World War II-era Hollywood films have become more fascinating with time because they’re something that it looks like we might not ever see again, which is a war that galvanized everyone.
That rascally rabbit Hitler and his intent on invading every country that he and his little mustache possibly could were bad, while the Allies were good. This was not controversial for most of the world. Nobody argued about this, so that freed up the film industry to make all sorts of movies about the war while it was still happening. They made piles of action films, dramas, thrillers, musicals, patriotic revues and comedies all about the war effort and released to theaters at the exact moment that Allied forces were releasing bombs over Hamburg.
Critics of time were perfectly fine with the majority of these films. Some were good, some were bad. They were pretty much all inoffensive.
Except for To Be or Not to Be, which took the war a little too lightly, according to some writers of the era. The invasion of Poland in 1939 when the Nazis killed tens of thousands, leveled 10% of Warsaw and jump-started the war was not the best setting for a farce, they said. Yeesh, talk about bad taste!
But then a funny thing happened. Generations passed and that old expression that “comedy is tragedy plus time” proved true again because To Be or Not to Be survives the years as brilliant madness. It’s screwball at its screwiest and ballsiest, beautifully orchestrated by director Ernst Lubitsch, adding another great comedy to his legendary body of work.
Carole Lombard, in her final film (this came out a month after her death from a plane crash), is effervescent as usual as an actress who can’t seem to decide if she wants to cheat on her husband or not. Her co-star Jack Benny though steals the show as Lombard’s actor husband whose hammy arrogance is matched only by his insecurity. He’s not a bad person, but he’s seriously needy. He also carries the funniest scenes. This is Benny’s best film.
The story: A Polish acting troupe (Is even one member of this cast even half-Polish? I’d be surprised if so) has their show in Warsaw interrupted by history-in-the-making when the Gestapo invades. The city is turned upside-down and even famous “Polish” stars Lombard and Benny have to hide out in one-room hovels. Before all of that though, Lombard has a wishy-washy flirtation going on with young “Polish” fighter pilot Robert Stack and it’s through him that she becomes involved with underground resistance activities. One thing leads to another and our “Polish” thespians use their acting skills to help trip up the Nazi machine.
Yep, it’s the old mistaken identity gag, but this time the characters do it on purpose. To mixed results and many big laughs.
It’s not just a film about the war. It’s a film about people rising to the occasion. It’s also about how the big talker of a group is often the weakest one in it. it’s also about how improvisational performances can be fucking hard.
That’s part of the brilliance of Ernst Lubitsch films. Even when the production is opulent and the cast is top notch and the script is fluffed to perfection, Lubitsch also manages to show people as the flawed creatures that they really are. That’s comedy’s sweet spot. There isn’t one pure heart of gold here.
Life is harsh and imperfect and noisy. And we, all of us, are active parts of that and full participants in the game.