A Tale of Two Epics: I, Claudius

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA9sRFaOha7SHqYx1kUZu5ZrN6Cns5QcVSqWxPErhJgJ5q4bF2uOm_thIjhgcJso2DS3CbGGrdRmCGO45N_Fakxz1gvRGTZT3g_ArOb2mW8plhOtzM9skHNs_XaNtWnLL089ke0YdNjCRk/s1600/von+sternberg+oberon+laughton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA9sRFaOha7SHqYx1kUZu5ZrN6Cns5QcVSqWxPErhJgJ5q4bF2uOm_thIjhgcJso2DS3CbGGrdRmCGO45N_Fakxz1gvRGTZT3g_ArOb2mW8plhOtzM9skHNs_XaNtWnLL089ke0YdNjCRk/s400/von+sternberg+oberon+laughton.jpg" width="293" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Josef von Sternberg, Merle Oberon and Charles Laughton</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In 1934, British scholar/writer Robert Graves published his best known and most successful work, the sweeping historical novel <i>I, Claudius</i>, written in the form of an autobiography by the Roman Emperor Claudius (10 B.C. - 54 A.D.). 40 years later this classic work would receive plaudits and a new audience in an entirely different medium.</span></span><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The golden age of the television miniseries began in the mid-'70s - <i>Rich Man, Poor Man </i>was a sensation in 1976 and <i>Roots </i>made history in 1977. Classics like <i>Shogun</i> (1980), <i>Brideshead Revisited </i>(1981) and <i>Winds of War</i> (1983) soon followed. In 1976 the BBC's <i>Masterpiece Theatre</i> adapted Graves's historical fiction into a </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">12-episode landmark starring Derek Jacobi (Claudius), John Hurt (Caligula), Sian Phillips (Livia) and Patrick Stewart (Sejanus). An Emmy and BAFTA winner, <i>I, Claudius </i>debuted in the U.S. in 1977 and was, among other things, later acknowledged as inspiration for the blockbuster prime-time soap, <i>Dynasty</i> (1981 - 1989).</span></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5iHqgTwXhBf9NLmCTBISajphGZAsCQ3gbFMtjlssO4vtaExrwa7NwBjarSAOXL5nVjr-J2D693SS0U9IwhcYqWIHEM2vQCcIM4JxJZ8z4mEEXxdFz43XqgqepqpxFBs-vkiaO-zbL_Jm/s1600/Claudius+35+anniv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5iHqgTwXhBf9NLmCTBISajphGZAsCQ3gbFMtjlssO4vtaExrwa7NwBjarSAOXL5nVjr-J2D693SS0U9IwhcYqWIHEM2vQCcIM4JxJZ8z4mEEXxdFz43XqgqepqpxFBs-vkiaO-zbL_Jm/s320/Claudius+35+anniv.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This year, in March, Acorn Media released a new boxed set edition celebrating the 35th anniversary of <i>I, Claudius</i>. Among the bonus features are extended original versions of episodes one and two, a behind-the-scenes documentary entitled <i>I,Claudius: A Television Epic</i>, an interview with Derek Jacobi and...a 70+ minute BBC documentary from 1965, <i>The Epic That Never Was</i>, about the unfinished Alexander Korda production of a Josef von Sternberg-directed film. This first version of the Graves novel starred Charles Laughton (Claudius), Merle Oberon (Messalina), Flora Robson (Livia) and Emlyn Williams (Caligula).</span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOQzALdvGHOCQlI670WcAqWUpJcPUVbZXNDvpGscJQRowA6PSm5rDvcHAuR_ou6Mvm0SqPE5kS6WIot35lA2y9D4TNFAimh2QqK1T9Nn0NgsOo1fopqeDEKl9F8xdsHY8udZ3eG0K_pc9/s1600/Vincent+Korda+sketch+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOQzALdvGHOCQlI670WcAqWUpJcPUVbZXNDvpGscJQRowA6PSm5rDvcHAuR_ou6Mvm0SqPE5kS6WIot35lA2y9D4TNFAimh2QqK1T9Nn0NgsOo1fopqeDEKl9F8xdsHY8udZ3eG0K_pc9/s400/Vincent+Korda+sketch+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A sketch by Art Director/Production Designer Vincent Korda for <i>I, Claudius</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In 1937 Korda, who would later marry Oberon, set out to produce a grand epic. In 1933 he had produced and directed <i>The Private Life of Henry VIII</i>, the popular film that brought Charles Laughton a Best Actor Oscar, and produced another great success in 1934 with <i>The Scarlet Pimpernel</i> starring Leslie Howard. Hungarian-born but based in Great Britain, Korda's dream was to make pictures in England that rivaled those coming out of Hollywood. With <i>Henry VIII</i> and <i>The Scarlet Pimpernel</i>, he'd begun to realize his dream but wanted to reach further. With Charles Laughton still under contract to him in 1937, Korda's ambition was to create a film greater than either <i>Henry VIII</i> or their most recent collaboration, <i>Rembrandt</i> (1936). Korda bought the rights from Robert Graves for the recently published <i>I, Claudius</i>, hired Josef von Sternberg to direct, and the project moved forward.