Movies Under the Stars

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Film Screening (B&W)

An NCPA & Film Heritage Foundation Presentation

This screwball masterpiece from Ernst Lubitsch stars Jack Benny, and, in her final screen appearance, Carole Lombard, as husband-and-wife thespians, the Turas, running their own theatre company in Warsaw. When the Nazis invade Poland in World War II, the Turas soon find themselves having to operate under severe restrictions, including shelving a comic play they had written about Adolf Hitler. They soon become embroiled in a complicated plot to prevent a double agent from delivering vital information to the Nazis. Lubitsch manages to brilliantly balance political satire, romance, slapstick and wartime suspense in a comic high-wire act.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Screenplay: Edwin Justus Mayer
Cinematography: Rudolph Maté
Cast: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack & Stanley Ridges

Admission on a first-come-first-served basis. NCPA Members will get preferential seating till 6.20 pm.