Current Events > CE's movie of the day: to be or not to be (ernst lubitsch, 1942)

(+) Yeah! (+)

i, the current events god of all cinema, am beginning a new topic series to try and help all of you become learned in the ways of the seventh art.

also this won't actually be every day i'm guessing but w/e

first up:

https://letterboxd.com/film/to-be-or-not-to-be/

streams on hbo max and criterion channel! also available on bluray from to criterion collection (which i own!).

this comedy follows a troupe of polish actors who try to escape from warsaw while screwing over the nazis in the process. it stars jack benny, carole lombard (in her last role before she tragically died in a plane crash - leading her husband clark gable into alcoholism and his stardom crashing), robert stack (from unsolved mysteries!), sig ruman in an incredible role as 'concentration camp erhardt', felix bressert, and some other members of the ernst lubitsch company.

lubitsch was a hungarian immigrant who specialized in these kind of rapid paced screwball comedies, also doing classics like ninotchka, the shop around the corner (great christmas movie btw), trouble in paradise... highly recommended for anyone who wants to see what jojo rabbit could have been like if it were a good satire of nazis. also for people who enjoy laughing, claim to like movies, or hate aforementioned nazis.

probably a not insignificant influence on quentin tarantino's inglourious basterds. mel brooks also remade it in the 1980s although i have not seen that one.

i give it 5 bones out of 5 btw. please watch it and report back on what YOU think :)

@blue_inigo

There's another film lover on CE other than me? Wtf?

S_A_S posted...

There's another film lover on CE other than me? Wtf?

are you also a to be or not to be lover ??

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


this is the clubhouse i've decided

Greenberg: "Mr. Rawitch, what you are, I wouldn't eat."
Rawitch: "How dare you call me a HAM?!"

FortuneCookie posted...

Greenberg: "Mr. Rawitch, what you are, I wouldn't eat."
Rawitch: "How dare you call me a HAM?!"

yeah dude - it has the good dialogue

>make an inflammatory topic about movies, get a billion posts, am told to talk about movies i like instead

>make a nice and normal topic about a movie i like, get 2 posts

@blue_inigo follow up fabelmans with this bro

To be or not to be is on the list

Blue_Inigo posted...

To be or not to be is on the list

put it on the top of the list

tonight

before hbo max removes it for tax reasons