Featured Audience Ratings

• Bob O

  
  Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds lovingly ripped dozens of pages straight from the books of cinema history. From "actors" playing Nazis to trick the Gestapo to a climactic theater "Nazi Night" including a surprise visit from the Fuhrer, Tarantino was… More
  Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds lovingly ripped dozens of pages straight from the books of cinema history. From "actors" playing Nazis to trick the Gestapo to a climactic theater "Nazi Night" including a surprise visit from the Fuhrer, Tarantino was perhaps influenced by few more than Ernst Lubitsch's zany satire To Be Or Not To Be. Set in 1940's Warsaw during the German occupation, a raucous theater troupe, led by the arrogant "great, great actor" Joseph Turan (Jack Benny), take on the Gestapo in the name of the Polish Resistance. Variably a farce and a film of vital importance, this 1942 classic took whip-smart shots at Nazi servitude and Jewish sacrifice even before they were known to the American public. (The war would last for three more years.) In 2011 To Be Or Not To Be could be seen as a mockery or a gem. In any case it's a seminal comedy and, like Casablanca, a saavy look at World War II when its outcome was still indeterminable.

• AJ V

  
  This movie is hilarious, it has a great cast and a good director, and the story is interesting. It's even funnier than Brooks' 80s remake. I highly recommend this movie.

• Randy T

  
  As much a political statement as it is a comedy. Probably Jack Benny's best work in film and the role for which he's most remembered. Mr. Benny kept me in stitches and Carole Lombard kept me drooling. What a talented, beautiful (and very funny!) actress.

• Stella D

  
  a brilliant satire and a daring film to make in the early years of WW2 when not many were laughing. also the final screen appearance of the ridiculously beautiful and multi-talented carole lombard. hilarious. don't bother with the lame remake!

• Jennifer X

  
  Very very funny. I really like Lubitsch's humor because it's so light even in the midst of such a serious subject. Somehow the Nazi occupation is never trivialized either.

• Ken S

  
  Really really funny. The Lubitsch touch is in full effect

• jay n

  
  good black comedy on a serious theme. Jack Benny never better and Carole Lombard glows, seemly ethereal which is apt since she was killed in a plane crash before the film opened. The remake is good also but much lighter.

• Matthew Y

  
  A political satire that openly mocked Hitler and Nazi-Germany while WW II was still going on was a concept that had me chomping at the bit to check out. Surprisingly I found To Be or Not to Be disappointingly dull and very uncontroversial even for its time. With only a 99 minute… More
  A political satire that openly mocked Hitler and Nazi-Germany while WW II was still going on was a concept that had me chomping at the bit to check out. Surprisingly I found To Be or Not to Be disappointingly dull and very uncontroversial even for its time. With only a 99 minute run-time I struggle to keep my interest as I waited anxiously for the film to pick-up. Considering it wasn't much of a success at the time I'm left to wonder if the sheer nature of the material at the time of its release has caused it to garner its strong reputation over the years. I'll defiantly need to give this another try at some point but for right now I'm left scratching my head as to the praise for this unfortunately uninteresting satire.

• Yinalí R

  
  Super funny!

• nefnie l

  
  A quite daring film for its time. This movie has it all - comedy, suspense, and intrigue. Lombard was absolutely stunning, and the pairing with Benny was a stroke of genius. To have a comedy about Hitler at that time was pure madness; however, Chaplin said it best (paraphrasing):… More
  A quite daring film for its time. This movie has it all - comedy, suspense, and intrigue. Lombard was absolutely stunning, and the pairing with Benny was a stroke of genius. To have a comedy about Hitler at that time was pure madness; however, Chaplin said it best (paraphrasing): If they had laughed at him to begin with, he would have never become such a threat.

• Anthony V

  
  The humor holds out, even today.

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