TO BE OR NOT TO BE
TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET
Here’s another Ernst Lubitsch comedy presented tonight on TCM. This one, from 1942, stars one of the comedy superstars of the period – Jack Benny – and puts him in an impressively complex role. He and Carole Lombard play a couple of Polish actors (they live in Poland, they’re stage actors, and they’re a couple) who use their celebrity and acting ability to foil plots by the Nazis. In real life, the Nazis had invaded Poland in 1939, starting World War II for much of the world, so this film was as bold as it was timely.