To Be or Not to Be

Name: To Be or Not to Be
Genre: Comedy
Released: December 16, 1983
Duration: 107 min
Rating: 61
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Estelle Reiner, George Gaynes, George Wyner, Jack Riley

1983

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Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

20th Century Fox | Release Date: December 16, 1983 | PG

Starring: Anne Bancroft, Estelle Reiner, George Gaynes, George Wyner, Jack Riley, James 'Gypsy' Haake, Lewis J. Stadlen, Mel Brooks, Ronny Graham, Zale Kessler

Summary: 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 upA 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.… Expand

Director: Alan Johnson

Genre(s): Comedy

Rating: PG

Runtime: 107 min

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Critic Reviews

David Ansen

Mel Brooks's To Be or Not To Be has the ingenious plot twists, the breathless comic cadences, the blithe spirit of a classic '40s comedy, and for a very good reason -- it's almost a scene-by-scene and line-by-line duplicate of Ernst Lubitsch's "To Be or Not To Be" of I942. To those who know and love the Jack Benny-Carole Lombard original, this may seem like sacrilege. But because the copy is so entertaining in its own right, it seems more a tribute than a rip-off. [19 Dec 1983, p.66]

Staff (Not Credited)

Very funny stuff, indeed.

Vincent Canby

Smashingly funny...This To Be or Not to Be scarcely misses a comic beat right from the opening sequence. Read full review

Harry Haun

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. Read full review

Nathan Rabin

An extraordinarily faithful—though schmaltzy and ultimately pointless— 1983 remake of Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 farce. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

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. Read full review

Gary Arnold

The film only succeeds in establishing a remarkable new low in remakes. Read full review

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