A very influential book for me about movies growing up was Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2, which I found a graffitied copy of in the school library. In it, Peary writes about fifty cult movies, the images of which I couldn’t forget from the book and led me to seeking out absolute favourites (The American Friend, Phantom Of The Paradise, for example). After listening to the Pure Cinema Podcast episodes on Danny Peary’s Cult Movies, I resolved myself to track down and watch the movies I hadn’t seen from Cult Movies 2. Why not start with a classic that was streaming on Mubi, which was Ernest Lubitsch’s To Be Or Not To Be (1942). I’d also grown up seeing the Mel Brooks/Anne Bancroft remake on daytime TV once and still remember several gags rather fondly. Most of the gags and one liners I remembered were lifted straight from the original, but of course are delivered quicker and sharper in the classic screwball style. Following a troupe of actors in Poland right before and during Germany’s invasion in World War II, what was most apparent in the original was the deft plotting, which skillfully builds and complicates the situations both for the purposes of comedy and suspense. In the black and white cinematography, Lubitsch conveys darker moments than what I remember of the remake. Jack Benny and Carole Lombard are great as the acting couple who find themselves in a resistance plot against the occupying Nazis with the help of a young Polish army pilot (Robert Stack, the host of Unsolved Mysteries in ‘aw schucks’ young hunk mode). Brooks was hilarious in the remake but Benny has a different comic energy and style; there’s something more urbane and high status about his egotistical actor, which makes the gags about him land even heavier. A definite influence on Inglourious Basterds and many other movies, To Be Or Not To Be received a mixed response upon release and accused of bad taste (WWII was still happening). The release was also overshadowed by the tragic death of Lombard in a plane crash during post production. Now the film stands as a fearless, hilarious, sharp comedy thriller, which was still impressive and funny to me. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 