To Be or Not to Be
To Be or Not to Be VHS cover
Directed by	Ernst Lubitsch
Produced by	Ernst Lubitsch
Written by	Melchior Lengyel Edwin Justus Mayer
Starring	Carole Lombard Jack Benny
Music by
Cinematography
Editing by
Distributed by	United Artists
Released	March 6, 1942
Running time	99 min.
Language	English
Budget
Preceded by	{{{preceded_by}}}
Followed by	{{{followed_by}}}
IMDb profile

To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 comedy film about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It starred Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges and Sig Ruman. Image File history File links To_Be_Or_Not_To_Be_Poster. ... Image:Ernst Lubitsch 2. ... Image:Ernst Lubitsch 2. ... Melchior(Menyhért) Lengyel (January 12, 1880 - October 23, 1974 Budapest) was Hungarian playwright and film scriptwriter. ... Carole Lombard Carole Lombard (October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress. ... Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974), an American comedian, vaudeville performer, and radio, television, and film actor, was arguably the biggest star in classic American radio and was also a major television attraction. ... The current United Artists logo. ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... This article is about the year. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article is about the year. ... Airplane! is considered by some critics to be one of the funniest movies of all time. ... A troupe is a theatre company of touring actors, singers and/or dancers. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Nazism. ... Motto: Contemnit procellas (It defies the storms) Semper invicta (Always invincible) Voivodship Masovian Municipal government Mayor MirosÅ‚aw Kochalski (acting) Area 516,9 km² Population  - city  - urban  - density 1,692,900 (2004) 2,400,000 3258/km² Founded City rights 13th century turn of the 13th century Latitude Longitude 52... Carole Lombard Carole Lombard (October 6, 1908 – January 16, 1942) was an American actress. ... Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974), an American comedian, vaudeville performer, and radio, television, and film actor, was arguably the biggest star in classic American radio and was also a major television attraction. ... Robert Stack (January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003), born Robert Langford Modini, was an American actor famous for his film acting as well as his role in the television series The Untouchables and as host of Unsolved Mysteries. ... Lionel Atwill was a stage and film actor born in London, England in 1885 and dying in Hollywood in 1946. ... Sig Ruman (born Siegfried Rumann) (1884-1967) was a German-American actor known for his comic portrayals of pompous villains. ...

The movie was adapted by Ernst Lubitsch (uncredited) and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel. It was directed by Lubitsch. Image:Ernst Lubitsch 2. ... Melchior(Menyhért) Lengyel (January 12, 1880 - October 23, 1974 Budapest) was Hungarian playwright and film scriptwriter. ...

It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... From Rule Sixteen of the Special Rules for The Music Awards Original Score: An original score is a substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. ... Library of Congress, Jefferson building The Library of Congress is the unofficial national library of the United States. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ...

The movie was released after actress Carole Lombard died in an airplane crash.

Characters

The main characters include:

• Maria Tura (Carole Lombard) - an actress in Nazi-occupied Poland.
• Joseph Tura (Jack Benny) - an actor and Maria's husband.
• Lt. Stanislav Sobinski (Robert Stack) - a Polish soldier in love with Maria.

Remakes

To Be or Not to Be was remade in 1983 by Mel Brooks. This remake of the film was one of the first major American films to acknowledge that gay people were victims of Third Reich, along with Jews, Gypsies and political dissidents. This version was extremely faithful to the 1942 version, and in many cases dialog was taken verbatim from the earlier film. In film, a remake is a newer version of a previously released film or a newer version of the source (play, novel, story, etc. ... Mel Brooks (born June 28, 1926) is a Jewish-American actor, writer director, and theatrical producer best known as a creator of broad film farces and parodies. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Trivia

In the original film, the opening scene is set backstage in a theatre, where two Jewish actors are having a quarrel: the first declares, "What you are I wouldn't eat!" to which the second responds, "Are you calling me a ham?"

A gag starts off the Mel Brooks version with Brooks and Anne Bancroft perform the song "Sweet Georgia Brown" in a Polish version, and after the performance have a quarrel backstage (still in Polish) until an announcer calls out: "Ladies and gentlemen, for the interest of clarity and sanity the rest of this movie will not be in Polish." Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate Anne Bancroft (September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress, born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano in The Bronx, New York to Michael and Mildred Italiano, both children of Italian immigrants. ... Sweet Georgia Brown is the theme of the Harlem Globetrotters. ...

Whenever the beleaguered German commanding officer, Colonel Erhardt, falls for the numerous tricks played on him, he roars for his assistant, "Schulz!" For his humorous performance of Erhardt, Charles Durning was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award. Charles Durning (born February 28, 1923 in Highland Falls, New York) is an American actor of stage and screen, born to an impoverished family of Irish Catholic extraction, which he left as soon as possible to ease the financial pressure on his mother. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ...

External links

• To Be or Not to Be (1942) at the Internet Movie Database
• To Be or Not to Be (1983) at the Internet Movie Database