HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

EUROPE AFTER WWI

• WWI finished in 1918.

• Germany was the loser and soon the Nazi Party got the political power.

• In 1922 Russia became a communist state.

• Winners of the war created some states to separate the communist and capitalist world: Poland, Finland…

GERMANY

• Adolf Hitler: Chancellor in 1933.

• He led the Nazi party: They thought they should control Europe, because they were the Aryan race.

THE THIRD REICH

• The Third Reich is the time between 1933 and the end of World War II.

• The Gestapo was created by the Third Reich. The Gestapo investigated the actions that were dangerous to the State (espionage, treason). They could imprison people in concentration camps without trial.

WORLD WAR II (WWII)

• 1 September 1939 , invasion of Poland by Germany. War starts.

• Two sides: Allies (UK, France, USA, Soviet Union…) and Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan,…).

• Until 1943 the Axis were winning, but after that the Allies were able to win.

• Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945, after the atomic bombs, and the War ended.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE(1564-1616)

•Greatest writer in English language. •Playwright: about 38 plays, including tragedies, comedies, historical plays: Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear…

• His plays translated into every major living language and performed more often than those of any other playwrights.•Poet: 154 Sonnets

“HAMLET”

• “Hamlet”: Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy.

• Hamlet: its main character.

• Monologue “To be or not to be…” by Hamlet.

ERNEST LUBITSCH(1892-1947)

•Ernst Lubitsch was a German American actor, screenwriter, producer and film director. •Reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director.•He appeared in approximately thirty films as an actor between 1912 and 1920.•He became famous when he started his career in Hollywood in 1922, with films like  The Marriage Circle (1924), Lady Windermere's Fan (1925), and So This Is Paris (1926).

• During WWII he helped many artists who had problems because they were Jews, or had problems with the Axis.

• He also made some films criticizing the Axis, like  To Be or Not to Be (1942).

“TO BE OR NOT TO BE” (1942)A play within a movie, a political satire.

PLOT:In Warsaw, at the beginning of WWII, Maria Tura and her husband Joseph perform anti-Nazi plays with their theater troupe until they are forced to perform Hamlet instead. Lieutenenat Stanislav Sobinski falls for Maria and meets up with her during Joseph's famous "To Be or Not to Be" speech as Hamlet. When Stanislav is eventually sent to the front, he implicates Maria with Professor Siletsky, a spy for the Germans, who has a secret plan to destroy the Warsaw resistance. The Polish theater troupe, led by Joseph, is then forced to use their theatrical skills to ensure their survival. They have to impersonate Nazi officers – even Hitler himself -- in order to outwit the enemy and keep the resistance safe from spies.

CAST

• Carole Lombard as Maria Tura, an actress in Nazi-occupied Poland.

• Jack Benny as Joseph Tura, an actor and Maria's husband.• Robert Stack as Lt. Stanislav Sobinski, a Polish airman in

love with Maria.• Stanley Ridges as Professor Alexander Siletsky, a Nazi spy

masquerading as a Polish resistance worker who tries to seduce Maria.

• Sig Ruman as Col. Ehrhardt, the bumbling Gestapo commander in Warsaw.

• Tom Dugan as Bronski, a member of the company who impersonates Hitler.

• Felix Bressart as Greenberg, a Jewish member of the acting company who plays bit parts and dreams of playing Shylock.

•Reception by the public: though initially not well received by the public, it is now regarded as one of the best films of Lubitsch's, Benny's and Lombard's careers.

•Awards: To Be or Not to Be was nominated for one Academy Award: the Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

Presented by:

• Juan Arosa Penín (1º Bach. C)

• Xurxo Estévez Losada (1º Bach. C)

• Eric Martínez Estarás (1º Bach. B)

• Jacobo Gutiérrez (English teacher)

THANK YOU &

ENJOY THE MOVIE!!!