</span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEOeBy6kA3ESrwtYIXqFw6JxHMBUWlBMkkFvpesMiB4mPZf_yrQcjasajaWTI7RuCAU5P6VDlIkV0QhJsMc3tZSS2EwDmqJFhZRZN22qYhOfpgm5DnLhCprSnO8j6dOUtyN2rtaLj0PUL/s1600/Charles+Laughton+Claudius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJEOeBy6kA3ESrwtYIXqFw6JxHMBUWlBMkkFvpesMiB4mPZf_yrQcjasajaWTI7RuCAU5P6VDlIkV0QhJsMc3tZSS2EwDmqJFhZRZN22qYhOfpgm5DnLhCprSnO8j6dOUtyN2rtaLj0PUL/s320/Charles+Laughton+Claudius.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Laughton as Claudius</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>The Epic That Never Was</i> is hosted by actor Dirk Bogarde, who recalls in his narration that as a teenager he ventured with friends to Korda's Denham Studios to watch the filming of <i>I, Claudius</i>. The documentary features interviews with many who worked on the film: Merle Ober</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">on, Josef von Sternberg, Robert Graves, Emlyn Williams and Flora Robson, as well as Korda's longtime script girl and others. Only Korda and Laughton, n</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">o longer alive in 1965, </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> are absent.</span></span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioPP6rCnRqMhHozYrsWFpC5J6JdolCmejNseiGu7epLaF_qZ6nl9gTDZBWPJyEuaM9CFR8AOXRWNYiJsjxJS96VBAdsp-cywP3elKimgNs1Gyuo7Ie-bxUCIDNIiJQRdEAnigCdqMjc-Tb/s1600/Merle+Oberon+claudius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioPP6rCnRqMhHozYrsWFpC5J6JdolCmejNseiGu7epLaF_qZ6nl9gTDZBWPJyEuaM9CFR8AOXRWNYiJsjxJS96VBAdsp-cywP3elKimgNs1Gyuo7Ie-bxUCIDNIiJQRdEAnigCdqMjc-Tb/s200/Merle+Oberon+claudius.jpg" width="166" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Merle Oberon<i> </i>as Messalina</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">According to Merle Oberon, Korda wanted his friend von Sternberg to direct hoping that the filmmaker who masterminded Marlene Dietrich's ascent to stardom would handle Oberon with the same care and artistry so that she, too, might become a great star. The actress recalled vividly once filming began, "something odd happened," suddenly Charles Laughton "couldn't find his character." Laughton began to break down and the script girl remembered him despairing, "I can't find the man!" Josef von Sternberg recalled the actor "had some difficulty getting into his part" but felt, all in all, that Laughton's performance was "magnificent" and that his problems would pass.  Eventually Laughton determined that Claudius <i>was</i> Edward VIII and began listening to the former king's abdication speech to help sustain his motivation.</span></span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9-hPKp2s033TuDGYPInn4PQBuoyAlr-aCkBsbUCtYu57wWSNLn3DUS55NCUWEmVytO1sFxe5hF_wGeild6tfl1rHj_c-s7KNOa1nSPdy7mRg_elIRcHMm7C-HEQ8nXsWssQRbW84jyuHC/s1600/Flora+Robson+as+Livia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9-hPKp2s033TuDGYPInn4PQBuoyAlr-aCkBsbUCtYu57wWSNLn3DUS55NCUWEmVytO1sFxe5hF_wGeild6tfl1rHj_c-s7KNOa1nSPdy7mRg_elIRcHMm7C-HEQ8nXsWssQRbW84jyuHC/s200/Flora+Robson+as+Livia.jpg" width="165" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flora Robson as Livia</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Flora Robson remembered that Josef von Sternberg was very much the flamboyant director and that he came to the set dressed in riding boots and other regalia. The script girl recalled that the director was also a first-rate editor and noted that he seemed to "edit in his head" before he shot a scene. Her remarks bring to mind critic Andrew Sarris's observation that von Sternberg "entered the cinema through the camera rather than the cutting room" and Marlene Dietrich's flat statement that "he was the greatest cameraman the world has ever seen..."