Δευτέρα 12 Φεβρουαρίου: The Lubitsch touch

Ernst Lubitsch
"To be or not to be"

...μια απ' τις πιο αστείες ταινίες που έχουν γίνει ποτέ.

To Be or Not to Be
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, 1942

Rating:
by Derek Smith 9/6/04

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To Be or Not to Be is not Ernst Lubitsch's funniest or most gratifying film, but its comical, humanistic approach in addressing the nature of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party and the value of communal activism in times of dire need may be the most impressive feat of his career. Jack Benny and Carole Lombard play Joseph and Maria Tura, the most famous acting couple in Poland who become involved in the anti-Nazi movement accidentally when their play is shut down and an overzealous lover of Mrs. Tura unknowingly mentions her status to a Nazi spy on his way to Poland. The setup is pure Lubitsch, complete with his uniquely sophisticated style of romantic comedy, critical examining of social rules and morality, and blending of genres and tones to create a compelling and completely original atmosphere for his characters to interact. Given the subject matter, it's not surprising that it's his most serious film and often walks the thin line between brilliance and disaster.

In the early 1940s, Hollywood produced more war films than any other period of time, yet their often blunt and simplistically patriotic tones only secured support for America's involvement. To Be or Not to Be, like Casablanca, the other great film of 1942, takes into account the complexities of war and the necessary sacrifices to bring peace. Within the modern context (at its time of release) of World War II, Lubitsch uses a myriad of hilarious situations and entertaining characters to provide the backdrop to his reflective meditation on the horrors of tyranny as an oppressive force condemning personal and artistic freedom. It's no coincidence he pits the Nazi's against a theater company, though it works as more than a convenient contrast. The success of the Nazi's relies heavily on loyalty to the good of the group, including blindly following orders and acting and reacting as they are directed, just like the actors. Lubitsch never presents them as inhuman, deftly mocking their behavior while always stressing the danger in the thought behind those human faces and the importance of meeting terror with dignity and humanity.

To completely ignore the comic side of To Be or Not to Be would be unfair and like many Lubitsch films, there are few characters that manage to escape his acerbic wit. Benny's uptight, borderline neurotic Joseph Tura is self-involved and his pomposity is met with his wife's acceptance of a handsome, young lover, not because he deserves it, but because his track record indicates he would likely be indifferent. Maria is coy and playfully cruel and while she's more appealing than Joseph, the ingrained arrogance in her demeanor is clearly a shot at the upper class tendency to put appearance and other trivialities above anything real. That Lubitsch can play with themes of marital discord, love circles, and redemption through action rather than words, purely in the short scenes where the sub-plot is allowed to shine is a perfect example of his knack for giving every situation or character a feeling of great importance no matter how much screen time it takes up. The lover, played with proper doses of innocence and arrogance by a barely recognizable Robert Stack, is responsible for creating a rift between Joseph and Maria (or at least making an existing one apparent to them), causing them to reevaluate their marriage until they set their own worries aside in favor of more important tasks. As they work to sabotage the work of Professor Siletsky, the Nazi spy, their true feelings work themselves out in a reaffirmation of love that stems not from honest communication, but the simple realization that the conveniences of their marriage outweigh everything else. Situations such as that one give a small indication of the depth of this film and work as an example of how difficult it is to determine who exactly is the target. It so effortlessly intertwines the comic and the tragic, the love story and the anti-war statement, the honorable actions with the ill-intentioned that every scene builds on existing levels and create new ones. It is the essence of the Lubitsch touch that these qualities are noticeable and indefinable, meaning that his films are often better experienced than discussed. In other words, do yourself a favor and find a copy!

Mini biography

From Ernst Lubitsch's experiences in Sophien Gymnasium (high school) theater, he decided to leave school at the age of sixteen and turn to the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the account books for the family tailor business, while he pursued acting in cabarets and music halls at night. In 1911 he joined the Deutsches Theater of famous director/producer/impresario Max Reinhardt. He was able to move up to leading acting roles in a short time. He took an extra job as a handyman while learning silent film acting at Berlin's Bioscope film studios. The next year he launched a film career by appearing in a series of comedies dealing with traditional ethnic Jewish slice-of-life fare. Finding great success in these character roles, Lubitsch turned to broader comedy, then embarked on writing and directing his own films beginning in 1914.

His breakthrough film came in 1918 with Die Augen der Mummie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy), a tragedy starring future Hollywood star Pola Negri. Also that year he made Carmen, again with Negri, a film that was commercially successful on the international level. His work already characterized his genius for catching the eye as well as the ear in film and not only comedy but historical drama. The year 1919 found Lubitsch with seven films to direct, the two standouts being his lavish Madame DuBarry (1919) with two of his favorite actors Negri again and Emil Jannings, and, especially, his witty parody of the American upper crust, Die Austernprinzessin (The Oyster Princess). "Princess" was the threshold of the trademark Lubitisch style - or the 'Lubitsch Touch', as it became known: sophisticated humor embedded in inspired staging that economically presented a visual synopsis of storyline, scenes, and characters.

