Review of To Be or Not to Be

Husband and wife Carole Lombard (Maria) and Jack Benny (Joseph) are the leading lights in a Polish Theatre Company during the outbreak of World War 2. They are currently performing "Hamlet" and soldier Robert Stack (Sobinski), who is obsessed with Lombard and attends all her performances, is there in the audience on every occasion. Lombard and Stack arrange meetings with a pre-determined code. When Benny gives his "To be or Not to Be" soliloquy, that is Stack's cue to get up and leave and go backstage, much to Benny's outrage at someone getting up and leaving during his finest moment! When traitor Stanley Ridges (Professor Siletsky) passes through Poland on his way to deliver a list of names of Polish Resistance members to Hitler, the actors jump into action to prevent him reaching Germany with the list. Can they get away with their daring charades?

This film is funnier than I expected and had me laughing out loud on a few occasions. Jack Benny is excellent in the lead role and the whole cast are on form. There are loads of humorous scenes and the film has a great ending to round things off. It's a shame that they cut Carole Lombard's line about what could possibly happen in a plane from the film. This would have given extra poignancy to the film given that she died in a plane crash after making this film. I think the line should have remained in there.

Basically, a gang of actors come good and defeat the Nazis through various deceptions. It's lightweight entertainment that really does entertain.