(aka "Jeux dangereux" )

 

directed by Ernst Lubitsch
USA 1942

 

August, 1939. Poland is still free, but the Nazis are about to make their fateful move. Suddenly: "It's the little man with the black moustache!" Adolf Hitler is strolling calmly through Warsaw, completely alone, staring into a butcher's window. But he's a vegetarian! Naturally, he attracts some attention, and the narrator takes us into a flashback to explain how Hitler arrived alone in a Warsaw high street.

Ernst Lubitsch's black comedy details the efforts of a Polish theatrical company to help the resistance effort. All-round star of vaudeville, stage, radio, screen and television, Jack Benny, is the star with Carole Lombard as his unfaithful but heroic wife.

The real trouble starts when a Professor Siletsky arrives in Warsaw supposedly to spy on the Nazis, but in reality to help the Gestapo destroy the Resistance. The theatre group use their skills to impersonate Nazi officers, Gestapo agents, and even Hitler, yet nothing goes to plan...

On its initial release this film was a flop, deemed as bad taste since America had just gone to war. Also, 33 year old Carole Lombard was killed one month previous to the premiere, in a plane crash whilst selling U.S. war bonds, tragically cutting off her distinguished career of screwball comedies asnl light dramas. But as time has passed, the film has received much praise from film historians and has finally made a profit, if belatedly. It is, admittedly, riddled with wartime propaganda, as the Nazis are all bungling incompetents arresting each other and the RAF flyers are all high spirited heroes, but these touches add to the comic value of the piece. Note too that Lubitsch was himself a Berliner of Jewish descent and keen to show his opposition to the Nazis.

Jack Benny as Josef Tura is excellent as the ham actor delivering his one-liners with proficiency, as is comedienn Carole Lombard as Maria Tura ("What a husband doesn't know won't hurt his wife"). Sig Ruman, German in real life, puts his accent to good use as "Concentration Camp" Errhard, and Robert Stack is the airman who destroys Tura's life by walking out on his Hamlet soliloquy.

 

Excerpt from Martin Hunt's review from the EUFS Programme 1992-93 located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 6 March 1942 - USA

Reviews    More Reviews  DVD Reviews

DVD Comparison:

Films sans Frontières - Region 0 - PAL vs. Studio Canal - Region 2 - PAL vs. Warner - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Ole Kofoed and Dimitri van den Engel and Guillaume Mareri for the Screen Caps!

(Films sans Frontières - Region 0 - PAL - LEFT vs. Studio Canal - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Warner - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers

The Warner edition can also be purchased in the Classic Comedies Collection (Bringing Up Baby / The Philadelphia Story Two-Disc Special Edition / Dinner at Eight / Libeled Lady / Stage Door / To Be or Not to Be):

 

                       

Distribution

Films sans Frontières

Region 0 - PAL

 Studio Canal
Region 2 - PAL		 Warner
Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime 1:34:14 (4% PAL speedup) 1:35:08 (4% PAL speedup) 1:39:06
Video

1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 5.70 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 7.17 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 5.54 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:

 

Films sans Frontières

 

Bitrate:

 

Studio Canal

 

CANNOT OBTAIN
Bitrate:

 

Warner

 

Audio English (mono)

2.0 Dolby Digital Mono French, English

English (mono)
Subtitles French, none. French, none English, French, Spanish, none
Features Release Information:
Studio: Films sans Frontières

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• About the Movie (In French).
• List of Lubitch films.
• Trailer (0:43).

DVD Release Date: 2001
Keep Case

Chapters 8

Release Information:
Studio: Studio Canal

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:

 

DVD Release Date: November 7, 2001
Digipak

Chapters 12

Release Information:
Studio: Warner

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• Jack Benny in comedy short
• Wartime promo
• All subtitles are white
 

DVD Release Date: March 1, 2005
Keep Case

Chapters 26

 

 

Comments The Films sans Frontières edition doesn't look too bad here but has a high amount of speckles and dirt. Amusingly as well the Films sans Frontières  version has translated the signs and letters of the film into French !?! (see large capture #5). Both PAL DVDs are cropped on both side edges. Both PAL editions are so dark that some details are lost (see large capture #3). The Warner is sharper, brighter and the best choice overall. Heil Warner!

 - Gary Tooze

 

 


DVD Menus
(Films sans Frontières - Region 0 - PAL - LEFT vs. Studio Canal - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Warner - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)


 

 

 

Screen Captures

(Films sans Frontières - Region 0 - PAL - TOP vs. Studio Canal - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Warner - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

(Films sans Frontières - Region 0 - PAL - TOP vs. Studio Canal - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Warner - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

(Films sans Frontières - Region 0 - PAL - TOP vs. Studio Canal - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Warner - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

NOTE: Only in the Warner can you identify that the character on the far left is wearing a pin-stripe suit.

 

 

(Films sans Frontières - Region 0 - PAL - TOP vs. Studio Canal - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Warner - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

(Films sans Frontières - Region 0 - PAL - TOP vs. Studio Canal - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Warner - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

(Films sans Frontières - Region 0 - PAL - TOP vs. Studio Canal - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Warner - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

(Films sans Frontières - Region 0 - PAL - TOP vs. Studio Canal - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Warner - Region 1 - NTSC - BOTTOM)

 

 

Hit Counter

Report Card:

Image:

Warner

Sound:

Extras: Warner
Menu: Warner
DVD Box Covers

The Warner edition can also be purchased in the Classic Comedies Collection (Bringing Up Baby / The Philadelphia Story Two-Disc Special Edition / Dinner at Eight / Libeled Lady / Stage Door / To Be or Not to Be):

 

                       

Distribution

Films sans Frontières

Region 0 - PAL

 Studio Canal
Region 2 - PAL		 Warner
Region 1 - NTSC

 




 

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