THE SCREEN

To Be Or Not To Be, with Ernst Lubitach directing Jack Benny as the noted and great polish actor Joseph Tura, this is one of the funniest movies ever made What's amazing about it is when it was made in 1942, a bit before the U.S. got into the war: unlike most films of the early forties, and particularly those that Hollywood churned out when we were fighting in it (which are lulling and sentimental and silly), this comedy is sharp and wicked as can be. That's Lubitach, I guess. The scene is the German occupation of Warsaw, where Benny and friends outwit the Nazis. The humor is often best because it comes so dangerously close to bad taste-people got mad at it when it came out because of the subject matter, but it's nowhere near as vulgar as the respectful shlock made in those years with great legs swooning when the stormtroopers come, or Betty Grable exhorting the troops. As a matter of fact, my most earnestly Zionist friend gets convulsive with laughter at the concentration camp jokes whenever he sees it. With Carole Lombard, in her last role. At the Science Center, Friday at 8 and 10 p.m. in "D", Saturday at 8 and 10 in "C". Not to be missed.

Janus Film Festival, starts today at the Orson Welles.