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DETAILS

MPAA Rating - NR

Length:
    99 Minutes

Genre:
    Comedy

Original Release Date:
    Mar 1, 2005

Director
    Ernst Lubitsch

Cast
    Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill

 
Movie Summary
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 theatre troupe until they are forced to switch to Shakespeares Hamlet. Lt. Stanislav Sobinski (Robert Stack) falls for Maria and meets up with her during Josephs 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 theatre 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, All Movie Guide


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