The movie "You Run Away from Me/Survive or Destroy/To Be or Not to Be" (1942) is a French Blu-ray version of the cover
To be or not to be (1942) is a famous comedy by film master Ernst Liu Beiqian Ernst Lubitsch (1892-1947). It tells the story of a group of stage actors and Nazis fighting each other during the fall of Poland in World War II, preventing a spy from sending important information about Poland to Germany, protecting the underground resistance in Warsaw, and successfully escaping from the Nazis' eyes. The Germans portrayed as idiots in the play are always led by the noses of the members of the troupe, who simply cannot destroy this resistance group that is wantonly attacking traitors. The film is tightly plotd and full of jokes, and although it is old, it still seems to be full of fun, like a "tiger's mouth escape la grande vadrouille" (1966).
Stills from the movie "You Run Away/Survive or Not to Be" (1942), carole lombard on the left and Jack Benny on the right
The film directed and starred by Ernst Liu Beiqian is elegant, very human, elegant and popular, and hilarious, creating the genre of "elegant comedy". A classic noir comedy, You Run Away and I Flee is in many ways better than Charles Chaplin's (1889-1977) The Great Dictator the great Dictator (1940), with a tightly interlocked, exciting and playful storyline.
The opening scene is a recognized screen classic. The title of the film comes from the famous line of "Hamlet Hamlet", which is the content that the male protagonist dreams of performing. The film expresses Ernst Liu Beiqian's nostalgia for life before World War II and his indictment of the war. Although controversial in the 1940s and 1960s, the film was eventually regarded as Ernst Liu Beiqian's best film along with 1939's Ninochka/Ice Beauty/Exotic Mandarin Duck Ninotchka.
Stills from the movie "You Run Away/Survive or Not to Be" (1942), with Jack Benny as Joseph Durra
Ernst Liu Beiqian's films are not difficult and obscure, but use their lines to show us very bluntly, what is called a wonderful pen and flowers; using actors to tell us what is called the Golden Age; using their own buddha-figures to tell us what is a film master, not that muttering is not inaccessible, but making the audience instinctively love to the ground. As François Truffaut (1932-1984) said, Ernst Liu Bieqian was a true prince.
First, let's take a look at the dialogue of the characters in the movie. In the early silent films, due to the lack of sound, in some unavoidable places, subtitles must be used to explain the plot, even so, the plot of the film can not be too complicated, otherwise it will affect the audience's understanding, and although the subtitles can solve part of the problem, they occupy the time of the film, interrupt the film's picture rhythm, and affect the narrative.
Stills from the movie "You Run Away/Survive or Not to Be" (1942), with Tom Duggan as Hitler
Therefore, the appearance of dialogue in the play first solves the problem of plot explanation. In addition, the expression, timbre, and tone of the actor in the dialogue are all important tools for showing the character, psychology and emotions of the characters. For example, in the film, Joseph Durra (Jack Benny Jack Benny) often refers to himself as "the greatest Polish actor" and asks if anyone has heard of his name, which shows that he is extremely confident in his performance; for example, in the film, the real Colonel Ehrhard (Played by Sigo Ruman Sig Ruman), he always imposes his mistakes on his subordinates and excuses himself with "who else can I trust". Every time he shouts the names of his subordinates and his bearded and staring expression, the audience knows what he's doing. Therefore, his character trait is that he is credited with his own work, and fault is borne by his subordinates. Finally, the most important role of the film's dialogue is its potential rich connotation.
Poster for the movie "You Run Away or Not to Be" (1942).
The most classic in the film is the line in Hamlet: "to be or not to be", which is the name of the whole movie, in the play is the actor Joseph Durra often has to read the line, this line has a black humor in it, such as the first time in the theater Joseph read this, he saw a person stand up and leave, at that time he showed surprise and incomprehension, and then he had some pauses in the line to try to attract the attention of the person who left, and, His eyes followed the man's figure, and since then the line has become a symbol of special significance, symbolizing the meeting code of his wife Maria Dula (Carol Lombard) and Lieutenant Sobinsky (Robert Stark Robert stack) and for him a hint that others have no interest in his performance.
