To Be or Not To Be
Release date 6th March 1942
Country : USA
Running time : 99 mins
Genre : Comedy
Starring Jack Benny, Carole Lombard
Screenplay by Edwin Justus Mayer
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch



  A Polish theatre troupe become unlikely war heroes.

Heavily criticised at the time for bad taste Ernst Lubitsch's masterly satire on Nazism and foreign occupation can now be seen as his greatest and funniest film. It was a film career peak  for everyone involved : Jack Benny was never better onscreen than as Joseph Tura "the great Polish actor !", Carole Lombard sadly in her last role (she was tragically killed in a plane crash before the film was released), Robert Stack as her "shy" lover and a whole repertory of fine character actors who impersonate Hitler among others ! At times it is also very dramatic in its portrayal of the Polish struggle for independence making criticisms of bad taste hard to believe. 

 

"As effective an example of comedy propaganda as The Great Dictator and far better directed." From a review by Charles Higham, 1972.