A remarkable movie

Rating: 10/10 (28 June 2014)

Actors and actresses are remembered for their performances of the great classics, in anglophone culture usually Shakespeare. And yet, as many an actor has said, the only thing harder to do than great tragedy is great comedy.
And the only thing harder than that is a convincing mixture of both.
And that is what this movie is.
There are a lot of Lubitsch comedies that I can watch over and over, especially those he did with Jeannette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier. It mixes the most serious tragedy with the cleverest comedy, taking you from one to the other flawlessly.
There is nothing funny about Felix Bressart's delivery of Shylock's speech; his character has every reason to believe he may be killed by the gestapo. It is deeply moving.
Yet there is nothing funnier than when a young man walks out on Joseph Tura's/Jack Benny's "To be or not to be" soliloquy.
I've seen this movie several times. I marvel at it every time. It is by turns deeply moving and wonderfully funny. It is, indeed, one wonderful movie.