The movie To Be or Not to Be by Ernst Lubitsch relates to Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, as it also strongly goes against a powerful country and mocks that country. The same way that Orwell mocks communism and Stalin’s ruling in Russia, Lubitsch mocks Nazi Germany.  Lubitsch and Orwell both had the courage to make their pieces during the time of the historical events which they are about. Similar to how Orwell wrote his book at the start of the Cold War, Lubitsch made this movie in 1942, in the middle of World War II, and right after the United States joined the war. America was very tense at this time, as everyone was worried with the war in both the Pacific and Europe. Lubitsch making this movie shows his courageousness, and his patriotism, which mostly results from his Jewish ancestry. The movie To Be or Not to Be shows the effects of censorship (which is ironic due to the censorship in Hollywood at the time the movie was made), and also the importance of comedy both in life and in movies.

Towards the start of the film, the actors are preparing to perform a play about Hitler and the Nazi military, but are told that they cannot perform the play; for fear that it would anger Hitler. The Polish government told the actors that if Hitler heard of the play, it would only make him more likely to attack the country. The actors were devastated to hear the news, and things only got worse once Germany invaded Poland. Maria Tura says “There were no censors to stop the Germans”, which is relating the reaction from the Polish government to the play they were going to perform to the government’s reaction to Hitler invading. The actors were censored and weren’t allowed to perform the play they had been practicing for months because of fear that it could upset the Nazis, while Hitler and his military just marched right into Poland without any resistance. This shows how scared the Polish government was of Hitler, and how they knew that there was no chance of stopping the Nazis if they chose to attack Poland. Had the Polish government been as focused on finding a way to defeat Germany as they were focused on the play, they would have been in better position to slow down the Nazis, and maybe even stop them. 

Ernst Lubitsch’s movie was a bold statement against Nazi Germany and fascism as a whole, but it didn’t initially receive praise in America, due to the severity of the war. Most Hollywood movies at the time were very conservative and didn’t have any content which could be considered offensive. To Be or Not to Be was thought of as being very offensive and risky at that time period, due to the actors making fun of Hitler. The very sight of seeing actors in Nazi uniforms was thought of as being offensive, and Jack Benny’s father (Benny played Josef Tura) stopped watching the movie when he saw his son in a Nazi uniform. The sense of nationalism was at an all-time high in America, due to how serious the implications of the war were. His father was so patriotic that he couldn’t stand watching his own son being depicted as a Nazi. Many Americans thought that the movie would anger Hitler, which they feared would result in Nazi Germany putting a bigger target on America and being more aggressive towards the US. Lubitsch was out casted because of the movie, and had many people hate him due to this somewhat irrational fear that they had. Hitler’s plans didn’t change at all after the film, which people should have known, as he had much bigger issues to deal with than a movie. The hate for Lubitsch and the reaction of the movie when it was released was undeserved, but luckily for Lubitsch and the actors, the perception of the movie changed after the war ended.

After the war, the movie was looked at much differently, and people could enjoy it without worrying about how enemy countries would react to it. People could start to see the comedy in the movie, which there was an abundance of. The movie had many ironic twists in it, which could be appreciated more when the Allies won the war. In a scene in the beginning of the movie, Greenberg, who was an actor with a minor role in Hamlet, recited a line which was said from Hamlet, in an effort to show a fellow actor that he could be Hamlet, or at least have a bigger role. Then, later in the film, when acting as a diversion for Josef Tura, who was pretending to be Hitler, Greenberg recites the exact same monologue to Nazi soldiers. This quote that Lubitsch puts into the film is a great example of the film’s comedy. Comedy is crucial to the morale of people in times of war, as many people are so caught up in the war, that they need an escape from reality to enjoy life more. Comedic pieces, such as this film let people remember that life is still going on outside of the war, and that it is still important to have fun, even with circumstances such as war being so dire. In addition to the movie as a whole, the comedy inside the movie has an impact on people in terms of perception of characters.

Two of the most important Nazis in the film are Colonel Erhardt, a Nazi colonel, and Siletsky, who is a Nazi spy. The two have very different personalities, but still have essentially equally evil. However, due to their personalities, the two characters are perceived very differently by the audience.  Erhardt’s character is liked by many viewers of the movie, as a result of him being so funny. He constantly messes up whenever he makes a decision, and always blames it on Captain Schultz, who is on his staff. He even blames his failed suicide attempt on Schultz. Erhardt is in Maria Tura’s room when Josef Tura walks in, dressed as Hitler. Erhardt believes that Tura is Hitler, and when both Josef and Maria Tura leave the room, Erhardt shoots himself, but doesn’t kill himself. Erhardt’s persona makes him a very likeable character, as he is one of the funniest characters in the movie. On the other end of the spectrum, Siletsky is a very serious character, and hardly ever jokes about anything. He is humorless throughout the entire movie, which makes him easy to dislike, especially when combined with his status as a Nazi spy. He talks to many Polish soldiers, and tells them he is going to Poland to help the Polish win the war by going on a secret mission (when he’s actually going to meet up with Gestapo officers). The soldiers are thrilled to hear this, and give Siletsky the information of their relatives, and tell him to get in contact with their loved ones. When getting the list of relatives, Siletsky plans on giving the information to Gestapo officers, to have the relatives either killed or captured. If it weren’t for the Hamlet actors killing him, he would have given the information to Colonel Erhardt, and Gestapo officers would have raided the houses of the soldiers’ relatives. This shows the evilness of Siletsky, but it is completely overlooked by most people that Colonel Erhardt was the man who would have given the orders on what to do with the relatives, because he seems so innocent due to his childlike behavior, while Siletsky’s seriousness makes him very easy to hate. Perception of movie characters is based heavily on their sense of humor, which is another reason why comedy plays such a big role in films.

Ernst Lubitsch was a fearless director, and didn’t care about the traditions of Hollywood or fitting in amongst his peers. He was only worried about making meaningful movies, and standing up for what he believed in, which is illustrated perfectly in his movie To Be or Not to Be, where he completely ignores Hollywood’s standards. Lubitsch’s film relates to other controversial pieces, such as the book “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. Lubitsch’s movie was one of the more important works of art during World War II, as it was one of the very few films that dared to mock Hitler and Nazi Germany. Hollywood movies in the early-to-mid 1900s were very cautious, and very rarely had content that could be found offensive. Lubitsch went against the norm, and decided to make a movie that mocks one of the most intimidating militaries in human history. Lubitsch refused to be censored, as many producers and directors were before, so that he could get his movie out exactly how it was meant to be. Ernst Lubitsch was a forward-thinker, who knew that artists should speak their mind, and not listen to rules of censorship, which is evident in his movie To Be or Not to Be.