Show Notes
Returning guest Dara Jaffe and first-time guest Gary Jaffe join us for the first of two episodes on To Be Or Not To Be. In this episode, we cover the interplay between theatre and film, and of improvisation and comedy; the many dimensions of the film’s relationship with Jewish identities; the use of empathy and humanism as anti-fascist tools; Lubitsch’s self-reflexive approach to diegetic reality; the key character of Greenberg, and Felix Bressart’s performance; the history of performances of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice; and the film’s influence on contemporary cinema. Recorded at the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, CA by Anna Citak-Scott. Edited by Griffin Sheel. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Peter Labuza returns for the second of two discussions on To Be Or Not To Be. For information as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: Production Code Administration notes on To Be Or Not To Be Hollywood's Other Great Anti-Nazi Movie by Thomas Doherty David Kalat’s Commentary on the Criterion Edition of To Be Or Not To Be Adrian Martin’s Review of To Be Or Not To Be. To Be Or Not To Be (A Jew) by Dorian Stuber and Marianne Tettlebaum
More from How Would Lubitsch Do It?
[Due to our last-minute addition of two episodes, the podcast feed mistakenly had S5E09a queued here for a few hours this morning - it should now be fixed!] How Would Lubitsch Do It comes to a close with a grand finale. Tim Brayton returns to discuss Cluny Brown and look back on both Ernst Lubitsch’s career and the past five seasons of this show. First, we discuss everything Cluny Brown: the film’s generosity and humanism, its commentary on British class society, its relationship with the second world war, its full-throated embrace of absurdism, the title character’s magnetism, Adam Belinski’s status as a revision on a stock villain, and the film’s somewhat autobiographical and wonderfully optimistic ending. Second, we close out the show with a look back: we debate our respective rankings (Tim, Devan) of Lubitsch’s filmography, highlight our favourite cast members, crew members and collaborators, discuss subsequent filmmakers who bear distinct marks of Lubitsch’s influence, discuss whether or not the show’s structure accurately reflects the ebbs and flows and our subject’s career, and answer the key questions: why Lubitsch? Why a podcast? Edited by Griffin Sheel.
Cahiers du Cinéma deputy editor Charlotte Garson joins us for a wide-ranging discussion that takes a look back at the past five seasons of the podcast and our subject’s career: among other things, we cover Lubitsch’s treatment of unconventional relationships, feminine sexuality and gender fluidity, his treatment of theatricality, his influence upon the critics of Cahiers and other filmmakers, and more doors. Edited by Griffin Sheel. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Screenwriter Mateusz Pacewicz (Corpus Christi, The Hater) joins us to discuss the films of Lubitsch from a Polish perspective. We coverTo Be Or Not To Be’s depiction of Warsaw, the history of Lubitsch’s collaborators such as Pola Negri, the dynamics of European immigrants in twentieth-century America, the nature of dark comedy and ‘lightness’, the nature of performance, lies, truth, identity, and nationality, and the tall tales of Andrzej Krakowski. David Neary also stops by for an encore discussion of Heaven Can Wait. Edited by Griffin Sheel. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Matt Severson returns to discuss Wes Anderson and The Grand Budapest Hotel. We discuss Lubitsch’s clear influence on the film, Anderson’s use of fabulist distancing techniques, common attitudes about Anderson’s supposed emotional remoteness, and our own emotional connections to the film. Edited by Eden Cote-Foster. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Screenwriter Mateusz Pacewicz joins us to discuss Ernst from a Polish perspective! WORKS CITED: The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel by Matthew Zoller Seitz Video Essay on The Grand Budapest Hotel by Matthew Zoller Seitz Devan’s review of To Be Or Not To Be on Letterboxd
Author Noah Isenberg joins us to discuss Billy Wilder and his 1961 comedic epic One, Two, Three. We cover Wilder’s early life as a reporter, a dancer-for-hire, and publicist; his lifelong ability to adapt to his circumstances; the question of his cynicism (or is it frustrated romanticism?); and his fraught relationship with Germany. Later on, we cover the fascinating production of One, Two, Three, the manners in which the film echoes his earlier work, and Jimmy Cagney’s superhuman verbal stamina. Edited by Eden Cote-Foster. We have a Discord! Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify NEXT WEEK: Matt Severson joins us to discuss Wes Anderson and The Grand Budapest Hotel. For information as to where to find this film, check out our resources page. WORKS CITED: On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder by Ed Sikov Wilder on Assignment: Dispatches from Weimar Berlin and Interwar Vienna by Noah Isenberg