</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">About 30 minutes of the 1937 production footage survives and is included in <i>The Epic That Never Was</i>; it is fascinating. Emlyn Williams is vile and reptilian as Caligula and Laughton's inspired Claudius foreshadows Jacobi's brilliant interpretation. As always, von Sternberg </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">composed </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">visually stunning, painterly scenes drenched in atmosphere.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Just a month into shooting, Oberon suffered a car accident in which she was thrown into the windshield. She was badly injured and filming was permanently halted. Emlyn Williams considered this "a godsend;" according to him, producer, director and star were not happy. Author Robert Graves, who had written an unused script for the project, assigned credit for the film's demise to Claudius himself - from beyond the grave...</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The <i>Masterpiece Theatre</i> drama met a far better fate than Korda's promising but ill-starred venture. Along with awards won and influence extended, TV's <i>I, Claudius</i> earned an enduring reputation and remains today among the top-ranked miniseries of all time. Any speculation by Robert Graves, who lived until 1985 and the age of 90, on the late Emperor's reaction to the BBC series is unknown...</span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-cZl7SL1-fVDNTcnX4rCfgeXqPrpKPyjHVPFs5c39ec5Xsti7aWuuf631AS9jievnYjzJ8uAbc9OL4EqlXPxox4cNjSR3tCpF_IRg7h6eWwK5DslgFhX3bUmnA1txeEzXtsJ_Vu-n0lbp/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-cZl7SL1-fVDNTcnX4rCfgeXqPrpKPyjHVPFs5c39ec5Xsti7aWuuf631AS9jievnYjzJ8uAbc9OL4EqlXPxox4cNjSR3tCpF_IRg7h6eWwK5DslgFhX3bUmnA1txeEzXtsJ_Vu-n0lbp/s400/Capture.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Hurt as Caligula, Derek Jacobi as Claudius, Sian Phillips as Livia</td></tr></tbody></table></div>

Alexander Korda Charles Laughton Derek Jacobi Flora Robson I Claudius John Hurt Josef von Sternberg Masterpiece Theatre Merle Oberon Patrick Stewart Sian Phillips The Lady Eve (author) A Tale of Two Epics: I, Claudius

Josef von Sternberg, Merle Oberon and Charles LaughtonIn 1934, British scholar/writer Robert Graves published his best known and most successful work, the sweeping historical novel I, Claudius, written in the form of an autobiography by the Roman Emp…

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To Be or Not to Be - Carole Lombard's final film, directed by Ernst Lubitsch

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA6bQj-xKkCPo5BlcfJhNbKKdXNUVBqj9Uyzr-l1WcoArruWRinbkaR0NvbHuzfLlRSpO1vvxNRUg56bv-Pw8eqjS6R9PO564n-n3_aiWhym25Sit_y3pFL7GejrqjmOid4DT6w1Yp5jjr/s1600/to+be+or+not+to+be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA6bQj-xKkCPo5BlcfJhNbKKdXNUVBqj9Uyzr-l1WcoArruWRinbkaR0NvbHuzfLlRSpO1vvxNRUg56bv-Pw8eqjS6R9PO564n-n3_aiWhym25Sit_y3pFL7GejrqjmOid4DT6w1Yp5jjr/s320/to+be+or+not+to+be.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>For Carole & Company's "Carole-tennial (+3)," marking the 103rd anniversary of Hollywood legend Carole Lombard's birth, I'm taking a look at my favorite Carole Lombard film, director Ernst Lubitsch's </i><i>To Be or Not to Be (1942). This was Lombard's last film, released just a month after her death. </i><br /><br />'The Lubitsch Touch'<i> </i>has been dissected and analyzed for decades. Billy Wilder, who had been prot<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">égé to director Ernst Lubitsch early on</span></span></span>, put it succinctly: "The Lubitsch Touch is a <i>light</i> touch. But there are serious overtones in Lubitsch. He understood life..." <br /><a name='more'></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In 1941, Lubitsch signed a three year contract with Paramount Pictures. But first he had another commitment to fulfill with United Artists. <i>To Be or Not to Be </i>was part of Lubitsch's arrangement with UA.