Synopsis
A bad Polish actor is just trying to make a living when Poland is invaded by the Germans in World War II. 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.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Mel BrooksDr. Frederick Bronski
- Anne BancroftAnna Bronski
- Tim MathesonLt. Andre Sobinski
- Charles DurningCol. Erhardt
- José FerrerProf. Siletski
- George GaynesRavitch
- Christopher LloydCapt. Schultz
- George WynerRatkowski
- Lewis J. StadlenLupinsky
- Jack RileyDobish
Recommendations
- 90
The New York Times
Smashingly funny...This To Be or Not to Be scarcely misses a comic beat right from the opening sequence. - 90
Variety
Very funny stuff, indeed. - 80
IGN
The cast (including Brooks, Anne Brancroft, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Matheson and Oscar-nominee Charles Durning) does their best to keep the laughs flowing. - 80
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. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
To Be or Not To "Be works as well as a story as any Brooks film since "Young Frankenstein," and darned if there isn't a little sentiment involved as the impresario and his wife, after years of marriage, surprise each other by actually falling in love. - 75
New York Daily News
Brooks works overtime finding laughs more in line with his rambunctious kind of comedy...Only in Anne Bancroft's luscious, Lombard-light performance of Brooks' better (but parenthetically billed) half do you get a hint of this film's smart and stylish origin. - 67
The A.V. Club
An extraordinarily faithful—though schmaltzy and ultimately pointless— 1983 remake of Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 farce. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
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, released while Germany occupied Poland.
