To Be or Not to Be
The Picture Everyone Wants to See
Country
Production
Budget
$1 200 000
Revenue
$1 500 000
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Operator
Composer
Werner R. Heymann
Artist
Vincent Korda, J. McMillan Johnson
Audition
Editing
Dorothy Spencer
All team (19)
All team (19)
Short description
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
What's left behind the scenes
- Immediately after the film's release, the director was accused not only of complete ignorance of the Polish occupation realities of the time, but also of making fun of a military tragedy and portraying Poles at the level of Goebbels' propaganda. It was only twenty years later that Ernst Lubitsch's film appeared in Polish distribution, and it is preceded by a corresponding commentary by Kazimierz Rudski.
- Jack Benny's father was so deeply disturbed by the sight of his son in an SS uniform during a screening that he wanted to leave immediately.
- In 1983, Alan Johnson remade Lubitsch's film starring Mel Brooks and Ann Bancroft in the lead roles. At the same time, he replaced Tura's surname with Bronsky, which belonged to another character—the actor playing Hitler.
- The role of Maria Tura was the last in the career of 33-year-old Carole Lombard, who died in a plane crash two months before the film's release.
- In the film, Maria says the line: "What could possibly happen on an airplane?" After the tragic death of the actress in a plane crash, the line was removed.
- Immediately after the film's release, the director was accused not only of a complete ignorance of the Polish occupational realities of the time, but also of mocking a wartime tragedy and depicting Poles in a manner reminiscent of Goebbels' propaganda. It took twenty years for Ernst Lubitsch's film to be released in Poland, and it was preceded by an appropriate commentary by Kazimierz Rudzki.
- During the screening, Jack Benny's father was so deeply shocked by the sight of his son in an SS uniform that he wanted to leave immediately.
- In 1983, Alan Johnson directed a remake of Lubitsch's film, starring the married couple Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. In this version, he replaced the surname Turay with Bronsky, which belonged to another character—the actor playing Hitler.
- The role of Maria Turay was the final performance in the career of 33-year-old Carole Lombard, who died in a plane crash two months before the film's release.
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
