The Shop Around the Corner (1940): A Lubitsch Christmas

<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAzt1SDq_UCjXtGsFUectodi0C84FwSFK3utZ78NgblIAlEekAFJSrW5fWEinH4E6ix2pvnwuXQlLjK0VUm0-rh_fOlwIsW0Dtl1_AeFN9lAnmkVw1gUVxcmUq9l44aL8_UMBocYH0BwXx/s1600/Shop-Around-the-Corner+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAzt1SDq_UCjXtGsFUectodi0C84FwSFK3utZ78NgblIAlEekAFJSrW5fWEinH4E6ix2pvnwuXQlLjK0VUm0-rh_fOlwIsW0Dtl1_AeFN9lAnmkVw1gUVxcmUq9l44aL8_UMBocYH0BwXx/s1600/Shop-Around-the-Corner+2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It is only occasionally that a film ages with extraordinary grace. Ernst Lubitsch's 1940 classic,</span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The Shop Around the Corner</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">, has mellowed in the manner of</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> a rare and prized bottle of Hungarian Tokaji </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Aszú...</span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"><tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"> <td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"></td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><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/AVvXsEiuRVIHjfaog4jbW36Mi0nl9Adt9qc0_NG8ULdtOUOhQOQdj1HO36fe4E2Szz1HL1vhWfxkDRn8GZAFFSufGspKyTMrUuy36bBDnM4slz8dlPgvBGAq8crDBJc7iNx9TUXkUn5gk1B6HR4C/s1600/shop+7+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRVIHjfaog4jbW36Mi0nl9Adt9qc0_NG8ULdtOUOhQOQdj1HO36fe4E2Szz1HL1vhWfxkDRn8GZAFFSufGspKyTMrUuy36bBDnM4slz8dlPgvBGAq8crDBJc7iNx9TUXkUn5gk1B6HR4C/s400/shop+7+a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Balta Street, Budapest</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Director Lubitsch, revered for sophisticated films spun with his light-as-air "touch" and at an artistic peak in 1940, took special care with <i>The Shop Around the Corner</i>. It was one of his favorites of own films, and he wrote, “Never did I make a picture in which the atmosphere and the characters were truer…” This atmosphere is unmistakable. With the first strains of “Ochi Tchornya” heard over Leo the Lion’s roar, in the dreamlike setting near Budapest’s historic Andrassy Street and in unique and distinctive characters, the spirit of old Europe is alive on screen. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Set during Christmastime in the snow-dusted capital, the story follows a series of mix-ups and missteps between employees of a picturesque gift shop in the heart of the city. Two clerks carry on a battle-of-the-sexes while romantically pursuing anonymous pen pals; the shop owner suspects betrayal at home and at work; a duplicitous clerk is up to ugly mischief and a wisecracking errand boy has an eye for the main chance…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><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/AVvXsEidFfYhqjUwui2PBxIzu2Zu2-uYY6knwaNWDL1IrA5th_tx_fpcS6kgoqzdwtD9qdakPeCzKIGAYfXML01IKcNMd9PuzFtI-_AqvGEN0mwDpNb3KROUFdVvKIOHUFz4gDAEoK69Si0JJWzT/s1600/shop+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidFfYhqjUwui2PBxIzu2Zu2-uYY6knwaNWDL1IrA5th_tx_fpcS6kgoqzdwtD9qdakPeCzKIGAYfXML01IKcNMd9PuzFtI-_AqvGEN0mwDpNb3KROUFdVvKIOHUFz4gDAEoK69Si0JJWzT/s400/shop+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Matuschek's gift shop</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Samson Raphaelson (<i>Suspicion</i>, <i>Green Dolphin Street</i>) penned a screenplay based on Nikolaus (Miklós) László’s play; William H. Daniels (<i>The Naked City</i>, <i>Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</i>) shot it and Werner Heymann (<i>Ninotchka</i>, <i>To Be or Not to Be</i>) wrote the score.<br /><br />A sparkling ensemble cast features several of MGM’s top supporting players. Among them is Frank Morgan in one of his most interesting roles as Mr. Matuschek, the colorful charmer who owns the gift shop. A somber turn in the subplot gives Morgan a chance to portray his character's darker emotions. <br /><br />Peerless Felix Bressart plays the meek/endearing clerk, Pirovich. Versatile Joseph Schildkraut defines ‘loathsome’ as Vadas. Also in the featured cast are Sara Haden, William Tracy and Inez Courtney.