To Be or Not to Be (1942).

Review #1358: To Be or Not to Be.

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), and Charles Halton (Dobosh) Directed and Produced by Ernst Lubitsch (#1026 - The Shop Around the Corner)

Review: 
Satire can be a curious thing. If you do it right, one will appreciate the humor and irony for years on end, regardless of how much time has passed (such as Gulliver's Travels). One would expect a war satire to come from brilliant directors (such as Charlie Chaplin with The Great Dictator the previous year), so it only makes sense for Ernst Lubitsch to make one as well. The German-born director had started as an actor in 1913. Although he appeared in roughly 30 films over the next seven years, he gradually shifted his attention to directing, making his debut with Shoe Palace Pinkus (1916). He made numerous movies in his native Germany with actors such as Pola Negri before leaving to Hollywood for good in 1922. He made films in numerous genres, ranging from comedy to bio-dramas to musicals, and he received an Honorary Academy Award in 1946, one year before his death from a heart attack. The story was done by Melchior Lengyel (who had co-written Ninotchka) while the screenplay was done by Edwin Justus Mayer (with un-credited work done by Lubitsch). Naturally, one would expect a star or two to headline the film, and one can't go wrong with Lombard and Benny. Lombard had started her career in 1921 (with a main debut in Marriage in Transit in 1925),  having small roles in films for Fox Film and Mack Sennett's short films before reaching her first high point with Twentieth Century (1934). It was the first of numerous screwball comedies that she became known for over the next few years. Tragically, this was to be her last film. She was killed in a plane crash after a war bond rally on January 16, 1942 (roughly a month before the film's release). Benny came into this film because Lubitsch wrote the film directly for him. He had originally done vaudeville for his violin playing before eventually deciding to do comedy with his act. In 1929, he had signed a contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer and had his debut with The Hollywood Revue of 1929. While he made numerous appearances in film over the next few years, he became more well-known for his radio program, which ran from 1932 to 1955. 

The film is a wonderful one, dark and witty with its pursuit of making ridicule of a serious situation like the Nazis, in a time where World War II was in its third year and America had just entered the fight. There was a mixed reception among audiences and critics of the time, where even Benny's father initially was disgusted with the sight of his son in a Nazi uniform before being convinced otherwise (where he promptly saw it again and again). It is a keen movie with plenty of sharp observations and facial situations that rewards the viewer time and time again. The movie has a tremendous sense of timing, balancing comedy and drama with such deftness, which is helped with a prime screwball pairing through Lombard and Benny, who are both inspiring to watch either together or with others. The film doesn't repeat itself with tiring gags, knowing when to do something without needing to be prodded into it, where one could make a comedy-less version of the same basic story without finding trouble. Stack (who was reportedly terrified going into this role) does just fine with keeping up with Lombard and Benny with careful demeanor. The other actors pull off an inspired front in retaining interest, with Ruman doing the most well with bombast. It certainly is a timeless one to last among other comedies, and it even inspired a remake in 1983. The film moves with a dashing pace of 99 minutes, never seeming to wear itself out at any time with making a capable dark comedy that also serves as a romance and thriller with plenty to make light of with daring ambition and an especially capable director and stars at hand to make things shine in the dark. One can't go wrong with a Lubitsch picture, and this is no exception.

Next Review: The Invisible Man (2020).

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

Apollo 11 (2019).

Review #1248: Apollo 11.

Cast: 
Buzz Aldrin, Joan Ann Archer, Janet Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Jack Benny, Johnny Carson, Clifford E. Charlesworth, Michael Collins, Walter Cronkite, Charles Duke, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Gene Kranz, Jim Lovell, and Glynn Lunney (all archival footage) Directed by Todd Douglas Miller.

Review: 
July 20, 1969 marked the first time that man stepped foot on a planet that was not their own. It served as a key marker for over a decade of travel of manned and unmanned missions to explore beyond the planet, with Apollo 11 fulfilling the dream of having a man on the moon before the decade ended. President John F. Kennedy had remarked in 1962 about an ambition to go to the Moon before the decade had ended, stating that "We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too." It has now been half of a century since the iconic landing on the Moon, and it is quite obvious why I would set my attention on a documentary like this. It is part of a quite a long line of films revolving around the missions of the Apollo program, with several examples ranging from Footprints on the Moon: Apollo 11 (1969, released just months after the landing), Moonwalk One (1970, which attempts to add in some historical context and capture the mood of people on Earth), and For All Mankind (1989, which includes narration from several Apollo astronauts). The best way to do one of these is with complete cooperation with NASA and the National Archives and Records Administration, with this film utilizing footage of newly discovered 70mm footage from the launch and recovery of Apollo 11.

Of course one can't really just throw a bunch of footage together without making sure it is preserved and edited with precision (done so by director/editor Miller), and it is a great thing that one can view a movie like this and look back upon a great achievement in the history of man with craftsmanship as wonderful as this. From the very first shot involving the Saturn V rocket, the film generates plenty of curiosity and plenty of interest. Even just seeing the shots of the crowds (of which there were plenty, since its been estimated that a million people saw the launch from nearby the launch-site, whether by highway or beach) eyeing for a view at the launch is something to stare at, a look back through images and occasional voices, where a narrator does not prove necessary to have it all set in. It attempts to depict the mission from launch to splashdown in 93 minutes, and it does pretty well with making an eight day mission roll handily without seeming plodding in any one place. The Eagle landing is handled well in the editing room, with the music by Matt Morton helping alongside the view of the ship trying to make a safe landing with fuel running out (as signified by a counter) - knowing about the success of the mission doesn't make this any less thrilling to behold, where Armstrong and Aldrin had to do their job with precision and care. Of course one can't forget about Collins, a man that spent a day flying solo around the Moon, later describing his feeling not of loneliness, but of "awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation". Commander Armstrong and his commanding and lunar module pilots in Collins and Aldrin shined in the time they were required to, doing so under all the pressure one must feel when trying to land a vehicle on another surface besides the one inhabited by all; this program was an expensive one, a project that did not garner universal support - but the Moon landing was a unifying moment, where man could be one and see a great adventure reach its zenith. The film celebrates the great adventure done five decades ago with tremendous relish that honors history and the people that helped make this achievement come to life, from its trio of astronauts to the thousands of technicians and people that helped in construction, design and more (with a bunch of time spent on Mission Control and all of the people and devices that were present that day). Apollo 11 is an easy recommendation to make, whether on this fateful day or for when one wants to see how the first great adventure to the Moon came to fruition from start to finish and how it still relates to us today and beyond.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.