X
  • 1983
  • PG
  • Twentieth Century Fox
  • 1 h 47 m
  • 1983
  • PG
  • Twentieth Century Fox
  • 1 h 47 m
To Be or Not to Be

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 up...

Directed By: Alan Johnson

Written By: Thomas Meehan, Ronny Graham, Edwin Justus Mayer, Melchior Lengyel, Ernst Lubitsch

  • 1983
  • PG
  • Twentieth Century Fox
  • 1 h 47 m
  • 1983
  • PG
  • Twentieth Century Fox
  • 1 h 47 m

To Be or Not to Be

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 15 Critic Reviews
61
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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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 up...

Directed By: Alan Johnson

Written By: Thomas Meehan, Ronny Graham, Edwin Justus Mayer, Melchior Lengyel, Ernst Lubitsch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 15 Critic Reviews
61
60% Positive
9 Reviews
27% Mixed
4 Reviews
13% Negative
2 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 15 Critic Reviews
61
60% Positive
9 Reviews
27% Mixed
4 Reviews
13% Negative
2 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
90
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]
By David Ansen FULL REVIEW
90
Smashingly funny...This To Be or Not to Be scarcely misses a comic beat right from the opening sequence.
By Vincent Canby FULL REVIEW
80
The cast (including Brooks, Anne Brancroft, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Matheson and Oscar-nominee Charles Durning) does their best to keep the laughs flowing.
FULL REVIEW
75
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.
By Roger Ebert FULL REVIEW
50
A mild farce - benign but not really very funny.
By Pauline Kael FULL REVIEW
50
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.
FULL REVIEW
20
The film only succeeds in establishing a remarkable new low in remakes.
By Gary Arnold FULL REVIEW

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Details

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Production Company Brooksfilms, Twentieth Century Fox
Release Date Dec 16, 1983
Duration 1 h 47 m
Rating PG
Genres
Tagline That is the movie!
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Awards

Golden Globes, USA
• 2 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists
• 2 Nominations

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