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TD7Nsdb1_Lk" width="420"></iframe></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Felix Bressart and James Stewart</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The legendary  chemistry between stars James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan illuminates the screen. Stewart is at his most appealing as Mr. Kralik, head clerk and right hand man to Mr. Matuschek. In this role, Stewart's broad signature mannerisms are tempered by the sensitivity with which he portrays Kralik's romantic yearnings. But it is Sullavan's performance that mesmerizes. Her Klara Novak, a headstrong shop girl blinded by lofty ideals, is a high-strung romantic whose breathless eagerness is offset by her brittle fragility. </span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="margin-left: 12.0pt; mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"><tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"></td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"></td> </tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><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/AVvXsEhpYhgyPNMYbIptxP_Hmyl3MJRCmrmPA98t_Q00R8XlBuVJHFW_bsPKmzgZ7Awk-yumiW5xTag4zML5nBlKf42iOFQQVKXolb_TdxmRNTE0_HviA802SGGJ-lu4ZfLbAPkbQ0GYghXf5G13/s1600/the-mortal-storm-margaret-sullavan-1940%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYhgyPNMYbIptxP_Hmyl3MJRCmrmPA98t_Q00R8XlBuVJHFW_bsPKmzgZ7Awk-yumiW5xTag4zML5nBlKf42iOFQQVKXolb_TdxmRNTE0_HviA802SGGJ-lu4ZfLbAPkbQ0GYghXf5G13/s400/the-mortal-storm-margaret-sullavan-1940%255B1%255D.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Margaret Sullavan</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Margaret Sullavan was discovered on Broadway by director <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">John M. Stahl</span> (<i>Leave Her to Heaven</i>) who brought her to Hollywood to star in <i>Only Yesterday</i> (1933) with John Boles. By this time Sullavan had already married and divorced Henry Fonda and would soon marry director William Wyler. By 1936 the actress was married to agent/producer Leland Hayward and about to make her best films: <i>Three Comrades</i> (1938), for which Sullavan earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination, <i>The Shopworn Angel</i> (1938), <i>The Shop Around the Corner</i> (1940) and <i>The Mortal Storm</i> (1940). In the last three she co-starred with Stewart. The pair had first worked together on <i>Next Time We Love</i> (1936), a result of Sullavan suggesting her friend Stewart for the part. In <i>The Shop Around the Corner</i>, the third of the their four collaborations, the co-stars seem to all but dance together, such is the rhythm between them. <br /><br />With the closing scenes of <i>The Shop Around the Corner</i>, Lubitsch demonstrates his consummate finesse…</span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"><tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"><div class="MsoNormal"></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><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/AVvXsEiNCGycQSweTQgc_UXeQoQeE7cl4ekvm0DNsOlRbJwl65gzmvsbV2oZw6vrK5tBMuakXS9o-qmd2IsHGPStnDAYw8J2_BzGLumEZTELWC3Yf3Lb-ea3ZSky8pQ1qkuShgusWS8j9BH2FB_N/s1600/shop+5+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCGycQSweTQgc_UXeQoQeE7cl4ekvm0DNsOlRbJwl65gzmvsbV2oZw6vrK5tBMuakXS9o-qmd2IsHGPStnDAYw8J2_BzGLumEZTELWC3Yf3Lb-ea3ZSky8pQ1qkuShgusWS8j9BH2FB_N/s400/shop+5+a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Frank Morgan and Charles Smith</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Mr. Matuschek returns to his store on Christmas Eve to total the day’s receipts, thank his staff and hand out bonuses. It is closing time and as the wistful shopkeeper departs, he says goodnight to, and we have our last glimpse of, most of the other characters as they depart for the holidays. <br /><br />When the shop's new errand boy, Rudy (Charles Smith), emerges, Matuschek takes him under his wing and out to a glorious Christmas dinner of roast goose, potatoes in butter…and “a double order of apple strudel in vanilla sauce.” The two, no longer facing a lonely Christmas Eve, strike up a jubilant rapport.<br /><br />Inside the darkened shop, Stewart and Sullavan move in perfect harmony as Kralik and Klara finally discover each other. This last scene, one of the most deeply romantic and witty ever confected, reveals the distilled essence of Lubitsch’s “touch.”</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcv9y8lr_bVCbjtWt0ieoEsDl2ThvGWLJl-sp30h0rowKzVOJQ-hsazlAOEoBcn0iWk1oNZMAQEfF4FsUIBAFdcTSTIiyTnyOuCUJJAA3rD1eTgEIqYD87voz1x5Afs8Vb0_KjzzWFXaY/s1600/shop+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcv9y8lr_bVCbjtWt0ieoEsDl2ThvGWLJl-sp30h0rowKzVOJQ-hsazlAOEoBcn0iWk1oNZMAQEfF4FsUIBAFdcTSTIiyTnyOuCUJJAA3rD1eTgEIqYD87voz1x5Afs8Vb0_KjzzWFXaY/s400/shop+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div>

Ernst Lubitsch Felix Bressart Frank Morgan James Stewart Joseph Schildkraut Margaret Sullavan The Lady Eve (author) The Shop Around the Corner The Shop Around the Corner (1940): A Lubitsch Christmas

It is only occasionally that a film ages with extraordinary grace. Ernst Lubitsch's 1940 classic,The Shop Around the Corner, has mellowed in the manner of a rare and prized bottle of Hungarian Tokaji Aszú... Balta Street, BudapestDirector Lubitsc…

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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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