01
The Shop Around the Corner
Why this pick
Lubitsch's same feather-light precision turns romantic misunderstanding into sparkling character comedy, with impeccable timing and a warm, sophisticated ensemble.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1942 1h 39m USA
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
To Be or Not to Be
Comedy
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved To Be or Not to Be, try these.
01
02
The Great Dictator
Why this pick
Pairs audacious anti-fascist satire with theatrical impersonation, escalating farce, and genuine humanity while retaining the nimble comic nerve that powers Lubitsch's film.
03
The Seventh Seal
Why this pick
Its medieval troupe and wartime dread create a more philosophical cousin to Lubitsch: performers confront catastrophe through masks, roles, and darkly playful theatricality.
04
The Last Metro
Why this pick
A backstage drama under Nazi occupation, balancing tense concealment with affection for a theatre company and the sustaining power of performance.
05
Black Book
Why this pick
A propulsive occupied-Netherlands thriller built around shifting identities, dangerous performances, and moral uncertainty—far darker than Lubitsch, yet equally alert to deception as survival.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
The setting is Warsaw, Poland, just before the 1939 Nazi Germany invasion. The well-known stars of a Warsaw theater company, "wikt:ham#Etymology 3" actor Josef Tura (Jack Benny) and his beautiful wife, Maria (Carole Lombard), along with the rest of the company, are rehearsing "Gestapo", a play satirizing the Nazis. One of the actors, Bronski (Tom Dugan (actor, born 1889)), even proves that he can pass for Hitler in the street.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
George Lynn
Actor-Adjutant
Carole Lombard
Maria Tura
Jack Benny
Joseph Tura
Robert Stack
Leutnant Stanislav Sobinski
Lionel Atwill
Rawitch
Stanley Ridges
Professor Alexander Siletsky
Sig Ruman
SS-Gruppenführer Ehrhardt
Tom Dugan
Bronski