To Be or Not to Be (1942 film)
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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.
The movie was adapted by Ernst Lubitsch (uncredited) and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel. It was directed by Lubitsch.
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.
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. See also: To Be Or Not To Be (1983 film).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?"Another, very tragically prescient, quote was cut out of the film after the death of Carole Lombard, as one character remarks before the escape of the Tura Company on Hitler's personal aircraft: "What can happen on a plane?"
External links
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