<br /><br />Though the original story for the film was mostly Lubitsch's, the project that evolved was something of a departure for the director. As he later remarked, "I was tired of the two established recognized recipes, drama with comedy relief and comedy with dramatic relief. I had made up my mind to make a picture with no attempt to relieve anybody from anything at any time."</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>To Be or Not to Be </i>is a comedy both black and broad; it is also a sophisticated and razor sharp satire on the Nazis.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkkCAIOmiv8h1ZDSPIQ68OJmsaHAiI7WfALkJJoFSsudWqehgzD9pQwPKbZxs8kgAoxeIT90MpJMxkxzTkOjtt4xVApa-rnZSRgH2qzLUdYB-mxbmjnC_BjYwuPLGdHj7ZSy9jc4R6HN8/s1600/to+be+or+not+to+be+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkkCAIOmiv8h1ZDSPIQ68OJmsaHAiI7WfALkJJoFSsudWqehgzD9pQwPKbZxs8kgAoxeIT90MpJMxkxzTkOjtt4xVApa-rnZSRgH2qzLUdYB-mxbmjnC_BjYwuPLGdHj7ZSy9jc4R6HN8/s320/to+be+or+not+to+be+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Actors...and Nazis, <i>To Be or Not to Be</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Lubitsch chose radio superstar Jack Benny for the male lead. Benny, who later observed that it was "impossible for comedians like me and [Bob] Hope to get good directors - that's why we made lousy movies," considered Lubitsch "the greatest comedy director that ever lived" and was eager to work with him. Though Miriam Hopkins was up for the role of Benny's onscreen wife, she was only interested in taking the part if it was enlarged for her. Jack Benny was meanwhile pushing for Carole Lombard in the role. One night Benny and producer Alexander Korda went out on the town together; much drinking ensued and the upshot was that Korda wired UA and asked the studio to hire Lombard.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Lubitsch and Lombard knew each other from her early days on the Paramount lot. While the director had made pictures with the other great Paramount leading ladies, Claudette Colbert and Marlene Dietrich, he and Lombard had never managed to work together. Lombard's husband, box office king Clark Gable, was not excited about <i>To Be or Not to Be</i> and referred to Lubitsch as "the horny Hun." But Lombard had always wanted to work with the director and signed on; her only special request was that Irene design her wardrobe. </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The production had its share of problems. To begin with, Jack Benny was jittery. According to co-star Robert Stack, he was "scared to death." Benny's source of discomfort was that while he knew how to deliver his lines on stage and on radio, he didn't know what to do when it came to a movie set. This made him very nervous.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Another problem concerned musical director Miklos Rozsa. Rozsa was set to score the film but once he saw the script and realized it was a satire on Nazism, he refused; he just didn't see the humor.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qybHm9N_MITmUSt3u5pRJ6Lc0my_QzXmikMItXpF643wvmO3AhnVF-nBApAiYiJzHPg7JGbtJLpV3P-cyt-p7tjzi1t_urldlTFqaMxus5O9gcMRhHDHXBII5dSHk2v3WXp7wYijFbfX/s1600/to+be+or+not+to+be+lombard+and+stack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qybHm9N_MITmUSt3u5pRJ6Lc0my_QzXmikMItXpF643wvmO3AhnVF-nBApAiYiJzHPg7JGbtJLpV3P-cyt-p7tjzi1t_urldlTFqaMxus5O9gcMRhHDHXBII5dSHk2v3WXp7wYijFbfX/s320/to+be+or+not+to+be+lombard+and+stack.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carole Lombard and Robert Stack on the set</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Regardless of these and other difficulties, the atmosphere on the set was a happy one. Lombard developed a habit of driving in from Encino, even when she wasn't scheduled, just to watch Lubitsch at work. According to Jack Benny, "Everyone was in awe of him."