Fritz Bauer Institut · Cinematography of the Holocaust
ID |
FBW001375 Fiction |
Country / Year |
USA, 1942 |
Original Title |
To Be or Not to Be |
Other Title(s) |
Sein oder Nicht Sein (German) |
Directed by |
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Produced by |
Romaine Film Cooperation |
Staff |
Producer: Ernst Lubitsch; Co-producer: Alexander Korda; Assistent director: William Tummel, William McGarry; Continuity: Edwin Justus Meyer; Based on: Ernst Lubitsch, Melchior Lengyel; Camera: Rudolph Maté; Editing: Dorothy Spencer; Sound: Frank Maher; Production design: Vincent Korda; Art direction, var: Joseph McMillan Johnson (Associate art director), Julie Heron (Set Designer); Technical, var: Richard Ordynski (Technische Überwachung); Special Effects: Lawrence W. Butler; Costume design: Irene (=Vorname); Makeup: Gordon Bau; Costumes, var: Walter Plankett; Music: Miklós Rózsa; Musical direction: Werner Richard Heymann |
Cast |
Carole Lombard (Maria Tura); Jack Benny (Joseph Tura); Robert Stack (Lt. Stanislav Sobinski); Felix Bressart (Greenberg); Lionel Atwill (Rawitch); Stanley Ridges (Prof. Alexander Siletsky); Sig Rumann (Col. Ehrhardt); Tom Dugan (Bronski); Charles Halton (Dobosh, Director); Peter Caldwell (Wilhelm Kunze); Helmut Dantine (Copilot); Otto Reichow (Copilot); Miles Mander (Maj. Cunningham); George Lynn (Actor-Adjutant); Henry Victor (Capt. Schultz); Maude Eburne (Anna, the Maid); Amand "Curly" Wright (Makeup Man); Ernö Verebes (Stage Manager); Halliwell Hobbes (Gen. Armstrong); Leslie Denison (Captain); Frank Reicher (Dr. Bojarski, Foreign Office); Wolfgang Zilzer (Man in Bookstore); Olaf Hytten (Polonius in Warsaw); Charles Irwin (Reporter); Leyland Hodgson (Reporter); Adolf Edgar Licho (Prompter); Rudolf Amendt-Anders (als: Robert O. Davis) (Gestapo Sergeant); Roland Varno (Pilot); Maurice Murphy (R.A.F. Flyer); Gene Rizzi (R.A.F. Flyer); Paul Barrett (R.A.F. Flyer); John Kellogg (R.A.F. Flyer); James Gilette (R.A.F. Flyer); Sven-Hugo Borg (German Soldier); Alec Craig (Scottish Farmer); James Finlayson (Scottish Farmer); John Meredith (English radio operator) |
Length |
2710 m / 99'02'' |
Format |
35mm/sw/1:1,37 |
Dates |
- 06 Nov 1941-23 Dec 1941: Shooting period |
Abstract |
This satirical comedy is set in Warsaw in the late summer of 1939. A theatre group rehearses the peformance of a political satire called `Gestapo`. The star of the show is Joseph Tura, a vain actor in search of self-affirmation. Maria Tura stands at his side as partner both on and off the stage and who courses him to become very jealous by cheating on him with a flying lieutenant by the name of Sobinski. Germany`s attack on Poland in September 1939 means the end for the theatre. The Nazi agent Siletzky now enters the stage. In Great Britain he had gathered important information about the Polish resistance. Yet before Siletzky can pass on his information to the Gestapo general Ehrhardt, Sobinski is meant to kill him. For this, the theatre group sets up the scene of the Gestapo headquarters. Siletzka is enticed into the theatre by the seductive Maria. But vain Joseph Tura fails in his role as SS man Ehrhardt. Siletzky, who now tries to escape is shot dead on stage by Sobinski. Tura now has to play the part of the dead Siletzky in front of the real-life Ehrhardt. But when he sees Tura with Siletzky`s corpse there seems to be no way out. Only the theatre group, dressed up in SS uniforms, can save the day by faking Tura`s arrest. In a new performance with Bronski playing the role of Hitler, the theatre group finally manages to escape to Scotland in a special plane belonging to the Führer. The play comes full circle. The vain Tura plays Hamlet and Maria cheats on him again, this time with a British officer. |
Subject Terms |
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Bibliography |
- Kafka, Hans: "Hollywood Calling", in: Aufbau (New York, NY), Jg. 7, Nr. 48, 28.11.1941 |