Bard SummerScape
Film: To Be or Not To Be
July 26, 2009
1942, directed by Ernst Lubitsch
99 minutes
The troubled relation of theatrical spectacle and politics is a recurring motif in most of these films, but this is especially true in To Be or Not To Be (1942), by Ernst Lubitsch. The tone of this comedy/drama, shot during World War II, is often heroic, yet the performances of Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, as self-centered thespians caught up in times of political crisis, contain the memorable satiric irony so typical of Lubitsch.
This film is part of the Politics, Theater, and Wagner Film Festival.