World notice brought him to the shores of America to promote his film Das Weib des Pharao (The Loves of Pharaoh) in 1922 and become acquainted with the US thriving film industry. He returned for good to direct new friend and influential star Mary Pickford in his first American hit, Rosita (1923). The Marriage Circle (1924) began the unprecedented run of sophisticated films that mirrored the American scene (though always relocated to foreign or imaginary lands) and all its skewed panorama of the human condition. There was a smooth transition between his silent films for Warner Bros. and the sound movies - usually - at Paramount, now embellished with the flow of speech of Hollywood's greats lending personal nuances to continually heighten the popularity at the box office and the fame of Lubitsch's first rate versatility in crafting a smart film. There was a mix of pioneering musical films and some drama also through the 1930s. The successful formula was such that Paramount made him production manager in 1935, so he could produce his own films and supervise production of others. In 1938 he signed a three year contract with Twentieth Century Fox.

Certainly two of his most beloved films near the end of his career dealt with the political landscape of the World War II ear. He moved to MGM where he directed Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas in Ninotchka (1939), the fast-paced comedy of decadent West meets Russian comrades seeking more of life than the mother country can offer. Chock up another one for Lubitsch. During the war he directed perhaps his most beloved comedy - controversial to say the least - dark in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way - but certainly a razor sharp Lubitsch tour de force in smart, precision dialog, scenes, and story. He produced To Be or Not to Be (1942) under his own company Romaine Film Corp. It was a biting satire of Nazi tyranny that also poked fun at Lubitsch's own theater roots with the problems and bickering-but also the triumph-of a threadbare acting troupe in Warsaw during occupation. `Jack Benny's' perfect deadpan humor joined with the zany, vivacious 'Carole Lombard' and a cast of veteran character actors both from Hollywood and Lubitsch's Germany provided all the chemistry needed to make this a classic comedy, as well as fierce statement against the perpetrators of war. The most poignant scene was profoundly so - with Jewish Felix Bressart, another one of Reinhardt's students, as the only Jewish bit player in the company. His supreme hope is a chance to someday play Shylock. He gets his chance as part of a ruse in front of Hitler's Nazi body guards. The famous soliloquy was a bold declaration to the world of Axis brutal inhumanity to man - as focused on the Jewry of Europe.

Lubitsch had a massive heart attack in 1943 after having signed a producer-director's contract with 20th Century-Fox earlier that year and completed Heaven Can Wait. His continued efforts in film were severely stymied but he worked as he could. In late 1944 Otto Preminger, another disciple of Reinhardt's Viennese theater work, took over the direction of A Royal Scandal with Lubitsch named as nominal producer. March of 1947, the year of his passing, brought a special Academy Award (he was nominated three times) to the fading producer/director for his "25-year contribution to motion pictures." At his funeral, two of his fellow directorial emigres from Germany put his epitaph succinctly as they left. Billy Wilder noted: "No more Lubitsch." William Wyler answered: "Worse than that - no more Lubitsch films."

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IMDb mini-biography by

William McPeak

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Spouse

Vivian Gaye	(27 July 1935 - 4 August 1944) (divorced) 1 child
Helene Kraus	(August 1922 - 1930) (divorced)

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Trivia

1929, discovered actress/operatic singer, Jeanette MacDonald while in New York

Gave the film industry and made famous the phrase, "The Lubitsch Touch" due to his sophisticated wit and style

Brought together one of Hollywood's greatest screen pairing, of Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald.

Ernst was known for always playing practical jokes on his film sets.

He directed a "mummy' movie. It wasn't one of the post-Boris Karloff films, but the silent German production "Die Augen der Mumie Ma" (1918).

Retrospective at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival. [1984]

Was vote the 16th Greatst Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 692-700. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

He had a daughter, Nicola, with wife Sanya Bezencenet.

The term "MOS" is used, on a slate, when a scene is filmed without sync sound (or any sound). This directive is widely thought to be a homage to Lubitsch who would say, in his thick Berlin accent, that he wished to shoot some footage "mitout sound." "Mit" means "with" in German...ergo...without sound..."mitout sound"- "M-O-S."

Over the years film directors sometimes shoot particular footage silently, without the use of a live microphone. It is known in the industry as shooting "MOS." The origin of who and where it was coined maybe lost in the mists of time but we do know that it was homage to Lubitsch who used to say, in his thick Berlin accent.. "Let's shoot this one 'mit' out sound." Without sound. 'MOS.'

Directed 3 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Lewis Stone, Maurice Chevalier and Greta Garbo

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Personal quotes

"I let the audience use their imaginations. Can I help it if they misconstrue my suggestions?"

"You could name the great stars of the silent screen who were finished; the great directors gone; the great title writers who were washed up. But remember this, as long as you live: the producers didn't lose a man. They all made the switch. That's where the great talent is."

"I've been to Paris France and I've been to Paris Paramount. Paris Paramount is better."

"Nobody should try to play comedy unless they have a circus going on inside."

"I sometimes make pictures which are not up to my standard, but then it can only be said of a mediocrity that all his work is up to his standard."

"In Hollywood we acquire the finest novels in order to smell the leather bindings."

"There are a thousand ways to point a camera, but really only one."