To Be or Not to Be

Pros: Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, Sig Ruman, Robert Stack, Lubitsch's direction, script
Cons: Poland went from one oppressor to another

"To be, or not to be. That is the question." The easily distracted stage actor Jozef Tura always seems to have a problem getting past the opening part of this famed soliloquy whenever he plays the title role in Hamlet. Even though Tura (Jack ...

Pros: Superb Lombard, engagingly wacky plot.
Cons: Benny's overdone ham.

To Be or Not to Be (1942) is a nicely-done comedy in which a troupe of Polish actors with ties to the underground resistance puts one over on Hitler and his crew shortly after the 1939 invasion of Poland.

Especially notable is its...

Pros: cast, direction, script, costumes, humor
Cons: some unlikely events

"To Be or Not To Be" is an outstanding comedy and drama. Better than Chaplin's "The Great Dictator", it is surely the best Nazi satire. While it moves freely between suspense and comedy, the scenes with Jack Benny are generally the...

Pros: Well done satire
Cons: Very contrived in places

Given the time that this movie was made, 1942, it is understandable of some of the liberties taken in this film. It is basically the story of a Polish group of actors in Warsaw in 1939. One of their members has written a play about Adolph Hitler of all...