To be or not to be /

As nervy as it is hilarious, a masterpiece from Ernst Lubitsch, To Be Or Not To Be; is a Hollywood film of the boldest black humor, which went into production soon after the U.S. entered World War II. Lubitsch manages to brilliantly balance political satire, romance, slapstick, and urgent wartime su...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors / Creators:Lubitsch, Ernst, 1892-1947, screenwriter, film director, producer.
Korda, Alexander, Sir, 1893-1956, film producer.
Lengyel, Menyhért, 1880-1974, screenwriter.
Mayer, Edwin Justus, 1896-1960, screenwriter.
Lombard, Carole, 1908-1942, actor.
Benny, Jack, 1894-1974, actor.
Stack, Robert, 1919-2003, actor.
Bressart, Felix, 1890-1949, actor.
Atwill, Lionel, 1885-1946, actor.
Ridges, Stanley, 1892-1951, actor.
Rumann, Sig, 1884-1967, actor.
Dugan, Tom, 1889-1955, actor.
Korda, Vincent, 1896-1979, production designer.
Maté, Rudolph, 1899-1964, director of photography.
Heymann, Werner Richard, 1896-1961, composer.
Heron, Julia, set designer.
Irene, 1901-1962, costume designer.
Spencer, Dorothy, 1909-2002, editor of moving image work.
Kalat, David, 1970- commentator.
Binh, N. T., 1958- filmmaker.
Bernard, Jean-Jacques, 1888-1972, film director.
O'Brien, Geoffrey, 1948- writer of added text.
Other Corporate Authors / Creators:United Artists Corporation.
Criterion Collection (Firm)
Format: DVD
Language:English
Language notes:English dialogue; optional English SDH subtitles.
Edition:Two-DVD special edition.
Imprint: [New York] : The Criterion Collection, 2013.
Series:Criterion collection ; 670.
Subjects:
Other uniform title:Screen guild theater.
Other title:Pinkus's shoe palace.
Lubitsch le patron.
Description
Summary:As nervy as it is hilarious, a masterpiece from Ernst Lubitsch, To Be Or Not To Be; is a Hollywood film of the boldest black humor, which went into production soon after the U.S. entered World War II. Lubitsch manages to brilliantly balance political satire, romance, slapstick, and urgent wartime suspense in a comic high-wire act that has never been equaled.
Ernst Lubitsch directs the 1942 political satire classic To Be or Not to Be, which marked the final screen appearance of comedienne Carole Lombard. In Warsaw at the beginning of WWII, Maria Tura (Lombard) and husband Joseph (Jack Benny) perform anti-Nazi plays with their theater troupe until they are forced to switch to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Lt. Stanislav Sobinski (Robert Stack) falls for Maria and meets up with her during Joseph's famous "To Be or Not to Be" speech as Hamlet. When Stanislav is eventually dispatched for war, he implicates Maria with Professor Siletsky (Stanley Ridges), who has a secret plan to destroy the Warsaw resistance. The Polish theater troupe is then forced to use their theatrical skills to ensure their survival. Eventually, they turn to impersonating Nazi officers -- and even Hitler himself -- in order to outwit the enemy and keep the resistance safe from spies. To Be or Not to Be opened to a controversial release in 1942, when the U.S. was still very much involved in WWII. It was remade in 1983 starring Mel Brooks and real-life wife Anne Bancroft. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
Item Description:Originally produced as a motion picture in 1942.
Special features: Disc 1: Audio commentary featuring film historian David Kalat. Disc 2: Pinkus's shoe palace (1916 film starring Ernst Lubitsch as a slapstick Jewish sterotype); Lubitsch le patron (a 2010 French documentary written by film scholar N.T. Binh and directed by Jean-Jacques Bernard, traces the career of filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch); The Screen Guild Theater (two episodes of the radio anthology series: Variety (1940) and To Be or Not to Be (1943)). Booklet features an essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien and a 1942 New York Times op-ed by Lubitsch.
Physical Description:2 videodiscs (99 min.) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet (23 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm).
System Details:DVD; NTSC; Region 1; 1.37:1 aspect ratio; PCM mono.
Credits:Production designed by Vincent Korda ; photographed by Rudolph Maté ; musical score by Werner R. Heymann ; interior decoration, Julia Heron ; costumes, Irene ; film editor, Dorothy Spencer.
Cast:Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges, Sig Ruman, Tom Dugan.
ISBN:9781604657616
1604657618