Here goes another recommendation, although I don't have time to write anything particularly epic...
Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be, a satirical take on the Nazi occupation of Poland featuring a troupe of actors who inadvertently become involved in espionage, went into production in October of 1941, just before America's committed involvement in World War II, and wrapped up in late December, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. When the film was released in March of 1942, two months after the tragic death of actress Carole Lombard in a plane crash, the final result was met with a mixed reception, to say the least. Even today, the film's most edgy quotes can still raise some eyebrows. Critics at the time were especially riled by a late scene where a Nazi official comments on a famous lead actor by saying, “What he did to Shakespeare, we are now doing to Poland.” Earlier in the film, when an actor trying to pass as a Nazi colonel comically alludes to concentration camps by saying, "We do the concentrating and the Poles do the camping.", one cannot help but wonder if To Be or Not to Be would have been written quite differently had it been made after the conclusion of the war, when the full extent of the Holocaust atrocities became known to the American public.
Ultimately, the nervy effectiveness of To Be or Not to Be works in its favor, and the multiple layers of Lubitsch's satire are alternately hilarious and somber. Like Hitchcock and many other directors who earned their stripes in silent cinema early in their careers, Lubitsch brilliantly splices comedy and nail-biting tension to keep viewers entertained across the board. To Be or Not to Be is, all at once, an amusing love triangle tale that pushes the boundaries of sexual innuendos in its era, a lively take on the nature of actors to continue acting even during their real-life interactions, a scathingly laughable criticism of the Nazi menace, a tribute to the bravery of the Polish resistance, and a fast-paced wartime spy thriller. A late moment in the film, when one of the actors who has generally been viewed in a funnily dismissive way shows true bravery in an apparent willing sacrifice of his life to save his friends, the true weight of what was at stake in the real-life struggles against Nazism hits home in an unexpectedly profound way amidst the comparably lighthearted adventure scenario.
To Be or Not to Be has earned well-deserved accolades by appearing on several Top 50 Movie Comedy lists, but the adventure aspects of the film hold up just as well. Astute viewers will quickly note how To Be or Not to Be influenced many key scenes in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film, Inglourious Basterds. These two movies would make for a fine double feature night.
It is a testament to the presentation of this
Criterion Blu-ray that I knew practically nothing about Ernst Lubitsch before going through this disc last night, but now feel that I could write a term paper about his career. Historian David Kalat's commentary is beautifully insightful, and it delves into the history of the film without boring the viewer with play-by-play explanations. A 2010 French documentary about Lubitsch sheds light on the evolution of his career as he came onto the Hollywood scene. Lubitsch's 1916 silent film, Schuhpalast Pinkus (Pinkus's Shoe Palace), a fun-spirited venture where Lubitsch himself plays a rather opportunistic slacker, is an interesting reflection of how the precision of his tailor shop background guided his filmmaking ethos. The film itself looks and sounds great in the format, of course.
At first glance, Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be may seem stuffy to the prospective viewer, but I am grateful that I gave it a chance and found it to work equally well in terms of hilarity and riveting suspense. The film flies by at lightning pace, even by the standards of today's cinema.
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