Odd Parallel to "Strangelove"

Rating: Null/10 (21 April 2003)

TO BE OR NOT TO BE is a fast-paced comedy / drama with an extremely entertaining script and some very clever plot twists. Carole is amazing in what was tragically her last role; Jack a little less stunning but still very good; and the supporting cast is outstanding.
While just about everyone appreciates the humor, many find it difficult to reconcile a film made in the context of 1942 which pokes fun at the Nazis (then a very real threat to the free world), the plight of the poles, and makes light of concentration camps. These are fair objections -- I find it hard to believe that someone could have watched this movie in 1942 and found it amusing. Combined with Carole's tragic death just shortly before its release, and it's easy to understand why TO BE OR NOT TO BE flopped.

As an aside, I will point out that the term "concentration camp" was not nearly as odious in 1942 as we understand it today. While the US knew that such camps existed, the general understanding was that they were internment camps for political dissidents, not extermination camps -- and certainly not on the scale of over 6 million murdered. Thus, while the concentration camp references are the singularly most tasteless element of TO BE OR NOT TO BE when we watch it today, it would have been less so in 1942.
My primary observation was that this film is an interesting parallel to DR. STRANGELOVE -- both are set *and released* during war (World War II and the Cold War, respectively), both are irreverent, both attempt to be humorous with elements of drama. I've never been a big fan of STRANGELOVE because I can't reconcile making light of global nuclear destruction at a time when it was considered very likely. Oddly enough, I didn't have the same problem with TO BE OR NOT TO BE. I can only conclude that (1) I prefer Jack Benny's version of humor to Stanley Kubricks's and (2) I can appreciate irreverence at the expense of the Nazis as opposed to mocking the western governments (primarily the Americans) and their (depicted) haphazard response to a nuclear threat.
I may be off the mark on this, but they were my initial thoughts, and I think it makes an interesting comparison if nothing else.