Stills from the movie "You Run Away/Survive or Not to Be" (1942), when Jack Benny Jack benny says "to be or not to be," Robert Stack immediately gets up in his seat and goes backstage on a date with his wife
There are also hilarious lines, such as the words of Bronsky (Played by Tom Duggan Dugan), who plays Hitler: "Long live myself", which is a mockery, and it is a mockery of the play-within-a-play, which is their line when they were filming, but it is also Ernst Liu Beiqian's mockery of Hitler. Also, Bronski was on the streets of Warsaw when the little girl said to him, "Can you sign me a name?" Bronski", again creating a comedic effect, because he was recognized at a glance.
For example, Ehalt said to Joseph, who was pretending to be Hilittsky, "What he did to Shakespeare is what we are going to do to Poland now", which said that Colonel Ehalt did not know why it was funny, but the audience knew that Joseph was most proud of his performance in Shakespeare's plays, but he was evaluated as destroying Shakespeare's plays, and his suddenly stiff expression made the audience can't help but laugh.
Stills from the movie "You Run Away or Not to Be" (1942).
This whole movie is to win with lines, a lot of humorous jokes are expressed by lines, just imagine if this is a silent film, then, it is estimated that many places the audience does not understand it, let alone laugh. From the silent film that requires the audience to speculate on the plot by themselves to the later use of dialogue to promote the development of plot characters, the status of sound in the film is gradually improving.
Secondly, I want to talk about the narration of this film. For example, the narration at the beginning of this film, the narration here is an objective narration. The opening scene is a third party's narration of the picture performance, describing the streets, scenes, characters' expressions and actions and psychology, the audience does not understand very well, but with the development of the plot, the later once again explained the scene that appeared at the beginning.
Stills poster for the American version of the movie "You Run Away/Survive or Not to Be" (1942), Carol Lombard (right) and Robert Stark Robert stack (left)
The role of this narrator is mainly in the narrative, just like others are telling the story, there is a little suspense, first say the back of the story, turn around to talk about the reason why the opening scene will appear, use the narration to flashback an event, arouse the audience's interest. Originally, live commentary in the cinema was dispensable, but now the narration has assumed an important role in narrative and other aspects, and the development of the status of sound can be seen.
Ernst Liu Beiqian handles his subject matter with great elegance and skill, effortlessly controlling the ups and downs of the plot. The castes — especially Jack Benny, who plays the incredible tragic actor Joseph Dura — are clearly enjoying themselves. But the 1942 premiere could not have been clearer than ever that the film was destined to lose money. The invited audience did not react to the shaking baggage, and the audience fell silent.
In particular, when Ehardt said, "How Joseph Dura treated Shakespeare, how we treated Poland," many viewers were outraged. Critics went out of their way to cite this line to illustrate the film's low taste, and as soon as this line was spoken, a large number of audiences left the theater directly. Waves of hatred for Ernst Liu Beeqian came, accusing him of ridiculing Poland's suffering.
Critics and audiences of that era could not jump out of the limits of their own times, so "The Great Dictator" and "You Run Away and I Escape" would experience very different fates.
In this film, the use of music is also a highlight. The first thing to mention is that after Warsaw was occupied by the German Nazis, a series of notices were posted on the screen, accompanied by a serious and cruel music, accompanied by notices such as the death penalty, and the windy and rainy weather, showing that the people of Warsaw under Nazi occupation were being slaughtered and ravaged.
On the set of the film "You Run Away or Not to Be" (1942), Carol Lombard watched other transitions during his break
Similarly, when Greenberg (played by Felix Bressart) reads Sherlock's lines with a shovel in the snow, it is accompanied by miserable music, the lines are already bleak, and with the music that strikes people's hearts, it also shows the depths of the warsaw people. The singing of the Polish Air Force together is the film's use of sound-based music, and the high-pitched and passionate singing reflects the young soldiers' passion for defending their homeland and maintaining a state of humor and cheerfulness under the war.
In the part of Lieutenant Sobinsky's parachute jump, the music is tense and rhythmic, Sobinsky is fleeing, the Nazis are chasing, when the two sides are about to meet, the music immediately tenses up, and when Sobinsky escapes the Nazi pursuit, the music tends to be flat, as if a person can finally breathe after a long time to show the kind of relaxation and comfort of time.
Stills poster for the American version of the movie "You Run Away or Not to Be" (1942).
