This still captures a moment that occurs just past the halfway point in the film, during which Professor Siletsky unravels Joseph Tura’s performance as Colonel Ehrhardt. At this point in the film, Tura has betrayed his identify by overreacting to Siletsky’s confession about Maria Tura’s infidelity. This moment complicates Lubitsch’s satirization of Nazis as easily-fooled and performative followers of an insubstantial political regime.  

Professor Siletsky is one of few, if not the only Nazi to demonstrate a convincing loyalty to the political party. He was seemingly genuine in his testimony to Maria Tura about Nazi ‘principles’ and ‘humanity,’ and here acts in accordance with loyalty to the party by exposing Joseph Tura and attempting to escape the theatre. Siletsky, unlike many of the Nazis in the film, fully believes in Naziism. Further, he sees through Joseph’s performance as Colonel Ehrhardt and soon bursts out of the staged room and into the theatre beyond, exemplifying his priviness to the act. Though he had earlier been fooled by Maria Tura’s performance as a dewy-eyed dame, Siletsky now disobeys the clueless Nazi trope Lubitsch has constructed in the film.  

Having gained the upper hand in this shot, Siletsky stands in the foreground and towers above the freshly-exposed Joseph Tura who sits in the background. Behind him, Tura’s stage becomes clear – the curtains fall behind him as if they were theatre curtains closing in on his act. Siletsky gazes down at Tura who looks nervously up at him. Since Siletsky stands to the left, our eye naturally follows his stare down from left to right. If one were to trace this gaze with a pen, the line would would pass through the swastika on the wall, as if Siletsky were looking through the Nazi front Tura has constructed. Whether they are due to Tura’s inadequacy as an actor, or to Siletsky’s true perceptiveness, Siletsky’s actions in this scene complicate Lubitsch’s satirization of Nazis in To Be or Not to Be.