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To Be or Not to Be

1983

Alan Johnson

Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Tim Matheson, Charles Durning ...

5.8

842

Comedy A bad Polish actor is just trying to make a living when what should intrude but World War II in the form of an invasion. His wife has the habit of entertaining young polish officers while he's on stage which is also a source of depression to him. When one of her officers comes back on a Secret Mission, the actor takes charge and comes up with a plan for them to escape.

	Author	Review
United States	Vincent Canby The New York Times	"Smashingly funny...This To Be or Not to Be scarcely misses a comic beat right from the opening sequence"	POS
United States	Variety Staff Variety	"Very funny stuff"	POS
Canada	Liam Lacey The Globe and Mail	"Though Brooks is tasteless as usual in 'To Be Or Not To Be', his remake of Ernest Lubitsch's 1942 comedy of the same name may be his best work since his debut film, 'The Producers.'"	POS
United States	TV Guide	"The plot is much the same as in the Ernst Lubitsch original, with everything played for laughs and Brooks at his funniest in impersonations of Nazis. What's missing is the relevance of the 1942 film"	NEU
United Kingdom	Time Out	"Johnson may not quite have Lubitsch's lightness of touch, but he puts an excellent cast through their paces with great verve, and the charm is as potent as ever"	POS
United States	Pauline Kael The New Yorker	"A mild farce - benign but not really very funny."	NEU
United States	Nathan Rabin AV Club	"An extraordinarily faithful 1983 remake of Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 farce."	POS

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