To Be or Not to Be

"The Picture Everyone Wants to See"

1942 1h 39m EN

🙌

7.8

BANGER

★7.8TMDB · 869

ComedyWarRomance

Synopsis

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During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

“The Picture Everyone Wants to See”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Carole Lombard
Maria Tura
Jack Benny
Joseph Tura
Robert Stack
Lieut. Stanislav Sobinski
Felix Bressart
Greenberg
Lionel Atwill
Rawitch
Stanley Ridges
Professor Alexander Siletsky
Sig Ruman
Col. Ehrhardt
Tom Dugan
Bronski

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writers: Melchior Lengyel, Edwin Justus Mayer
Languages: English, German, French
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

84 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, German, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, shot by Rudolph Maté. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Werner R. Heymann. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Dorothy Spencer shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Carole Lombard and Jack Benny and Robert Stack carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The Picture Everyone Wants to See".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ernst Lubitsch directs. Rudolph Maté behind the camera. Werner R. Heymann scores. Dorothy Spencer cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, German, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
284 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, German, French.
4Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, shot by Rudolph Maté. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Werner R. Heymann. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Dorothy Spencer shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Carole Lombard and Jack Benny and Robert Stack carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The Picture Everyone Wants to See".
9IMDB entry: tt0035446 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 19 themes, including "infidelity", "london, england", "airplane", "nazi".
11Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Rudolph Maté
Original score: Werner R. Heymann
Editing: Dorothy Spencer
Production design: Vincent Korda
Costume design: Irene
Makeup / hair: Gordon Bau
Runtime: 99 min · 1h 39m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $1,200,000
Box office: $1,500,000
Return: 125% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: To Be or Not to Be (1942)

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Ernst Lubitsch

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What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-01-11
★ 7/10
So, a Polish acting company are busy putting on “Hamlet” whilst the Nazis are preparing something altogether more menacing across the border. “Joseph” (Jack Benny) and wife “Maria” (Carole Lombard) are the stars of the show, and she has no shortage of admirers including an air force officer “Sobieski” (Robert Stack) who bravely decamps to the UK following the invasion to join the RAF. Rather foolishly, as it turns out, the enthusiastic young “Sobieski” confides some highly confidential information about the resistance to fellow citizen “Prof. Siletski” (Stanley Ridges) who is about to return home to Poland. No sooner has he left than they discover he is really a Gestapo spy and is now equipped with a list of those resistance fighters working in Warsaw. The only way they can think of to retrieve the list (and it’s duplicate) is for him to return and for the troupe to capture the unsuspecting traitor by pretending to be just about everyone from his handler to the Austrian corporal himself. Can they obtain the document and get themselves back to Blighty or are they all going to end up against a wall? This is an entertainingly paced drama, laced with comedy and even a little from the bard himself as Benny plays multiple roles and Lombard has a go at stabilising the plot as the glamorous counter-spy. Along the way this pokes fun at the eccentricities of the espionage industry, suggests an amiable degree of stupid pomposity amongst the conquerors - especially Sig Ruman’s goose-stepping “Col. Ehrhardt” and you have to keep your wits about you else you might lose track of just who’s beard is real or stick-on. I can imagine this sailed quite close to the wind in 1942, but for me it’s the kind of black humour that ridicules successfully their nemesis whilst simultaneously and comedically exposing their brutal excesses. Ernst Lubitsch, like the theatrical characters themselves, offers us a frequently quite wittily written and engaging ensemble effort that both Benny and Lombard hold together well, it has some precision timing and it’s well worth a gander.

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