This movie was hilarious and very political. I got the VHS tape of it which is much cheaper than the DVD.

This movie is the last movie ever made by Carole Lombard before her tragic death in a mysterious plane crash. I saw an earlier movie of hers (No Man of Her Own) and wanted to see her later work, too.

The story is about when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. This movie totally mocks and makes fun of the stupidity of Hitler and the Nazi's while showing their evil doings, too and how they destroyed everything good in their path that they could. All I can say is the German people who bought into that horror had to be about as dumb as anyone could possibly imagine. Hitler (besides being a hideous monster of unimaginable cruelty) was such a pompous, insecure boob.

Jack Benny is hilarious as Carole Lombard's husband, Josef Tura. Lombard plays Maria Tura and Robert Stack plays a young hunky Polish flyer who is infatuated with her. Robert Stack sits in the audience of the play as Mr. Tura plays Hamlet. Robert Stack walks out to meet Jack Benny's wife (Lombard) everytime, Benny recites "To Be or Not To Be" in the play , thus the title. Even after Benny (Tura) is on to them, they still use "To Be or Not To Be" as a kind of code. Benny's reaction to hearing that is hilarious.

The movie was made for release right after the U.S. entered the war. Pearl Harbor was December 7, 1941 and the movie was released in late January 1942. The bombing of London was an ongoing thing. Ms. Lombard was killed in a plane crash with a bunch of U.S. service personnel on January 16, 1942, a few days before the movie was to be released. They delayed it a short time and it was a big hit.

It was the biggest film of Jack Benny's career, although he was inconsolable as was Robert Stack. Robert Stack went on to win an Oscar for another role and had a long career. Years later, he said he loved Carole Lombard and never got over her death. Clark Gable never recovered from the death of his wife of 3 years either.

The mystery of the plane crash of TWA Flight #3 has never been solved. The plane (which had nothing wrong with it) flew directly into a well-known mountain outside of Las Vegas, on a beautiful, clear night. The pilot was experienced and there were no survivors.

It took a lot of courage to make a movie like this in these times. At this point, the horrible Nazis were on the march conquering Europe and doing things off our coastline.

One of the rumors about the plane crash was that it was sabotage because of the fact that Ms. Lombard (Mrs. Clark Gable) was returning from a fund raising mission selling War Bonds for FDR. The plane (besides the experienced flight crew, Ms. Lombard, her mother and Clark Gable's best friend, was full of U.S. Army aviators.

anyone who enjoys a good political comedy.

Jack Benny's scenes with Carole Lombard.

watch more of Ms. Lombard's comedies.

really plays well together. This wouldn't be as believable if Jack Benny wasn't so convincing as a ham.

it shows you what political satire can do even in the most dire of circumstances. There is a lot of truth stated in this film.

On a side note, I read that Jack Benny liked Carole Lombard so much that he never could speak of her death for the rest of his life. But he went to Clark Gable and helped console him for as long as it took.

Carole Lombard really shines in comedy. I wasn't too keen on her melodrama, but I intend to see more of her comedic/screwball work.

This one was very funny and entertaining.

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Created Feb 16, 2014 at 11:29am • Submit your own review...