Interesting Piece of History & Well Made

Rating: 8/10 (15 March 2011)

It is hard to believe now that Comedy great Jack Benny's most magical movie role would be mostly in a Nazi uniform. No one knew when it was made that it would be the last of the great legacy of Carol Lombard. Clark Gable was often described as being heart broken from the time of the tragedy on though he kept making movies.
Historically, this film was not well received in 1942 and Benny's best role was in the direct path after Chaplin has paved the way here in The Great Dictator. This Ernest Lubitch production goes beyond that. This is the film which inspired a lot of the Nazi comedy films that were made way after the war.
When you hear Jack Benny say the name "Schultz" here, you can't help but think that this movie inspired the creators of Stalag 17 & Hogan's Hero's which both had a Schultz. When you see Mel Brooks "The Producer's" and other works where he does Nazi comedy, you can't help but feel the relationship & perhaps inspiration this movie gave to Brooks when he saw it.
When I see Lombard and how great she looks in this movie, I can almost feel the tragedy that Gable must have felt. What a terrible fate that she a wonderful woman was cut down before her time. In some of the scenes in this, she looks every bit as beautiful as Marilyn Monroe the other tragic blonde who came later.
This is a very good movie which did not sell tickets because of it's release date. It is very worthwhile to see this & in a pair with Chaplin's "The Great Dictator", should be used in History classes addressing World War 2 as both films are amazing work.