The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, January 18-24
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Lubitsch’s masterful wartime satire has had many imitators, including Mel Brooks’s 1983 remake and Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, but none matches the original’s audacity and effortless blend of comedy and drama. Released during at the height of Hitler’s power, the film follows a troupe of Polish actors who impersonate Nazi officials in order to thwart a German spy. The script is flush with delirious one-liners (“Heil myself”), running gags, and inspired performances, including Jack Benny as a self-involved actor and jealous husband. Similar to the unlikely resistance fighters in his film, Lubitsch pulled a fast one on authority by producing a fearless political statement within the rigid studio system. A.J. Serrano (January 20-22, 11am at IFC Center’s “Autocratic for the People: An Unpresidented Series of Star-Spangled Satires”)