</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>To Be or Not to Be</i> opens in Warsaw, Poland, just before the Nazi invasion. A man who appears to be Adolf Hitler is walking the streets, creating a stir.  The man, it turns out, is not Hitler but a local actor named Bronski (Tom Dugan) who is about to portray Adolf Hitler in an anti-Nazi play; he is testing his believability in public<i>. </i><br /><br />The plot centers on the acting troupe Bronski is part of, the Theatre Polsky, and its two stars, Josef and Maria Tura (Benny and Lombard). The troupe is rehearsing an anti-Nazi play, <i>Gestapo</i>, but is forced to revert to a less controversial drama, Shakespeare's <i>Hamlet</i>.<i> </i>A running gag concerns Maria, who is carrying on with a young pilot (Robert Stack). Whenever Josef begins Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy on stage, Maria's eager young man conspicuously shuffles out of his theater seat to meet her. The walk-out of an audience member in the midst of this speech completely flusters the actor (who has no idea why the man has left). Josef Tura's Hamlet is heavy on the ham and, as one Nazi character remarks, "What he did to Shakespeare we are now doing to Poland." The troupe eventually becomes involved with the Polish resistance.<br /><br />Lombard is well-matched with Benny, who was never better and never had a better role. The two shared exquisite timing and much panache, and their scenes together could be shown in a master class on playing comedy. The fine ensemble cast includes venerable Felix Bressart (as an actor relegated to "spear carrier" roles but who has his moment to quote Shakespeare, eloquently) and Lionel Atwill along with Sig Ruman, Stack and Dugan.<br /><br />Billy Wilder elaborated on another aspect of Lubitsch's genius, "The Lubitsch Touch is the superjoke. You have a joke, and then you don't expect the joke on top of the joke that tops the first one. The joke you didn't expect is funnier than the one you expected..."<br /><br />The sequence below ends with one of Lubitsch's great "toppers." Sig Ruman's character (aka/'Concentration Camp Ehrhardt') is a Nazi colonel with a habit of blaming his own mishaps, mistakes and misunderstandings on his inept second-in-command, Captain Schulz. In this scene, the "topper" is Ehrhardt's final exclamation, a late addition to the script by Lubitsch...</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0Fk1b0jIMBc" width="420"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Sig Ruman, Carole Lombard (and Tom Dugan) in </span><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">To Be or Not to Be</i></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" /></span><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The picture wrapped just before Christmas 1941, and Carole Lombard promised Jack Benny she would guest on his radio show once she returned from an upcoming war bond drive. But on the evening of January 16, 1942, the plane returning Lombard and her mother from the bond drive, along with 20 others, crashed into a mountain west of Las Vegas. All aboard were killed. Apparently the pilot had changed course, flying toward Las Vegas rather than his official destination, Boulder, Colorado. The plane had almost missed the mountain peak, crashing only 120 feet from the top. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7fSQKtHm54DBrTnIGC5ZPj3e6UfNekxQw0sSFHBlOG9ijszDbFHTqRDDfeCgUk-SEihc9cgi8kEuJYvLI68lDPgqChxDDoRO_MyWzyRbLmmcEukknYrT68w7xrpdRxBGIkdeOyyzTGbrh/s1600/to+be+or+not+to+be+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7fSQKtHm54DBrTnIGC5ZPj3e6UfNekxQw0sSFHBlOG9ijszDbFHTqRDDfeCgUk-SEihc9cgi8kEuJYvLI68lDPgqChxDDoRO_MyWzyRbLmmcEukknYrT68w7xrpdRxBGIkdeOyyzTGbrh/s400/to+be+or+not+to+be+poster.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><i>To Be or Not to Be </i>premiered on February 15, 1942. It was not a hit. Some critics claimed Lubitsch had suffered a lapse in taste. Churlish Bosley Crowther of the <i>New York Times </i>accused the director of  going for cheap laughs. Robert Stack later said that the press of the time just didn't get it. He noted that Lubitsch was "a Jew from the Old Country himself" and declared that <i>To Be or Not to Be</i> was the best satire on Nazism ever made.