To Be or Not to Be (1983) - film review

Frederick and Anna Bronski are two of Poland’s leading theatricals and their latest show, a revue poking fun at Hitler, is likely to be a sell-out.  Unfortunately, on the day the show opens, the Germans decide to invade Poland and the Bronskis have no choice but to replace it with something less controversial, Highlights From Hamlet.  Whilst Frederick is busy murdering Shakespeare on stage, a member of the audience, a young lieutenant in the Polish airforce named André Sobinski, slips away to visit Anna in her dressing room.  Sobinski is madly in love with the actress, but before he can start an affair with her he is called away on active service.  Stationed in England, he meets a man who purports to be an important member of the Polish resistance movement, Professor Siletsky.  Convinced that Siletsky is a Nazi agent, Sobinski gets permission from his superiors to return to Poland to prevent him from passing on a list of the names of resistance fighters to the Nazi high command.  He seeks Anna’s help, but she is arrested and taken to Siletsky, who falls for her obvious charms.  Meanwhile, Frederick is coerced by Sobinski into impersonating Colonel Ehrhardt, a senior Gestapo officer, so that he can wheedle the damning list out of Siletsky.  After Siletsky is killed in a shoot-out, Frederick must impersonate him in order to recuperate a copy of the list.  Unfortunately, he is rumbled by Ehrhardt - or so it would seem...

This glitzy remake of Ernst Lubitsch’s classic film To Be or Not to Be (1942) lacks the darkness and sophistication of the original but is nonetheless a rollicking good romp that offers plenty of laughs and one or two enjoyably tacky musical numbers.   Although Mel Brooks produced and starred in the film, he handed over the direction to Alan Johnson - a sensible move as it allows Brooks to concentrate on what he is best at, aided and abetted by his equally talented (but slightly more glamorous) wife, Anne Bancroft.

The remake is surprisingly faithful to Lubitsch’s film, retaining virtually all of the plot elements and replaying much of the dialogue, although the humour is more strongly emphasised, perhaps to the detriment of the story.  One noticeable departure from the original was the introduction of an openly gay character - this was the first time that a mainstream Hollywood film had depicted the persecution of homosexuals by the Nazis during WWII.  Enjoyable supporting contributions from Tim Matheson, Charles Durning and José Ferrer keep the comedy engine ticking over nicely, although Brooks (predictably) gets all the best lines and shows a slight tendency to over-egg the pudding.  Whilst it falls way short of the brilliance of Lubitsch’s film, this version of To Be or Not to Be still has much to commend it and is a must-see for all fans of Brooks and Bancroft.

© Alex Sullivan 2011

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