"So they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt, eh?"

to live or not to live this is the real question

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

More transgressive and surprising than Inglourious Basterds.

"What have you to say for yourself now? Here is a man with a beard, and you didn't even pull it!"

“What he did to Shakespeare we are now doing to Poland!”

I’ve seen this twice and the 1983 remake once yet it still has me guessing at every turn. The narrative is digestible yet unpredictable. Paced perfectly with densely-packed fortuitous plot wound around tight wry dialogue which is leaner than a side of beef. I am flawed as to how this film feels as if it were written with a hundred years of hindsight. 

An intrinsic instalment in cinematic culture and language linking premises of The Guardsman to the ambitious alternative history of Inglorious Basterds. No wonder I adore a film which shares a writer and director with Ninotchka; both political comedies with immense wit only matched by their courage to address the hypocrisies of their time.

87

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

Interweaving numerous threads of prudent humour within ostensibly solemn scenes, German director Ernst Lubitsch jumps energetically at the opportunity to laugh at the Nazis through a storyline which centres on a cast of performers in Poland employing their proficiencies to deceive the Nazi-occupying forces. To Be or Not to Be is full of spontaneous interactions and hardly subdued insinuations, and is perhaps one of the sharpest meta-comedies to materialise from the Hollywood studio system.

Its scenes are crowded with wisecracks and actors playing multiple parts, and Lubitsch makes forceful efforts in breaching the hampering restrictions of the motion picture production code by various carefree techniques. It effortlessly jumps the rails of the perceived impression that the menace of Nazism was beyond lampooning, and incorporates tremendous proportions of amusement and enjoyment. Additionally, it was released just thirty-four days after Carole Lombard tragically died at the age of thirty-three.

Fast-talkie Nazi-madness, Lubitsch’s keen eye for the comedy amongst the tragedy resulting in a rip-roaring, screwball-style spree of laugh-out-loud moments. Unlike with some of his more sincere works (A Shop Around the Corner), the lack of respect for native casting or anything in the way of passable accents only adds to the implicit goofiness, even if it does have a tendency to curl the toes. This film is just teeming with influence, from the kooky, bizarre caricatures of gems like Dr. Strangelove, to the final, theatre set-piece of Inglorious Basterds. I haven’t laughed this hard all year, and, despite a few dated beats, a lot of it’s down to the flawless comedic timing of Jack Benny and Carole Lombard. The Great Dictator will always be the greatest takedown of Nazism for its time (and perhaps ever), but this is undoubtedly up there with it.

Watched w/ Michael. Great Lubitsch comedy. It wasn't always easy to just roll with a farce about the Nazi invasion of Poland, but it's a pretty rewarding movie in that the comedy isn't just about gags and funny lines but is embedded in the storytelling — there are reversals and callbacks built into the plot that had me chuckling.

Also, not for nothing, but my first time seeing Carole Lombard.

87/100

“Heil Hitler!”
“Heil myself.”

To Be Or Not to Be is a movie so good that Best Picture nominees are still... borrowing from it.

Blu-ray

Droll, and fascinating as an artifact of people's views on the war at the time. I liked that no one even made an attempt at a Polish accent. Apparently this is Žižek's favorite comedy, and frankly it's not a bad choice.

Nuff said, masterfuckinpiece

A good laugh is nothing to sneeze at.

to be inglourious rabbit or not to be

“wait a minute! i’ll decide with whom my wife’s going to have dinner and whom she’s going to kill.”

It's questionable to create a comedy around this type of subject, but there are admittedly some very funny moments in this 1940s black comedy.

Le charme burlesque de la screwball comedy et l'intelligence cynique et irrévérencieuse de la satire projetés dans une espèce de superproduction hollywoodienne au rythme effréné qui propose une mise en abyme sur la puissance de l'art, et sur sa vocation à pointer du doigt (voire à combattre carrément) ce qui met en danger l'humanité. Lubitsch (soit dit en passant déchu de sa nationalité allemande par le régime nazi depuis 1935), dénonce par la dérision et par une certaine légèreté de ton l'obscène banalité avec laquelle les nazis mènent "à bien" leurs politiques de destruction massive en Europe.
To be or not to be est un chef-d'œuvre d'écriture et de mise-en-scène, aussi hilarant que clairvoyant... Que dire d'autre ?

I cannot possibly imagine living during WWII and being able to write and produce something so clever, biting, and hilarious. Lubitsch was a treasure.