What 1942 comedy starring Carole Lombard is about a Polish actor impersonating a Nazi?

The 1942 comedy starring Carole Lombard about a Polish acting troupe using disguises to fool the Nazis is To Be or Not to Be.

Ernst Lubitsch directed this black comedy, which follows Maria and Joseph Tura, played by Lombard and Jack Benny, in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Their theatrical skills become tools of resistance after Germany invades Poland and the troupe helps expose a Nazi spy.

The film’s title comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, fitting its story of actors whose performances become matters of life and death. Several characters impersonate Nazi officials, which can make the wording seem to point to one specific actor, but the canonical film answer remains the title.

Released in 1942, the movie opened about a month after Lombard died in an airplane crash. It was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry in 1996 for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.