The evening screening on Friday 12 June will be introduced by Dr. Olympia Kiriakou.
As nervy as it is hilarious, this screwball masterpiece from Ernst Lubitsch stars Jack Benny and, in her final screen appearance, Carole Lombard as husband-and-wife thespians in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who become caught up in a dangerous spy plot. To Be or Not To Be is a Hollywood film of the boldest black humor, which went into production soon after the U.S. entered World War II. Lubitsch manages to brilliantly balance political satire, romance, slapstick, and urgent wartime suspense in a comic high-wire act that has never been equaled. - The Criterion Collection
Dr. Olympia Kiriakou is a film historian specializing in stardom, genre, and gender in classical Hollywood cinema. Her first monograph entitled Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy explores the titular actress’s star persona and career evolution in both silent and sound film. Her writing has been published in Sight and Sound, MUBI’s Notebook, BW/DR, The Saturday Evening Post, and Quarterly Review of Film and Video. Olympia has appeared on Turner Classic Movies and is an advisory board member of the Film Society of Screwball Comedy in Palm Springs, California. Her second book, Virginia Grey: Good Luck Charm, will be published by the University Press of Kentucky in spring 2027.
