To Be or Not to Be

MOVIE #1,816 •🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿• 07.16.24 I've now watched Carol Lombard's final two film performances (she died tragically before this movie’s release in a plane crash). Hitchcock’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith didn’t work for me, but she's so good in this. Her line reads and comic timing are impeccable (see below). This was also my first exposure to Jack Benny’s film work and he’s equally as great (see below the below). This works on very level: from the simple insanity of making/producing a satirical film like this in 1942 to the nuance of how the actors’ egos are intertwined in the plot — it’s legit funny, looks amazing and made me instantly want to check out Ernst Lubitsch’s other work, even if this is likely the highwater mark. The Return of Jeffy Too-Tens is proud to bestow this with the honor of 10/10. An amazing film.

And one more for the road...

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,815 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,817 ⫸

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To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 American black comedy film, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Carole Lombard and Jack Benny, and featuring Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges and Sig Ruman. The plot concerns a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It was adapted by Lubitsch (uncredited) and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel. The film was released one month after actress Carole Lombard was killed in an airplane crash. In 1996, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. It was released on October 8, 1942.