To Be or Not to Be (1942 film)

To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 American comedy film about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. The title is a reference to the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy in William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
 * Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Written by Lubitsch (uncredited) and Edwin Justus Mayer, based on the story by Melchior Lengyel.

Joseph Tura

 * If I shouldn't come back, I forgive you what happened between you and Sobinski. But if I come back, it's a different matter.


 * Well, Colonel, all I can say is... you can't have your cake and shoot it, too.

Maria Tura

 * [to her husband] You're the greatest actor in the world. Everybody knows that, including you.

Other

 * Anna: What a husband doesn't know won't hurt his wife.

Dialogue

 * Joseph Tura: [disguised as Siletsky, speaking in reference to his wife, Maria] Her husband is that great, great Polish actor, Joseph Tura. You've probably heard of him.
 * Colonel Ehrhardt: Oh, yes. As a matter of fact I saw him on the stage when I was in Warsaw once before the war.
 * Joseph Tura: Really?
 * Colonel Ehrhardt: What he did to Shakespeare we are doing now to Poland.


 * Maria Tura: It's becoming ridiculous the way you grab attention. Whenever I start to tell a story, you finish it. If I go on a diet, you lose the weight. If I have a cold, you cough. And if we should ever have a baby, I'm not so sure I'd be the mother.
 * Joseph Tura: I'm satisfied to be the father.


 * Stage Manager: This is all wrong.
 * Makeup Man: What's wrong with it?
 * Stage Manager: I don't know... it's not convincing. To me, he's just a man with a little mustache.
 * Makeup Man: But so is Hitler.


 * Dobosh: [motioning to Siletsky] Now you take him back to the hotel.
 * Joseph Tura: Alright.
 * Dobosh: As soon as you're in his room, you hit him over the head with the butt of the gun.
 * Joseph Tura: Alright.
 * Dobosh: Then you take his keys, open his trunk and burn the papers. And then you shoot him.
 * Joseph Tura: Alright. [He turns to leave, then turns back] Just a minute... what'll happen to me? They'll kill me.
 * Dobosh: Well... we're going to keep our fingers crossed.
 * Joseph Tura: Good. [Once again turns to leave, then turns back] Hey, wait a minute... you go to the hotel and I'll cross my fingers.


 * Joseph Tura: It's unbelievable! Unbelievable! I come home to find a man in the same boat with me and my wife says to me, "What does it matter?"
 * Sobinski: But, Mr. Tura, it's the 'zero hour'.
 * Maria Tura: You certainly don't want me to waste a lot of time giving you a long explanation.
 * Joseph Tura: No, but I think a husband is entitled to an inkling.


 * Joseph Tura: [disguised as Colonel Ehrhardt] I can't tell you how delighted we are to have you here.
 * Siletsky: May I say, my dear Colonel, that it's good to breathe the air of the Gestapo again. You know, you're quite famous in London, Colonel. They call you Concentration Camp Ehrhardt.
 * Joseph Tura: Ha ha. Yes, yes... we do the concentrating and the Poles do the camping.

Cast

 * Carole Lombard - Maria Tura
 * Jack Benny - Joseph Tura
 * Robert Stack - Lt. Stanislav Sobinski
 * Felix Bressart - Greenberg
 * Lionel Atwill - Rawich
 * Stanley Ridges - Professor Alexander Siletsky
 * Sig Ruman - Col. Ehrhardt
 * Tom Dugan - Bronski
 * Charles Halton - Dobosh
 * George Lynn - Actor-Adjutant
 * Henry Victor - Capt. Schultz
 * Maude Eburne - Anna