To Be or Not to Be (1983) * * *

Directed by:  Alan Johnson

Starring:  Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Tim Matheson, Jose Ferrer, Charles Durning, Christopher Lloyd, George Gaynes, James Haake

A remake of the 1942 Jack Benny comedy of the same name, To Be or Not to Be is a comedy in which a troupe of Polish actors outwit the Nazi machine long enough to plot an escape from occupied Poland.    There are serious undertones (how could there not be?), but Brooks and company squeeze a lot of laughs and suspense from the material.    We have our ration of Mel Brooks style puns and gags ("Sondheim!  Send in the clowns!) or, after the opening scenes are spoken in Polish, an announcer explains over a loudspeaker how the rest of the movie will spoken in English.    Mel Brooks wouldn't be Mel Brooks without such verbal humor, but To Be or Not to Be presents us with a story and people we care about.  

As To Be or Not to Be opens, the Bronski theater troupe led by second-rate actor Frederick Bronski (Brooks), is performing "Highlights from Hamlet" and his soliloquy is interrupted by handsome young officer Lt. Sobinski (Matheson) loudly excusing himself and sneaking backstage for a meeting with Frederick's wife and co-star Anna (Bancroft).    Frederick is incensed more by the interruption than by the meeting with his wife, but then again he is such an egomaniac he puts his wife's name in parentheses on the theater posters.   

Anna isn't exactly cheating on Frederick, but she adores the attention lavished upon her by Sobinski.  Wouldn't you if your husband put your name in parentheses?   Sobinski is soon called away on a mission just as the Nazis invade and assume control of Warsaw and closes the theater.    The occupation of Warsaw is led by the blowhard doofus Col. Erhardt (Durning), who blames his own incompetence on his underling Schultz (Lloyd) and adores the fact he is supposedly called "Concentration Camp Erhardt".

As the plot unfolds, Frederick is forced to impersonate a traitorous professor (Ferrer), Col. Erhardt, and even Hitler himself.    Frederick's biggest lament is how he gave the best performances of his life, and no one applauded him.     Yes, Frederick is a typically insecure actor, but Brooks makes him lovable anyway.     We can forgive him his trespasses, as we do Anna's, who as played by Bancroft shows us that, damn it all, she loves her schmuck husband anyway.    There are a few touching moments in which both Frederick and Anna realize that they are still in love. 

Even though the Nazis in To Be or Not to Be are buffoons, there is still the evil presence of the Nazi war machine everywhere.    We know the war would drag on for six more years and millions upon millions were killed in the name of stopping the Axis Powers' attempt at world domination.    But, even in a slapstick comedy like this one, we get to see the Nazi war machine made a fool of by a group of second-rate actors (the characters, not the real actors, who are all great here) who would like nothing more than to put on "Highlights from Hamlet" night after night.    That is satisfying enough for me.