To Be or Not to Be poster

1942·99 min·Released

To Be or Not to Be

“The Picture Everyone Wants to See”

Comedy
War
Romance

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

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To Be or Not To Be (1942) «Tráiler Original» Ernst Lubitsch

Cast & Crew

Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard

Maria Tura

Jack Benny

Jack Benny

Joseph Tura

Robert Stack

Robert Stack

Lieut. Stanislav Sobinski

Felix Bressart

Felix Bressart

Greenberg

Lionel Atwill

Lionel Atwill

Rawitch

Stanley Ridges

Stanley Ridges

Professor Alexander Siletsky

Sig Ruman

Sig Ruman

Col. Ehrhardt

Tom Dugan

Tom Dugan

Bronski

Charles Halton

Charles Halton

Producer Dobosh

George Lynn

George Lynn

Actor-Adjutant

Henry Victor

Henry Victor

Capt. Schultz

Maude Eburne

Maude Eburne

Anna

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CinemaSerf

Written on 1/11/2026

So, a Polish acting company are busy putting on “Hamlet” whilst the Nazis are preparing something altogether more menacing across the border. “Joseph” (Jack Benny) and wife “Maria” (Carole Lombard) are the stars of the show, and she has no shortage of admirers including an air force officer “Sobieski” (Robert Stack) who bravely decamps to the UK following the invasion to join the RAF. Rather foolishly, as it turns out, the enthusiastic young “Sobieski” confides some highly confidential information about the resistance to fellow citizen “Prof. Siletski” (Stanley Ridges) who is about to return home to Poland. No sooner has he left than they discover he is really a Gestapo spy and is now equipped with a list of those resistance fighters working in Warsaw. The only way they can think of to retrieve the list (and it’s duplicate) is for him to return and for the troupe to capture the unsuspecting traitor by pretending to be just about everyone from his handler to the Austrian corporal himself. Can they obtain the document and get themselves back to Blighty or are they all going to end up against a wall? This is an entertainingly paced drama, laced with comedy and even a little from the bard himself as Benny plays multiple roles and Lombard has a go at stabilising the plot as the glamorous counter-spy. Along the way this pokes fun at the eccentricities of the espionage industry, suggests an amiable degree of stupid pomposity amongst the conquerors - especially Sig Ruman’s goose-stepping “Col. Ehrhardt” and you have to keep your wits about you else you might lose track of just who’s beard is real or stick-on. I can imagine this sailed quite close to the wind in 1942, but for me it’s the kind of black humour that ridicules successfully their nemesis whilst simultaneously and comedically exposing their brutal excesses. Ernst Lubitsch, like the theatrical characters themselves, offers us a frequently quite wittily written and engaging ensemble effort that both Benny and Lombard hold together well, it has some precision timing and it’s well worth a gander.

Media

To Be or Not To Be (1942) «Tráiler Original» Ernst Lubitsch

To Be or Not To Be (1942) «Tráiler Original» Ernst Lubitsch

Three Reasons: To Be or Not to Be

Three Reasons: To Be or Not to Be

Joe Dante on TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Joe Dante on TO BE OR NOT TO BE