Movie Review – To Be Or Not To Be

To Be Or Not To Be (1942)
Written by Edwin Justus Mayer
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

When To Be Or Not To Be was released in theaters, the public wasn’t sure how to feel. It was a film about Europe under the control of the Nazis, but it was also a comedy. Beloved comedian Jack Benny was even dressed up as one as part of a complex plan to trick the Nazis. Benny’s father walked out of the theater in disgust, seeing his son wearing that uniform. Eventually, the actor’s father was convinced to return and ended up watching this film 46 times over its run in theaters. However, some critics found the film to be in bad taste, especially a scene where Benny shaves a dead Nazi to help keep the ruse going. They also felt the film’s setting, Warsaw, made light of the bombing of that city. Lubitsch would always emphasize that his goal was to mock the ideology of Nazis while poking fun at the often shallow nature of actors. I would argue he accomplishes both things exceptionally well.

A troupe of Polish actors is putting on Hamlet with their top two actors, the husband and wife duo of Joseph (Benny) and Maria Tura (Carole Lombard) as Hamlet & Ophelia. Maria receives a letter from Lieutenant Sobinski (Robert Stack), an admiring fan, inviting him to her dressing room while Joseph performs Hamlet’s famous soliloquy from the film’s title. Sobinski professes his love for Maria and wants her to leave her husband and marry him. Before Maria can correct the young man, the radio announces that HItler’s forces have entered Poland. 

Time passes, and Sobinksi is working with the leader of the Polish resistance, Professor Siletsky. The young airman is confused when the supposed Polish native doesn’t know who Maria Tura is, as she’s a reasonably well-known actress in the country. He and his compatriots realize Siletsky is a Nazi rat, and he’s headed to Poland, where he can hand names of those in the resistance to the enemy. It’s going to be up to Joseph, Maria, and the whole troupe to put on the most important performance of their lives, one that will save their own and others whom the Nazis want dead.

My biggest complaint about Hays Code-era Lubitsch is how much the edges have been shaved off. To Be Or Not To Be isn’t a bad movie; it’s one of the better comedies of this era. Yet, when I reflect on something like Trouble in Paradise or Design For Living, I can’t help but feel like something very significant was lost. Lubitsch cannot comment on the human condition to the degree he used to, and now we’re left with hints & nods. 

The film is centered around Benny & Lombard, and the latter didn’t have as much to do as the former. That’s a shame because what we get from Lombard is very strong. I know her name, but I must admit ignorance about her body of work. She gained a reputation as a screwball comedy icon, but her life was tragically lost, along with her mother’s, in a plane crash shortly after filming. The film was released months after the crash. Lombard was only 33 years old. Seeing her in this film makes me curious to explore her filmography. Her performance has such a relaxed nature; she is not phoning it but is confident beyond her 33 years. That doesn’t mean Benny isn’t funny; it’s just that I wish Lombard had far more to do.

What didn’t work for me was the irregular pacing of the movie. The opening 15 minutes are relaxed, introducing each character in the theater troupe. Then another 15 focused on Sobinski and the Polish resistance. The comedy kicks into overdrive during the film’s final hour and doesn’t leave much room for further developing these characters. It becomes focused entirely on the screwball aspects of the story, mainly Benny getting himself into more trouble as he impersonates a Nazi officer. It’s funny, but I’m missing the rich character work I expect from a Lubitsch film. To Be is between that and a “rah-rah” World War II picture.

I don’t think this movie would give anyone greater context for the War. The killing and horrific actions of the Nazis are so distant from what is happening in the film. That feels like a slight problem because the Nazis were extremely evil. Something like Mel Brooks’ The Producers can work with what it does to Nazis and their imagery because it takes place in a period where time has passed since the War. Here we’re in the thick of it, and I never felt like the Nazis were as bad as they should have been. You don’t have to include a gruesome scene of torture or anything, but at least allude through clever imagery that horrors are happening somewhere off-screen.

Also, as much as Robert Stack is a part of my childhood re: Unsolved Mysteries, he is quite the dud of an actor, at least here. Stack is so incredibly stiff and lacking in nuance. I never bought him as a Polish airman; an American one in a movie feels much more accurate. But this is Lubitschland, where Europe is never really Europe, and the people living in these countries never sound like they’ve even visited. If Stack had played things more in keeping with the screwball nature of the movie, his performance would have worked better. He’s acting like he’s in a serious war movie while Lombard clearly understands what movie she’s in. You might say that a clash of styles can add to the comedy, and you’re right, but I never felt like it did here. You can contrast earnest and cynical and make great laughs from it, but not here.

The film’s best parts were Lubitsch’s little digs at the actors’ vapidness. He had a lot of experience with a wide variety of personalities when he made this movie and clearly pulls from that in how he directs these actors. Felix Bressart plays Greenberg here and is one of Lubitsch’s great supporting players. Despite the inaccurate cartoonishness of the Soviets in Ninotchka, Bressart was very funny playing one of a bumbling trio. He flexed his dramatic chops more in The Shop Around the Corner, Lubitsch’s best Code-era film, in my opinion. As Greenberg, he’s a Jewish actor with dreams of playing Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The picture uses this as a recurring gag that actually builds on itself and leads to a punchline.

To Be Or Not To Be is undoubtedly something unique in a sea of World War II era pictures. The fact that its characters are Polish and all the action takes place in Warsaw stands out against the plethora of movies about American soldiers abroad. I have to respect Lubitsch for making a comedy about Nazis at the height of the War. That must have been quite a hard sell. The best moments are where the director gets to pick apart the absurdity of the Nazis, though I wish it had been balanced with why these monsters were also scary. When you follow an ideology so disconnected from humanity & reality, you become a terrifying creature capable of very evil acts. To Be Or Not To Be still stands up to contemporary comedies. Lubitsch had figured out a formula so many of today’s filmmakers still struggle with.