To Be or Not to Be

To Be or Not to Be (1983)

  • 63% of critics liked it
    (16 reviews)

  • 71% of users liked it
    (2,785 ratings)

Mel Brooks and his real-life wife Anne Bancroft play Frederick and Anna Bronski, musical comedy stars in 1939 Poland. The highlight of the Bronskis' act is Frederick's imitation of Adolf Hitler, but he is forced to eliminate this turn for fear of offending the Nazis. Meanwhile, Anna enters into a… More

PG, 1 hr. 48 min.
Directed By
Alan Johnson
Genres
Drama, Comedy
In Theaters
Dec 16, 1983 Wide
On DVD
Jan 25, 2005

Critic Reviews

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    Bancroft's sustained delights are not matched by Brooks, who seems to be trying too hard.

  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    Brooks combines a backstage musical with a wartime romance and comes up with an eclectic comedy that races off into several directions, usually successfully.

  • Vincent Canby, New York Times

    Ssmashingly funny.

  • Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

    I can't remember another film that took so little care with the details of ambience: the cruddy sets and flat, underworked sound track drain any sense of life from the project.

  • , TV Guide's Movie 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, released while Germany occupied Poland.

Read all 11 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Phil H


    Excellent and long forgotten spoof from funny man Brooks, his version of a classic satire. Some excellent casting with his regular bunch of misfits and character actors...Chris Lloyd, Charles Durning, George Wyner, George Gaynes etc..Its quite a touching little plot too, but… More

  • moon r


    The Nazis march into Poland and that spells big trouble for the greatest musical comedy star there (and his wife) --- the premise itself is a joke in this mostly-for-the-fun-of-it remake. Its not the original, true, but its fun watching the cast have fun funning the idea of a master… More

  • jay n


    Lighthearted remake of the classic Benny/Lombard film. Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft seem to be having lots of fun while handling the serious moments well. The supporting cast couldn't be better. A winner.

  • Cindy I


    Not even CLOSE to as good as the Jack Benny/ Carol Lombard original.

  • Daniel D


    Besides 12 chairs this is my least favorite Mel Brooks movie. It just didn't have that Mel Brooks spunk in it. Yes it had some funny quotes, e.g. "are they Jews or are they rabbits". But there were many recycled jokes from old films. It was still an OK movie

Read all 6 featured audience ratings

Cast

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