To Be or Not to Be Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

To Be or Not to Be Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 30, 2013

Nominated for Oscar Award for Best Music, Ernst Lubitsch's "To Be or Not to Be" (1942) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplement features on the disc include an exlcusive new audio commentary with film historian David Kalat; two episodes of the radio anthology series The Screen Guild Theater; Ernst Lubitsch's early film "Pinkus's Shoe Palace"; and a documentary film written by film scholar N.T. Binh and directed by Jean-Jacques Bernard. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Heil Me

August 1939, Poland. The streets of Warsaw are jammed with people. Suddenly, out of nowhere Hitler appears and heads straight to a famous deli. People immediately gather around him. Then, a little girl asks the dictator: "May I have your autograph, Mr. Bronski?"

Mr. Bronski (Tom Dugan) is a member of a Polish theatrical troupe getting ready to stage William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Most of his colleagues are not terribly impressed with the man whose instructions they must follow, the old fashioned producer Mr. Dobosh (Charles Halton), but are nevertheless doing their best to please him. It is important that they do because in these final hours before the premiere Mr. Dobosh must be happy.

Later that night the elegant actress Maria Tura (Carole Lombard) receives a beautiful bouquet from Lt. Stanislav Sobinski (Robert Stack), a handsome admirer, who is convinced that the two were meant to be together, even though he is fully aware that she is married to Joseph Tura (Jack Benny), who will be playing Hamlet. Maria instructs Sobinski to come to her dressing room as soon as he hears her husband utter the famous To Be or Not to Be line. Sobinski does exactly as he is told - and seriously upsets Tura, who incorrectly assumes that the young man is disgusted with his performance.

Soon after, Germany invades Poland, and Sobinski is sent to London. There, he meets the soft-spoken professor Siletsky (Stanley Ridges), who has established contact with the leaders of the Polish Resistance and is getting ready to head back to Warsaw. Sobinski becomes suspicious when he gives the professor a message for Maria and he admits to him that he has never heard of her. Shortly after the professor leaves, Sobinski also heads to Warsaw.

Meanwhile, Gestapo begins rounding up suspected members of the Polish Resistance.

Professor Siletsky meets Maria to give her the message from Sobinski and, struck by her charm and intelligence, immediately decides to make her a spy. While thinking about the opportunity, she reunites with Sobinski - and thus immediately upsets her husband, who vows to teach the young man a lesson he would never forget. But first, he and his colleagues decide to take care of the traitor Siletsky, who is getting ready to give the Gestapo a list with the names of the leaders of the Polish Resistance. They come up with a brilliant plan but are forced to update it when it is revealed that Hitler will attend a play in the same theater where they once staged Hamlet.

Critics were not overly impressed with Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be after its premiere in 1942, but today the film clearly stands as one of the director's very best. It is brilliantly scripted (some of the lines the actors utter are pure gold), terrifically acted, and also impressively directed.

It is true that some of the key sequences are far from believable - particularly during the final third of the film where the Polish actors become high-ranking Nazi officials - but this isn't a film that would have benefited from more realism. If anything, more realism would have made it far more politically correct, while its key characters would have evolved into boring patriots with transparent agendas.

Lombard and Benny make a superb couple - both have weaknesses, hilarious obsessions, and are willing to play games. Both are also terrific improvisators, the latter in particular being the key figure in the finest Nazi-mocking sequences.

Note: In 1942, Carole Lombard was killed in a plane crash while the film was still in production. She was 34. Consequently, a scene from the film in which her characters utters "What can happen in a plane?" was edited.

To Be or Not to Be Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on a Lasergraphics scanner from the original 35mm nitrate camera negative and a 35mm nitrate composite fine grain at Metropolis Post in New York. The restoration was performed by the Prasad Group, India, and the Criterion Collection.

The original monaural soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical soundtrack print. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube's integrated workstation.

Colorist: Lee Kline.
Nitrate scanning: John Rizzo/Metropolis Post, New York."

The high-definition transfer is not identical to the one StudioCanal used for their Blu-ray release of To Be or Not to Be in France, though the basic characteristics of the two high-definition transfers are virtually identical. In addition to the different framing, compression is slightly better on the Criterion release. Depth and clarity, however, are practically identical, both during close-ups and larger panoramic shots (you can compare screenshots #1 from the two reviews we have posted). There are a couple of frame transitions with light clarity and sharpness fluctuations, but they are inherited. Contrast levels are stable. There are no traces of excessive degraining corrections. Problematic sharpening corrections have not been applied either. As a result, the film has a pleasing and stable organic look. Lastly, debris, scratches, damage marks, stains, and dirt have been removed as best as possible. All in all, this is a very pleasing organic presentation of To Be or Not to Be that should please fans of the film in North America. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

To Be or Not to Be Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

The loss track opens up the film very well n all the right places. Werner R. Heymann's music score, in particular, sounds fuller and better rounded than it does on the R1 DVD release of the film. The dialog is stable, clean, and easy to follow. There are no pops, cracks, hiss, or distortions to report in this review.

To Be or Not to Be Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Lubitsch le patron - this documentary film, which was written by film scholar N.T. Binh and directed by Jean-Jacques Bernard in 2010, focuses on the life and legacy of director Ernst Lubitsch. A large portion of the documentary is dedicated on the filmmaker's work in Hollywood. Included are interviews with film historian Jean-Loup Bourget, film historian Marc Cerisuelo, lecturer in film studies Jacqueline Nacache, director Nicolas Saada (Espion(s)), lecturer in film studies Katalyn Por, director Emmanuel Carrere (La Moustache), and director Benoit Jacquot (Farewell, My Queen, Adolphe), amongst others. In French, with optional English subtitles. (54 min, 1080i).
  
  1. Tailor and Master
  2. Screenplays
  3. Talkies
  4. Costumes and Shakespeare
  5. Fragile World

• Schuhpalast Pinkus - Pinkus's Shoe Palace is an early film, described as a "comedy in three acts", which Earnst Lubitsch directed in 1916. It follows a young Jewish boy who can't stay out of trouble. With German intertitles and optional English subtitles. The music that is heard throughout the film was composed and performed by Donald Sosin. (45 min, 1080p).

• The Screen Guild Theater - two episodes of the radio anthology series The Screen Guild Theater.
  
  1. Variety (1940) - Jack Benny, Claudette Colbert, and Ernst Lubitsch play themselves in this episode from October 20, 1940. Audio only, not subtitled. (30 min).
  
  2. To Be or Not to Be - an adaptation of the film, starring William Powell (Joseph Tura), Diana Lewis (Maria Tura), and German actor Sig Ruman (Colonel Ehrhardt). The episode was originally broadcast on January 18th, 1943. Audio only, not subtitled. (26 min).

• Commentary - in this new audio commentary, film historian David Kalat discusses the production history of To Be or Not to Be, the subtext in many of the film's brilliantly structured sequences, important events from the lives of the principal actors (Carole Lombard), the socio-political climate in Europe at the time the film was completed, etc. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Criterion in 2013.

• Booklet - an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien.

To Be or Not to Be Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Criterion's Blu-ray release of director Ernst Lubitsch's masterful dark comedy To Be or Not to Be should please fans of the film residing in North America who could not take advantage of StudioCanal's European release - the film looks very good in high-definition. Criterion's release also comes with supplemental features that are not present on the European release, including a very good French documentary film, written by film scholar N.T. Binh and directed by Jean-Jacques Bernard. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.