OVP: To Be or Not To Be (1942)

Film: To Be or Not To Be (1942)
Stars: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Sig Ruman
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Original Score)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

I always marvel at the idea that I'm seeing a classic movie for the first time.  There's only so many such films that still exist in my world, and it's very rare that I get to do this activity anymore, particularly for a film that isn't a "modern classic" but in fact something from eons ago.  This is why I was so thrilled to get to investigate To Be or Not To Be, one of those great Lubitsch pictures and the final movie of Carole Lombard's career.  I thought in a way I might be tempting fate a bit watching this movie on a plane (considering Lombard's ultimate demise), but figured I'd go with it as it was the next movie in my Netflix DVD queue, and I wanted to give it a try.

(Spoilers Ahead) The strange thing about Hollywood in the 1940's is that they continually made movies about the Nazis and World War II as it was happening (Casablanca is the most famous example, but there are lots of them).  I don't know why, but that always shocks me.  I'm aware that we made movies about the Iraq War while it has still been being fought, but because it is so alien to the news (whereas World War II was constantly a part of the day-to-day life of every Americans what with the draft and rations, as well as attacks on actual American soil), it doesn't quite feel the same.

The movie unfolds during World War II, specifically looking at Maria (Lombard) and Joseph Tura (Benny), an acting couple who have lost some of the spark in their relationship, and are playing Hamlet in Poland just before the occupation.  Maria is being pursued by a handsome young pilot named Sobinski (Stack), who meets with Maria one night after excusing himself during the famed "To Be or Not To Be" speech of Shakespeare's play, much to the chagrin of the easily-annoyed Benny.  The film unfolds with Maria and Joseph both having regular run-ins with the Nazis, and Joseph having to deal with his wife conducting an emotional affair even if she didn't mean it as anything more than friendship, and the entire acting troupe trying to pull one over on Adolf Hitler & his Gestapo, particularly the bumbling Col. Erhardt (a precursor to Hogan's Heroes in a lot of ways, and the role that would win Charles Durning an Oscar nomination with the remake).  The movie ends, in typical comic fashion, with the good guys winning even though the war still rages on, and both Benny & Stack confused by a different handsome solider getting up during his "to be or not to be" speech.

The film is shocking in its attitude toward the war in a way I don't know that I've seen outside of a Mel Brooks comedy, and The Producers came out decades after the fighting had stopped.  Seeing Benny decked out in a Nazi uniform is startling, and the Nazi salute is so frequently and comically used I felt uncomfortable sitting next to the guy on the plane while I was watching it, eventually informing him when he inquired that I run a classic film blog which is why I was watching the picture.  The movie's cavalier attitude occasionally goes into the insensitive, particularly when it juxtaposes the absurd against Felix Bressart's impassioned speeches as Shylock.  Still, though, it's marvelously entertaining, particularly Lombard who has never looked so beautiful and is by far the film's biggest highlight.  Stack does little more than is required of him (to be handsome), but he succeeds on that front, and Benny, well, always played Jack Benny and if you like that sort of thing this will work well for you (I love Benny-I think he's marvelous in interviews, so I was frequently chuckling at his antics, even though his range as an actor is essentially one character-himself).

The movie received a sole nomination for Best Score, an odd citation as it wasn't memorable at all.  In fact, of all of the aspects of the movie (acting, writing, costumes), it's one of the areas that stand out the least, and seems like pretty standard-fare trumpets that you'd expect from the era.  Still, it's nice to know such a sharp and edgy film (for its day) got picked up by AMPAS in at least one category so we get to include it in the OVP.

The movie is definitely worth a see, and if you have, please share your favorite moments in the comments!  I was partial to Lombard's lusty comment about "five tons of dynamite," but there's many to sort through.  And for those who haven't seen it, share your favorite moments in the filmographies of Lombard, Benny, and Stack!  The comments await!