Film Review
Possibly the greatest film satire of them all, certainly one of the
most daring and funniest,
To Be or
Not to Be represents the comedic pinnacle of Ernst Lubitsch's
highly productive period in Hollywood - a no-holds-barred assault on
the two scourges of the modern era (circa 1942): rampaging Nazis and
self-absorbed actors. Today, the film is almost universally
acknowledged to be both a masterpiece and one of the most effective
pieces of wartime propaganda to come out of Hollywood during WWII, but
at the time of its release it met with a very lukewarm reception.
Many critics considered it to be the height of bad taste and
politically dangerous - the fight against Fascism was not a fit subject
for comedy. Lines such as Colonel Erhardt's quip "What [Tura] did
to Shakespeare [in his portrayal of Hamlet] we are now doing to Poland"
was like a red rag to a bull as far as the critics were concerned and
prevented them from appreciating just how effective an anti-Nazi piece
the film was. Ridicule is a far more effective weapon against a
national enemy than any quantity of jingositic rhetoric.
To Be or Not to Be may be a
very funny film (a precursor to all the anti-Nazi romps that came along
after WWII, notably the long-running sitcom
'Allo, 'Allo) but Lubitsch's
intentions in making the film were deadly serious. A patriotic
German who was driven into exile when his country succumbed to Fascism,
Lubitsch made use of this film to exact his own form of vengeance
against a regime that he considered an unparalleled threat to the free
world and an insult to the German nation. Just as Charlie Chaplin
had done in his Nazi send-up
The Great Dictator (1940),
Lubitsch portrays Hitler's supposed master race as nothing more than a
motley troupe of comedy villains, virtually indistinguishable from the
ham actors who manage so easily to impersonate them (even Hitler
himself). But unlike Chaplin, Lubitsch's line is far from
pacifist and the film leaves its audience in no doubt that Nazism is a
dangerous menace that can only be defeated by military might and at
great personal sacrifice. The film's title - taken from the
famous Shakespeare soliloquy in which Hamlet stumbles into an
existential reverie - might easily be taken as a reference to America's
gutless ambivalence over entering the war in 1941. To act or not
to act...
Controversial as the film's subject was for its time, Lubitsch's flair
for comedy (which was virtually unsurpassed during his time
in Hollywood) makes it an irresistible tour de force. It is a
testament to the director's genius that the film still manages to get
the laughs (and belt-busting laughs at that), long after the butt of
its carefully targetted humour has long since ceased to be (which
is more than can be said for
Mel Brooks's 1983 remake).
It also marked the career highpoint for its two lead actors, Carole
Lombard and Jack Benny, who have never been funnier than they are here
(nor has Lombard looked more stunningly radiant). Tragically,
this was to be Lombard's last film role - she was killed in a plane
crash during a flight to Hollywood to participate in a war bonds
rally, just a few months before the film was released. It wasn't
until Hitler and his mob had been defeated and consigned to the darker
pages of history that
To or Not to Be
acquired the status it now enjoys - a satirical masterpiece that did to
the Nazis what they did to Poland, reducing them to the level of a
cheap vaudeville act, a fitting retribution.
© James Travers 2011
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Ernst Lubitsch film:
Heaven Can Wait (1943)
Film Synopsis
Poland, 1939. With Germany poised to launch an invasion that will
plunge the world into a long and costly war, Warsaw's leading theatre
company is busy rehearsing an anti-Nazi play which pokes fun at Hitler
and his jackbooted cohorts. The stars of the show are Josef Tura,
an actor whose vanity far outweighs his talent, and his gorgeous wife
Maria, who makes a habit of flirting with her admirers. When the
show is banned by the authorities, the company instead mounts a
production of
Hamlet.
Whilst Tura is blithely murdering the Bard's famous soliloquy, his wife
receives a backstage visit from a handsome young fighter pilot,
Lieutenant Sobinski, who professes his undying love for her. Not
long after, Poland is invaded by Germany and much of Warsaw soon lies
in ruins, its theatres closed for business. Whilst training
in England with the Polish division of the British Royal Air Force,
Sobinski meets an important member of the Polish underground resistance
movement, Professor Siletsky, but suspects he may actually be a Nazi
agent. Sobinski's superiors send him back to Poland to prevent
Siletsky from passing on the names of resistance fighters to the Nazi
high command. Maria is recruited to act as a go-between but is
arrested and taken to Siletsky, who suggests she would make an
admirable Nazi spy. To save Maria, Tura must impersonate Colonel
Ehrhardt, a high-ranking Gestapo officer, and then Siletsky after
Siletsky has been cornered and executed by his fellow actors. All
goes well until Siletsky's corpse is discovered by the Germans and Tura
comes face-to-face with the real Colonel Ehrhardt. If he is to
survive, Tura must now put on the performance of his
life...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.