To Be Or Not To Be (1942)

As I mentioned earlier this week, this is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen!
It's filled with hilarious dialogue and quotable lines, and is guranteed to give you laughter cramps more than once.                              

                    

Let's start with a summary:
Josef and Maria Tura, both famous screen actors, live in Warsaw, Poland, just at the beginning of WWII. When a young pilot discovers a German spy within their ranks, he contacts Maria, who he is absolutely smitten with, in order to stop the spy from delivering information to Gestapo. 
Their plan of retrieval involves fake Gestapo uniforms and the help of their theatre company, but everything gets more complicated when the real Gestapo suddenly shows up. The only thing that can get them out of that situation is a lot of cold-bloodedness, improvised acting and even more disguises.
                       
                     

As you can see this movie is a wonderful mix of humor and drama. There are quite a few  scenes where the characters find themselves in dangerous situations, but the way they manage to get out of them again is really something!

My favourite characters of the movie are without doubt Josef and Maria Tura! They have a really great relationship filled with wonderful banter.

Josef: I went to Dobosh and told him when he advertises the new play to put your name first.
Maria: Did you darling? That's sweet of you, but I really don't care.
Josef: That's what Dobosh said, so we left it as it was.

Josef also has a high opinion about himself. Whenever he's in disguise he mentions "Maria Tura, married to that great Polish actor Josef Tura. You have probably heard of him", to which the recipient often answers "no".

And then there's this wonderful exchange when Maria tries to console Josef after someone in the audience walked out in the middle of his "to be or not to be" monologue.

Josef: He walked out on me.
Maria: Maybe he didn't feel well. Maybe he had to leave. Maybe he had a sudden heart attack.
Josef: I hope so.
Maria: If he stayed he might have died.
Josef: Maybe he's dead already! Oh Darling you're so comforting.

                  

The poor man has to go through a hard time when he's convinced Maria is having an affair with the pilot (which she doesn't), but his parting words to her when entering a dangerous situation is my favourite line of the move:

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

                   
                   
Then there's Maria of course. She is cold blooded, brave, quick witted and very devoted to her husband, despite his flaws. Just a great character.

                                    

There are so many funny moments to choose from in this movie that I hardly know which to pick..
There's the hilarious Gestapo officer who keeps on yelling "Schultz" more and more exasperated as nothing goes as planned.
And then there's the actor in the company, who's always trying to give his opinion and dreams of playing Shylock.

But I won't quote anymore scenes in case it should take away your motivation for seeing it.
In conclusion I can only say: it's a truly enjoyable movie, really funny but still with a lot of suspenseful moments.      

If this review has made you want to watch the movie, you can do so here.