| WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: |
To Be or Not to Be August 28th Criterion Retail $29.95, Our: $23.99 |
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WHAT: WHEN: STUDIO: PRICE: |
To Be or Not to Be (Blu-Ray) August 28th Criterion Retail $39.95, Our: $31.99 |
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One of the greatest comedies (and maybe films) of all time, To Be or Not to Be (1942), gets the Criterion treatment on DVD and Blu-Ray this August 28th.
The Ernst Lubitsch dark comedy, which has been of print for for two years, stars Jack Benny and Carole Lombard (in her last screen appearance). Bonus features and details below.
As nervy as it is hilarious, this screwball masterpiece from Ernst Lubitsch stars Jack Benny and, in her final screen appearance, Carole Lombard as husband-and-wife thespians in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who become caught up in a dangerous spy plot.
To Be or Not to Be is a Hollywood film of the boldest black humor, which went into production soon after the U.S. entered World War II. Lubitsch manages to brilliantly balance political satire, romance, slapstick, and urgent wartime suspense in a comic high-wire act that has never been equaled.
BONUS FEATURES:
- New audio commentary featuring film historian David Kalat
- Lubitsch le patron, a 2010 French documentary on director Ernst Lubitsch’s career
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Two episodes of The Screen Guild Theater, a radio anthology series:
- Variety (1940), starring Jack Benny, Claudette Colbert, and Lubitsch
- To Be or Not to Be (1942), an adaptation of the film, starring William Powell, Diana Lewis, and Sig Ruman
- Trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
