To Be or Not To Be
I’m finally at the point where I can say I’ve watched a film from Ernst Lubitsch, and it was well worth the wait. He is one of many European filmmakers who went to Hollywood during the years before WWII, and he is best known for his comedies. This one was actually remade by Mel Brooks and his friends in the ’80s (Brooks didn’t direct, just starred in it), so it’s been on my radar for that reason. (I wanted to watch the original before watching the later film.) Given the time in American history we are in, “To Be or Not to Be” being the Lubitsch film I broke through with was a pleasant surprise.
If you’ve been following the Sonic Cinema Podcast, you know I’ve got a series looking at the ways various films have looked at fascism and authoritarianism. Watching “To Be or Not to Be” unfold, it would have absolutely fit into the discussion on resistance to fascism from the first episode in the series, and it could possibly fit into another episode I have an idea for. The film follows a theatre company in Warsaw who is doing a comedic play about the Nazis prior to their occupation of Poland before the war, only to find themselves embroiled in spy craft against the Nazis as the war is going on. It is a razor-sharp comedy about love and trying to navigate a life where the wrong choice of who to trust could get you killed.
The title is, of course, from Hamlet’s soliloquy. It’s importance to the film is as such- Maria Tura (Carole Lombard) and her husband, Joseph (Jack Benny), are part of the company. While they are doing a production of Hamlet– with Joseph in the lead role- Maria gets a bouquet of flowers from Lieutenant Sobinski (Robert Stack). Maria arranges for a secret meeting with Sobinski, where he is to walk out of the play when Joseph begins the soliloquy. The ego hurt of Joseph is too much, but the Nazis occupy Poland not long after, and Sobinski- who has declared he loves Maria- leaves to fly with the RAF’s Polish squadron.
This all happens early in the film. The bulk of the film- written by Edwin Justus Mayer from a story by Lubitsch and Melchior Lengyel- centers on action during the war; in particular, the realization of Sobinski that a Polish resistance leader, Professor Siletsky (Melchior Lengyel), is actually a German spy. How does he know this? Siletsky is taking messages from airmen to loved ones in Poland, and when Sobinski tells him his message for Maria, the Professor claims not to know who she is. Sobinski makes his way back to Poland to get word to the resistance, and that’s where the comedy really begins for this love triangle.
There’s something about the filmmakers of the ’30s and ’40s, as well as the actors of the time, who just seemed to understand how to make farce and comedy work just a bit differently than modern filmmakers, who have no doubt watched these films, but don’t get the mechanics about why they work as well as they do. Every performer hits just the right comedic note, even with a straight face, and watching how even the best laid plans can fails- and the worst laid plans falter hilariously- it is just a pleasure seeing how this film operates. At some point, I definitely want to watch the Mel Brooks one- he’s one of the few contemporary filmmakers who understand farce, after all- but for now, I can take solace in appreciating what Lubitsch and co. accomplish here.
