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To Be or Not to Be (1942 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| To Be or Not to Be | |
|---|---|
 To Be or Not to Be VHS cover |
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| Directed by | Ernst Lubitsch |
| Produced by | Ernst Lubitsch |
| Written by | Melchior Lengyel Edwin Justus Mayer |
| Starring | Carole Lombard Jack Benny Robert Stack Felix Bressart Sig Ruman |
| Music by | Werner R. Heymann Miklós Rózsa (uncredited) |
| Cinematography | Rudolph Maté |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | March 6, 1942 |
| Running time | 99 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 comedy film about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It starred Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges and Sig Ruman.
The title is a reference to the famous "To be, or not to be" soliloquy in William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
The movie was adapted by Ernst Lubitsch (uncredited) and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel. It was directed by Lubitsch.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. In 1996, To Be or Not to Be was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The movie was released 2 months after actress Carole Lombard was killed in an airplane crash.
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The main characters include:
- Maria Tura (Carole Lombard) — an actress in Nazi-occupied Poland.
- Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) — an actor and Maria's husband.
- Lt. Stanislav Sobinski (Robert Stack) — a Polish airman in love with Maria.
To Be or Not to Be was remade in 1983 by Mel Brooks. See also: To Be or Not to Be (1983 film).
Lubitsch, himself of German Jewish origin, was cautious in the film over making overt references to "Jewishness" (including avoiding use of the words Jewish or Jew). Just one character, Greenberg (played by Felix Bressart), an actor in the theatrical company, is made obviously Jewish. This is first conveyed during the opening sequence: when Greenberg is quarreling with another actor, he declares, "What you are I wouldn't eat!" to which the second responds, "How dare you call me a ham!" It emerges that Greenberg's lifelong ambition is to play the (Jewish) character of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Yet when Greenberg recites sections of Shylock's most famous speech in the film (twice), the word "Jew" has in each case been edited out.
A prescient line was cut out of the film after the death of Carole Lombard: when Lombard is invited by Robert Stack's smitten airman to fly in a plane with him, she says: "What can happen on a plane?" The line has since been restored to available prints of the film.
- To Be or Not to Be (1942) at the Internet Movie Database
- To Be or Not to Be (1942) at All Movie Guide
- To Be or Not to Be (1942) at the TCM Movie Database
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