A Lubitsch comedy masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (30 April 2008)

Just the thought of Jack Benny walking onto a stage as Hamlet is enough to send anyone into spasms of laughter. That he does - and a lot more -in "To Be or Not to Be," a 1942 film about the Lunt and Fontanne (Benny and Carole Lombard) of Poland, Josef and Maria Tura, as they go up against the Nazis. Circumstances make it necessary for the acting troupe to pose as Nazi guards and officers and for Maria to pretend to romance one of Hitler's main men in order to head off a Nazi spy (Stanley Ridges).
This film is absolutely hilarious, with several running bits, including Maria telling a young soldier (Robert Stack) that he can visit her dressing room when Josef starts his big speech. When Josef says, "To be or not to be," the soldier stands up and leaves the theater, making Josef believe the man is simply walking out on his performance. This goes on throughout the film. Robert Stack is so young he's virtually unrecognizable.
The supporting cast is excellent, doubling beautifully as actors - one of whom longs to play Shylock (Felix Bressart) but carries a sword instead and one who wants a chance to play Hitler (Tom Dugan) - and as Nazis. Sig Ruman plays the buffoonish Col. Ehrhardt.
However funny "To Be or Not to Be" is, and it's wonderfully funny, Lubitsch manages to make his point that war is scary and tragic when the audience is shown the Warsaw stores closed and the streets nothing but rubble. There was nothing remotely amusing about the Nazi occupation of Poland, but 1942 audiences, while being reminded of this, were allowed to laugh and forget their troubles for a little while. The laughter doesn't last long, especially since Carole Lombard died in a plane crash so shortly after the film's release. That marred the legacy of "To Be or Not to Be," but today, we should see it for the classic that it is.