To Be or Not to Be (1942)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
BRRip 720p | MKV | 960 x 720 | x264 @ 1986 Kbps | 1h 39mn | 1,49 Gb
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 160 Kbps | Subtitles: English (embedded)
Genre: Comedy, War | Director: Ernst Lubitsch
BRRip 720p | MKV | 960 x 720 | x264 @ 1986 Kbps | 1h 39mn | 1,49 Gb
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 160 Kbps | Subtitles: English (embedded)
Genre: Comedy, War | Director: Ernst Lubitsch
In occupied Poland during WWII, a troupe of ham stage actors (led by Joseph Tura and his wife Maria) match wits with the Nazis. A spy has information which would be very damaging to the Polish resistance and they must prevent it's being delivered to the Germans.
IMDB - Top Rated Movies #239 | Nominated for 1 Oscar
Comedies rarely stand the test of time - this one does: one of the funniest films I have ever seen.
When I was 16 (20 years ago, sigh…), this was re-released for a short time in a local art-house cinema, and my father insisted I go watching it with a friend. Well, teenagers don't normally line up to see 50 year old black and white comedies, but - man, was I glad I did!
This is a pitch black comedy that feels as fresh today as it must have then; in fact, this must have been kind of a shock in 1942. There are no cheesy clean characters or cringe-worthy lines: this is a firework of fast, witty dialogue with an edge and the sexiest, cleverest (and most morally ambiguous) female protagonist I have ever seen in a film before the "New Hollywod" era.
Even the structure and the way the story evolves are very modern; there are flashbacks and twists and turns that might be very common in contemporary films but must have seemed almost "avant-garde" at the time.
The biggest fun, of course, is how Lubitsch takes the pi** out of Hitler's blind, fanatic followers. I don't believe the Nazis have ever been mocked better than in this comedy masterpiece (and I only hope old Adolf has seen it, too). Mel Brooks' remake is not bad, but the original is simply killer.
See it, and then see it again (and again).
Priceless.
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To Be or Not to Be (1942)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
