A classic black comedy set in wartime Poland which deals with the members of an acting troupe who inadvertently become involved in the war effort. Academy Award Nominations: Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedic Picture.
TO BE OR NOT TO BE was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1996.
The film was remade in 1983 by Mel Brooks.
DVD Features:
Region (unknown)
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
English: Mono 1.0
Distributor Notes: The world is on the brink of war but the show must go on. So Joseph Tura, the Polish actor who put the ham in Hamlet, stares beyond the footlights and says: "To Be or Not to Be."
That is the question, as well as the classic in which director Ernst Lubitsch, whose witty "Lubitsch touch" had stylishly lampooned sex and wealth, now took on a new target: Nazism. The story centers on a Warsaw theatrical troupe that outwits Nazi occupiers by playing the roles of (and for) their lives. Jack Benny stars as Tura, underplaying hilariously. In her final role, Carole Lombard is zany and radiant as his alluring wife. Typical of Lubitsch, a gem-sprinkled ensemble has opportunities to shine. No question: watching this To Be is to be gloriously entertained!
Source: Warner Home Video
Stars
Jack Benny: Movie, Radio, and Television Comedian
Carole Lombard: American actress, MY MAN GODFREY, NO MAN OF HER OWN
Robert Stack: American Actor
Lionel Atwill: British Actor/In USA
Sig Ruman: Actor, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Felix Bressart: Actor, SWANEE RIVER
Stanley Ridges: British Character Actor
Tom Dugan: American Actor
Charles Halton: Actor, worked with Wilder, Lubitsch, and Wyler, '10s-'50s
Director
Ernst Lubitsch: German Director, TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932)
Producer
Ernst Lubitsch: German Director, TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932)
Screenwriter
Edwin Justus Mayer: American Screenwriter
Composer
Miklos Rozsa: Hollywood Composer, THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940), BEN-HUR (1959)
Editor
Dorothy Spencer: Editor
Cinematographer
Rudolph Mate: Director Of Photography/Director
Production Designer
Vincent Korda: British Production Designer
Music Director
Werner Richard Heymann: German Composer\20s-50s
Review 1:
"[D]irector Ernst Lubitsch's classic original gave Jack Benny his one great movie role..."
Source: USA Today
p.4E 03/18/2005
Review 2:
"[A] daring, acerbic 1942 satire..."
Source: Los Angeles Times
p.E13 03/27/2005
Review 3:
"Ernst Lubitsch's picture is remarkably graceful, humane, and sidesplitting."
Source: Premiere
p.65 08/01/2006
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