I love tracking movies in relation to the World Wars. You can’t find many pre-WWI, but there’s a good selection of them from between the wars. It’s fascinating to see how WWI was thought of and referenced when it really was “The Great War”. Just as interesting is that short period of films made and released during WWII. Films like The Great Dictator and Casablanca were writing the story of WWII before it was over. The perspective must’ve been so much different then. I can watch Stalag 17 with the comfort of distance and knowing how things turned out. I can’t imagine how it would’ve been to watch To Be or Not to Be in 1942. Often, when I hear about enduring films that weren’t received well at the time, I’m puzzled by it. For To Be or Not to Be, I’m surprised anyone enjoyed it before 1945. It’s making a joke of Nazi occupation and Hitler in real time. And it comes from a place unaware of the mass genocide by the Nazis there. This is a bold movie.
When you take it out of the historical context, the movie itself is enjoyable but not the best screwball comedy out there. I generally like Carole Lombard, and Jack Benny does well with the multiple roles he gets to play. Pretty much anytime someone pulls off a confidence scam, I’m going to like it. And thankfully, it’s impossible to separate the film from its context. It’s plenty worth watching this just to pause and compare how well WWII was going during production and release of it. The same month this was released, I believe the Germans were finishing a major offensive and Japan was stringing together a series of wins. That would be like…like right now seeing a dark comedy about a Ukrainian village tricking the Russians into not killing them. Crazy.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment