To Be or Not to Be 1942

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To Be or Not to Be ★★★½ 1942

Sophisticated black comedy set in wartime Poland. Lombard and Benny are Maria and Josef Tura, the Barrymores of the Polish stage, who use the talents of their acting troupe to protect the Warsaw Resistance against the invading Nazis. The opening sequence is regarded as a cinema classic. One of Benny's finest film performances, the movie marks Lombard's final screen appearance—she was killed in a plane crash druing a war bond drive shortly after completing the film. Classic Lubitsch. Remade in 1983 with Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. 102m/B VHS, DVD . Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Sig Rumann, Lionel Atwill, Felix Bressart, Helmut Dantine, Tom Dugan, Charles Halton, Stanley Ridges, George Lynn, Halliwell Hobbes, Miles Mander, Henry Victor, Leslie Denison, Frank Reicher, John Kellogg, James Finlayson, Roland Varno; D: Ernst Lubitsch; W: Ernst Lubitsch, Edwin Justus Mayer, Melchior Lengyel; C: Rudolph Mate; M: Werner R. Heymann, Miklos Rozsa. Natl. Film Reg. ‘96.