the film. Some of the screwball elements of the film (the central love triangle between Joseph, Maria, and Sobinski primarily) don’t necessarily hold up perfectly with some weird mores about marriage and gender roles, but the actual comedy – the mistaken identities, jokes at the expense of Nazis, and character work – continues to elicit laughs from the audience. On the flipside, the moments of drama never come across as unnecessarily jarring or forced but resonate thanks to the strong performances of the supporting cast, particularly Felix Bressart in his role as Greenberg, a Jewish member of the Tura’s ensemble whose dream is to play Shylock in a performance of The Merchant of Venice. He finally gets the opportunity to deliver the character’s iconic soliloquy in a moment of seeming self-sacrifice that reminds the audience just how real the situations (however hammed-up they might be in the film) actually are, and it’s beautifully done. It’s a film where, like its subjects, every actor knows their role well and fulfills it to near perfection, with every member of the ensemble making the most of their minutes onscreen to entertain, bring laughter, and keep the audience in mind of the war and its implications without letting them devolve into melancholy about it. All told, To Be or Not to Be is a uniquely fun screwball comedy that handles its subject matter well with plenty of irreverent laughter without ever actually stepping into the realm of making light of the struggles of others, earning a clear spot among the Greatest Films of All Time as it does so. Some of its screwball romance elements don’t necessarily hold up perfectly under modern scrutiny, a fact of the genre more than anything else, but the film as a whole still has plenty of commentary and entertainment for the modern movie watcher. It is currently streaming on Max and the Criterion Channel if you’d like to give it a go.