It will probably always be impossible for Brooks to remain entirely within the dramatic logic of any story, and here he gives himself a lot of freedom with lines like "Sondheim! Send in the clowns!" But "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. The veteran actor Jose Ferrer plays Professor Siletski, a two-faced collaborator. Charles Durning plays a rigid but peculiarly confused Nazi colonel, and Tim Matheson is the young aviator who excuses himself loudly and sneaks backstage to meet Bancroft. soliloquy in William Shakespeares play Hamlet was successfully portrayed through Kenneth Branagh and Ethan Hawkes film. Despite its masterful opening sequence, about the confusion an actor dressed as Adolf Hitler causes a small Polish community, the film takes a while to kick.
#Movie to be or not to be license#
The supporting players, given license to overact, have fun. Perhaps unjustly, To Be or Not to Be ’s wit continues to be overshadowed by its touchy plot, which concerns a theatrical troupe in Warsaw attempting to outwit the Nazis during the war.
#Movie to be or not to be movie#
Brooks and Bancroft go in the opposite direction, cheerfully allowing farce, slapstick, pratfalls and puns into the story, until the whole movie seems strung together like one of the revues in Bronski's theater. Lubitsch's stars were Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, both specialists in underplaying. When "To Be or Not To Be" was originally made, by Ernst Lubitsch in 1942, the Nazis were in Poland, which gave a certain poignancy to every funny line. What can a humble troupe of actors do to stop them? "Nothing!" Bronski declares - but then the troupe gets involved in an elaborate masquerade, pretending to be real Nazis in order to throw Hitler's men off course and prevent the success of the German plans. Bronski is an all-over-the-map guy who does Hamlet's soliloquy and stars in a revue called "Naughty Nazis" in the same night and on the same stage. (Anna) Bronski, whose name is in parentheses because her husband has such a big ego, is a femme fatale with an eye for the handsome young servicemen that worship her nightly in the theater. Released December 16th, 1983, 'To Be or Not to Be' stars Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Tim Matheson, Charles Durning The PG movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 47 min, and received a user score of 68. The movie co-stars Brooks and his wife, Anne Bancroft, working together for the first time on screen as Frederick and (Anna) Bronski, the impresarios of a brave little theatrical troupe in a Warsaw on the brink of war.
(Remember Frankenstein's monster doing the soft shoe?) In "To Be or Not To Be," Brooks combines a backstage musical with a wartime romance and comes up with an eclectic comedy that races off into several directions, usually successfully. Mel Brooks loves show business and has worked it into a lot of his movies, most unforgettably in "The Producers." He also loves musicals and has worked musical numbers into the most unlikely moments in his movies.
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