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lubitsch was appalled that his intent and his taste were both misinterpreted and maligned. He acknowledged that he hadn't depicted Nazi terror in the typical way with outright violence, "My Nazis are different; they passed that stage long ago. Brutality, flogging and torture have become their daily routine. They talk about it the same way as a salesman referring to the sale of a handbag."</span><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJvNY-QVmLIZSiDq9RUTYI86kWRz2yyBdYwFuI8afLNJ11T_F5tpAmr7Enp94XvGwK4cW9njs6oV46onDYIC01YafiqfqG42Gm2JC3g09qCooM0kS40DlLSgG0rT47OlGSLmnIPobEenP/s1600/lombard+and+lubitsch+tbontb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJvNY-QVmLIZSiDq9RUTYI86kWRz2yyBdYwFuI8afLNJ11T_F5tpAmr7Enp94XvGwK4cW9njs6oV46onDYIC01YafiqfqG42Gm2JC3g09qCooM0kS40DlLSgG0rT47OlGSLmnIPobEenP/s320/lombard+and+lubitsch+tbontb.jpg" width="174" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lombard and Lubitsch</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">It isn't surprising that critics and audiences of early 1942 may not have warmed to or understood Lubitsch's approach. The country had suffered Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and entered World War II just as the production of <i>To Be or Not to Be </i>was coming to an end. Those early days of the war were deeply patriotic times in the U.S. and the outcome of the conflict was still far from certain. Other wartime movies generally presented a more traditional portrait of our enemies and their victims - unequivocal, distinctly unfunny and in stark black and white terms.  Lubitsch's witty satire had arrived in American theaters at the wrong moment. But the passage of time has been kind to <i>To Be or Not to Be.</i> It long ago entered the pantheon of Lubitsch's great masterworks - that very special place where <i>Ninotchka </i>(1939) and <i>The Shop Around the Corner </i>(1940) also abide. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />Carole Lombard, a natural as vain but appealing Maria Tura, was never more elegant or disarming. Though her character is clearly 'a woman of affairs,' Lombard endows her with so much warmth, humor and humanity that Maria is never less than entirely sympathetic. Such was Lombard's irreplaceable talent.<br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i>To learn more about Carole & Company's "Carole-tennial (+3)" blogathon and participating blogs, <a href="http://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/447884.html" style="color: #990000;">click here</a>... </i></span></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_JrFWRe1r1PJYWpdFee0MIj3jr13mzwH-nRT_foo0WemBR8LdW5wrw2zURjN61eMZ2frXNy9k0S-wcNzpzB-Gdqe5XXPDUhdzPUVC3WElO6npwHbdbiK9UE1gV0vvafZ3c_PX6XMkkCX8/s1600/Carole+Lombard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_JrFWRe1r1PJYWpdFee0MIj3jr13mzwH-nRT_foo0WemBR8LdW5wrw2zURjN61eMZ2frXNy9k0S-wcNzpzB-Gdqe5XXPDUhdzPUVC3WElO6npwHbdbiK9UE1gV0vvafZ3c_PX6XMkkCX8/s400/Carole+Lombard.jpg" width="314" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carole Lombard, 1908 - 1942</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>References</b>:</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise</u> by Scott Eyman</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Nobody's Perfect: Billy Wilder, A Personal Biography</u> by Charlotte Chandler</span></div>

Alexander Korda Carole Lombard Clark Gable Ernst Lubitsch Felix Bressart Jack Benny Lionel Atwill Robert Stack Sig Ruman The Lady Eve (author) To Be Or Not To Be To Be or Not to Be - Carole Lombard's final film, directed by Ernst Lubitsch

For Carole & Company's "Carole-tennial (+3)," marking the 103rd anniversary of Hollywood legend Carole Lombard's birth, I'm taking a look at my favorite Carole Lombard film, director Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (1942). This was Lombard's last…

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