A wishful thinking wartime comedy about dumb Nazis and smart Polaks

Rating: 8/10 (29 November 2017)

"To Be or Not to Be" starring comedian Jack Benny, 1942 image1.jpeg
A wishful thinking absurd wartime comedy about Dumb Nazis and Smart Polaks. Plot: A bad Polish actor is appearing on stage as Hamlet when the war breaks out and Warsaw is occupied by the invading Germans. His wife has had the annoying habit of entertaining young Polish officers backstage during his "To be or not to be" soliloquy. When one of these officers comes back from England on a Secret Mission to thwart the Gestapo the actor takes charge and comes up with a plan for them to harass the Germans and escape to freedom.
In 1942 Nazi Germany under Hitle r had conquered most of Europe including France and American morale was at a low point. As a kind of followup to Chaplin's prewar The Great Dictator (1940 prior to America's entry into WWII in Dec. 1941) this was mainly a Jack Benny vehicle. Benny, Jewish, was the most popular American radio comedian of the time and only appeared in a few movies, but this is his one famous leading role and worth a look-see if only for that. His wife in the film, Carole Lombard, was a very popular Hollywood star married to the "King of Hollywood" Clark Gable (Rett Butler in "Gone with the Wind"). Lombard was killed in a tragic airplane crash returning from a troop entertainment tour just before the movie was released.
In the film Benny is the Polish ham actor playing Hamlet in occupied Warsaw. He and his theater company dress up as German soldiers to bamboozle the German military command and thwart Gestapo's efforts to wipe out the the Polish underground leadership. At one point Benny impersonates Hitler himself on a visit to Warsaw, phony mustache and all. Director Lubitsch, known for sophisticated comedies, was a refugee from Hitter Germany and obviously relished the idea of making fun of the Nazis on screen but the public at this stage was in no mood for fun and the film, unlike the big success of Chaplin's earlier Dictator, was a flop at the box-office despite the star appeal of Benny and Lombard.
In retrospect it can be seen as a World War II Hollywood landmark that is funnier now than it was then. Both comedic and dramatic with certain languors here and there it still stands the test of time fairly well and is certainly a picture of some historical importance. The film was produced by famous British Hungarian film impresario Alexander Korda (The Thief of Bagdad) and the script was written by expatriate Hungarian writer Melchior Lengyel. A digitally restored print was shown in a series or restored classics here in Budapest last month, (October, 2017) Alex, Budapest
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