‎To Be or Not to Be (1942) directed by Ernst Lubitsch • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

To Be or Not to Be

1942 Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

Carole Lombard Jack Benny Robert Stack Felix Bressart Lionel Atwill Stanley Ridges Sig Ruman Tom Dugan Charles Halton Henry Victor Maude Eburne George Lynn Halliwell Hobbes Miles Mander

99 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Jake Cole ★★★★½ 1

"So they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt, eh?"
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 2

87/100

A proud, important joke mixed and matched for an hour and a half, but when its subject is so sinister and its execution so multifaceted in delivery and tone balances, it doesn't really matter that each comedic springboard is built off of the same root feelings of anger and frustration. Ernst Lubitsch is pissed off but entirely confident in his storytelling, never relenting from harsh realities but still sly enough to make a smile and a tear one and the same. If any one moment shifted towards the absurd, Lubitsch would dial it back for a more humane, grounded segment, and in a few sections, he even shook the two flavors and moods together for an unpredictable end result…
Review by Dragonknight ★★★★½ 2

Film #9 of Project 40

”They named a brandy after Napoleon, they made a herring out of Bismarck, and the Fuhrer is going to end up as a piece of cheese!”

This is how it should be done. Every now and then you find a movie that you can watch over and over without getting tired or bored, for me To Be or Not To Be is one of those films. A charming and delightful little comedy from Ernst Lubitsch set in the Nazi occupied Warsaw which makes fun of Nazis better than any other satire, honors actors who are passionately working to bring us lively theaters and like other Lubitsch movies bombards us with polished, highly amusing and elegant…
Review by Monday Seagull

Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.
(George Bernard Shaw)
Review by RetroHound ★★★★★

It opens in Poland, 1939. What the heck!? I thought this was a comedy! In fact, it is, and the first 5 minutes are the funniest opening of a movie I've seen in a long time.

Jack Benny and Carol Lombard are husband and wife actors. She is flattered by the attention of a young pilot. They arrange to meet while her husband does the "To be or not to be" monologue from Hamlet. Then the Germans invade and they end up involved in a plot by the Germans to discover information about the Polish underground. This gives the actors many times to test their abilities while providing Benny with opportunities to discover information about his wife's fidelity.

Right now it's free on a website called ShoutFactory. Very witty, highly recommended, and not to be missed.
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 2

87

"Well, Colonel, all I can say is... you can't have your cake and shoot it, too."

Recent reviews

Review by TonyHannan ★★★★★

A must-watch, pure and simple. Especially in these mad days.

'To Be or Not To Be' proves that comedy is so often the best route to seriousness.
Review by catcarlo ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Vogliamo vivere

A più di settant’anni dalla prima uscita e dopo un accurato restauro, torna sugli schermi uno dei capolavori di Lubitsch con il sonoro originale e i sottotitoli (ho letto che il doppiaggio italiano risalente agli anni Quaranta non fosse all’altezza, ma ho visto la vecchia versione tanto di quel tempo fa che proprio non saprei dire). Ci vuole una grande bravura per trattare argomenti tragici con il tocco della commedia e ancor di più quando lo si fa in contemporanea agli avvenimenti, senza la rassicurante distanza di una prospettiva storica: come ‘Il grande dittatore’, ‘Vogliamo vivere’ – detto fra noi, il titolo italiano è di una stupidità abissale - non cancella la barbarie con una risata, ma la…
Review by Avik_Basu ★★★★½

God was this entertaining. The one-liners, the expressions, the goofy political commentary, everything floored me.

When politics influences art, art has no option but to in turn, influence politics. That's the general idea that the script explores. But the genius of Lubitsch lies in his ability to take a seemingly weighty idea like that and a make a film out of it where every scene is a laugh riot. The screenplay constantly plays around with itself. There are constant call-backs to earlier scenes, thematic juxtapositions to previous events and absolutely hilarious but deeply potent treatment of political commentary.

The cast as a whole is fantastic. But I have to give a special mention to Jack Benny. This is a flawless…
Review by rosie ★★★★★

getting to see this in the cinema with a full house was such a fun experience!!! it really is the funniest film ever made and i firmly believe that jack benny’s comic timing and ernst lubitsch’s dialogue really were a match made in heaven
Review by MuneebAhmed ★★★★★

Timeless classic. Amongst philosopher Slavoj Zizek's top five movies.
Review by Haden Edmonds ★★★★½

Razor sharp satire still!! And Jack Benny’s timing is on point.
Review by The Mysterious Stranger

gracias lubitsch, en tiempos de guerra ta bueno reirse un poco
Review by Bryce Thompson ★★★★

"Shall we toast to a blitzkrieg?" 😏
"I prefer a slow encirclement"😏😏😏😏
I love Classic Hollywood sexy talk
Review by Lars Johnson ★★★★★

Imagine seeing this in 1942 — a transgressive, angry, pitiless film punching straight up and into the throat of every Hitlerite in all of Germany and beyond, while men and women were at that same moment embroiled in the fight to save the soul of the world from them. It must have been an incredible experience, to be given the chance to laugh in the midst of such tension.

Of course, I can only imagine how tough it was to live through such times, but living in today’s tense political climate gives me some idea. In today’s world, it feels like we’re on the cusp of something terrible every other day, and I know I could use a laugh from…