Perhaps the most remarkable of the music in the whole film is the scene where Joseph discovers Thatobinski sleeping in his bed. The sound of music began to remember when Joseph found the man's pants on the stool, at first the music revealed a hint of doubt, and then, Joseph walked to the bedside, the music revealed caution and exploration, until he turned on the light, saw the man lying on the bed, the music became shocked, Joseph quickly put his head close to the man on the bed and then stood up straight, the music also changed with his movements, with Joseph's search and suspicious gaze for the person in front of him, It wasn't until he recognized Sobhinsky as the one who had left halfway through his performance twice, and the music came to an abrupt halt.
The whole music is carried out in response to Joseph's psychological changes, and the music is like Joseph's externalized emotions, which are directly revealed to the audience. There is also the music used by the actors in the theater to hunt for Hillitsky, which also creates a tense atmosphere.
Finally, there is the use of sound in this film. One is a fake Hitler who is leaving the theater and leading a team of real Nazi officers out, at a uniform pace, with rhythmic steps, and following them forward. Originally a serious and neat army, but the leader is a fake leader, this sonorous and neat footsteps seem very absurd, because the object of their close protection is actually a counterfeit, the officers themselves do not know, but the audience will look very funny and ironic.
Another place was in Joseph's house, when Colonel Ehurt was about to invade Madame Dura, the fake Hitler rushed in again, Madame Durra left with him, the door closed, we heard a gunshot, Ehalt committed suicide, the sound of the gunshot on the surface only to illustrate this, but in fact contained other meanings. For example, Ehrhardt was very afraid of Hitler, so when he learned that he had offended the Führer, he chose to cut himself, which he felt very tragic about himself, but it seemed absurd and funny in the eyes of the audience. The sound of the gunshot is actually both a narrative and a metaphor, achieving a satirical effect.
"You Run Away and I Flee" is also a wonderful Comedy from the Time of World War II, and apparently it was considered to have bad taste at the time, because there were a lot of jokes about concentration camps and the like. But it's still a personal and very passionate film, and it's very interesting.
Poster for the German version of the movie "You Run Away or Not to Be" (1942).
The leading American comedy actress Carol Lombard (1908-1942) played her last role before the plane crash, perhaps her most outstanding screen image. Ernst Liu Bie-chien has turned an otherwise frightening piece of footage into a comedy, and he handles the relationship between seriousness and exaggeration very well. But the film was still criticized by critics because they could not tolerate satire and sarcasm against the Polish resistance. The film was nominated for the 15th Academy Award for Best Music in 1943 and the National Film Registry Award at the National Film Protection Agency in 1996!
In One Night It Happened One Night (1934), clark Gable gable (1901-1960) character Peter says that the woman he likes wants to be the kind of living, vibrant, real-life Carol Lombard is undoubtedly such a woman, she accompanies Clark Gable hunting and fishing, and the two in-laws live on the farm with various animals.
This is a clip of the life filmed by Carol Lombard and husband Clark Gable
In fact, Carol Lombard is not a lady, she has a big personality and likes to talk about meat, Clark Gable has always had a fondness for such women, look at the several women he has been close to, whether it is Carol Lombard or Joan Crawford (1904-1977) or Jane Harlow (1911-1937), are the kind of cheerful women who are not pretentious and do not twist.
Carol Lombard, who was selling war bonds on all sides after filming "You Run Away and I Flee," was supposed to fly to California to meet Clark Gable, who was busy editing war documentaries in Hollywood and waiting for Carol Lombard to return. But the plane in which Carol Lombard was travelling crashed in Nevada was on January 16, 1942. President Roosevelt called her "the first woman to die on the battlefield" and awarded her the "Presidential Medal of Freedom."
This is a promotional photo taken by Carol Lombard for the film You Run Away/Survive or Destroy/To Be or Not to Be (1942).
Clark Gable is distraught to learn of his wife's death (he can only identify the body with the jewelry worn by Carol Lombard). Clark Gable buried Carol Lombard in a cemetery in Forest Memorial Park, Grandau, California, and left himself a seat next to the tomb, convinced he would soon find her.
In 1983, this classic war comedy was once again remade by director Aaron Johnson Alan Johnson, and the heroine was the charming Anne Bancroft (1931-2005), who not only surpassed, but also innovated, and her outstanding performance was surprising. Mel Brooks mel brooks as the male lead.
The film "You Run Away from Me/ Survive or Destroy / To Be or Not to Be" (1942) American standard collection the criterion collection Blu-ray edition envelope, this is the worst set of cc design ever seen