Nothing is Better Than Nazi Comedy

Rating: 7/10 (27 October 2010)

The comedy To Be or Not to Be is directed by Ernst Lubitsch and stars Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. The film takes place between 1939 and 1941 in Poland.
The film starts off with a man believed to be Adolf Hitler standing in the middle of the streets of 1939 Warsaw. It is then discovered that he is only in a play and proving a point to the director that he does look like Hitler when the director said that the man does not. Maria and Joseph Tura (Lombard and Benny) are both actors for a theatre. Maria has a secret admirer in the audience who always comes to see her when her husband reads the line "to be or not to be" and Joseph gets extremely offended by this. Then the war has started between Poland and Germany and the Turas have a part in helping their country...
The screenplay for this film is one of the strongest aspects of the film. It has many classic one liners and is one of the best satires of the time period. The plot stays interesting the whole way through and the characters are all likable even though most of them do not have any depth. One of my favorite parts of the film is any scene with the Nazi Colonel in it who always blames his Captain for the mistakes he made.
Lubitsch's direction for this film was mediocre. It was very straight forward direction, there was no risks in the shots he took, no complexity, just him deciding to put his camera right in front of the action. Lubitsch was able to get solid performances out of his whole cast, so that is a plus one for him as a director. I thought the film was lacking in the reaction shot close up department because that only makes a funny line funnier when I see the reaction another character has to it.
Along with the direction the editing was very plain and simple. There were a lot of fade to blacks which made it seem like it was a play and that a scene had just finished. The shots were all very long, there was never any editing for any stylistic use. Now I know what many of you readers are saying now, it's 1942 not the 90s where every movie has stylistic editing. Well I agree with you but it is nice to sometimes see some variation.
The acting for the film was another strong aspect. Lombard was excellent as Maria Tura. She acted like an actress and did so brilliantly and delivered her many witty lines just as brilliantly. Benny was fantastic as the great Polish actor Joseph Tura. Every line he said he delivered with such force that the comedy was great since he had the majority of the jokes. The rest of the supporting cast were all equally wonderful and had many memorable moments.
The score for this film was exactly what it needed to be to add another layer to the humor. Deservingly so it was nominated for an Oscar. With all the slapstick humor in this film a good score is needed or else nothing will really be that funny and this score delivers the laughs.
Overall I give this film a 7/10. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys classic comedies, especially satires. This one is much different than the comedies from today, and that's a good thing.