To Be or Not to Be
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Movie Reviews of To Be or Not to Be
Movie Review: Amazingly funny Wartime movie
Summary: 4 Stars
At first I was amused at the story and especially the performance of Jack Benny. Imagine him, in tights, performing Hamlet... "To be or not to be..." with that famous bland look on his face. Maybe it's having grown up with listening to him on the radio and then watching him on TV, that I so much enjoyed him here.
But after thinking a bit about the movie, I moved from being merely amused to being quite amazed at how this movie was so able to portray truly horrific events in a comedic way, during the time of the actual war.
We've seen a lot of movies that show the misery of war. We've seen some that managed to make former wars funny (MASH comes to mind, which showed the Korean War, while we were in Viet Nam). I can't think of any that managed to pull off comedy while everyone who was making it and watching it was still at risk,, with the possible exception of Stalag 17..and I'm not sure when that came out. Can you imagine a comedy featuring Osama ben Laden or Saddam Hussein or whoever our current enemy is supposed to be? Maybe if we laughed at our enemies more we'd disarm them....
This makes me want to see the Mel Brooks version. He's another genius who understands real comedy.
Movie Review: He Puts the Ham in Hamlet
Summary: 4 Stars
To Be or Not To Be is a comedy set during WWII. Although it makes light of a tense time in history, it manages to maintain an air of respect and mischief to keep the viewer at ease. The story revolves around two actors in Poland, Maria and Joseph Tura. Joseph (Jack Benny) specializes in overplaying Hamlet and Maria (Carole Lombard) specializes in seducing younger men in her dressing room as her husband begins his "To be or not to be" speech. The man she seduces is a soldier who draws her into a dangerous spy situation. Although she is working for the Allies, a Nazi leader attempts to make her a spy for his cause. Madcap comedy ensues as the actors attempt to get them out of the mess.
The film is very funny thanks to the brilliant dialogue and acting. It is a real shame that Carole Lombard died after this film was made in a plane crash; she proves to be a very beautiful and talented comedienne.
Movie Review: What Were They Thinkng...
Summary: 4 Stars
O.K.- Bad taste aside, this is one funny movie. Actually, it can get rather preachy, but this is hindsight talking. One wonders what in heavens name they were thinking when they came up with the idea! But to see Jack Benny go at it, that's the payoff. And the ending, when the fellow starts to get up and leave, and to watch Benny's face!Movie Review: AVERAGE TRANSFER, BIZARRE FILM, INTERESTING PREMISE
Summary: 3 Stars
Ernst Lubitch's "To Be Or Not To Be"(1943) has to be the most genuinely bizarre political satire to emerge from Hollywood's golden age. It stars Jack Benny and Carol Lombard as Joseph and Maria Tura - a married couple and stage performers living in occupied Poland during WWII. Determined to alter the course of the war, the two helm a troupe of ham actors in a dead pan comic assault on the Nazis When a spy emerges who has damaging information to the Polish resistance, Joseph and Maria decide to prevent the information from being delivered to the Reich. Benny's brilliant lampoon of Hamlet's soliloquy "to be or not to be" is at the crux of a disastrous rendezvous between Maria and Lt. Stanislav Sobinski (Robert Stack). Stan gets the hots for Maria - a passion not reciprocated. Hence, when Stan is dispatched for war, he cruelly implicates Maria with Professor Siletsky (Stanley Ridges), the real spy who has a secret plan to destroy the Warsaw resistance. The theater troupe is then forced to use their thespian skills to ensure their own survival; impersonating Nazi officers and even Hitler in order to outwit the enemy. Controversial to say the very least, "To Be Or Not to Be" opened to modest acclaim and was later remade, to limited effect, as a 1983 farce starring Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft.
Warner's DVD treatment is middle of the road. The black and white image has been mastered from reasonably clean film elements. Contrast levels are adequate, though at times weak. There's a hint of edge enhancement and some fine detail shimmering, but nothing that will distract. Fine details are sometimes nicely realized but darker scenes suffer from inconsistent quality. Film grain is moderate. Age related artifacts are present throughout. An archival news reel and short subject are the only extras included.
Movie Review: To Be or Not to Be
Summary: 3 Stars
This purchase was made because of a family connection with the film. My father, J. McMillan Johnson, was the art director on this film.
Though written as a farce, it has an element of the truth, for many of the members of the Reich were puffed up with their own importance. That one point was a major one in their ultimate downfall.
I was pleased to add it to my small collections of DVDs of dad's films.