To Be or Not to Be

To Be or Not to Be. 1983 20th Century Fox & Brooksfilm.
Starring: Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Matheson
Director: Alan Johnson
Available as a single DVD, or as part of the Mel Brooks Collection.

A remake of the 1942 movie of the same name starring Carole Lombard and Jack Benny, staying extremely faithful to the original movie, except for acknowledging that homosexuals were persecuted by the Third Reich along with the other victims of the Holocaust. Also, the character of Professor Siletsky (here played by Jose Ferrer) was changed into a comedic figure, even somewhat of a buffoon, as opposed to the original film, where he was completely serious.

Frederick and Anna Bronski (Brooks & Bancroft) star as a husband and wife team in the Polish theaters during World War II, having to make adjustments after the Nazis rolled in and conquered Poland. Anna, who object to her husband's insistance that her name appear in parentheses on the marquee, always has an eye for the handsome young servicemen who worship her every night in the theater. This doesn't sit well with Frederick, who also has a penchant for being all over the map onstage, performing Hamlet's soliliquy, and starring in a revue called "Naughty Nazis" on the same night. Frederick also seems to have a problem with one (always one, every single performance) audience member who gets up and walks out in the middle of the Hamlet bit.

Anna becomes smitten with a pilot named Sobinski (Matheson), who keeps getting up and leaving during Frederick's big scene. After the Germans invade and quickly overrun the "doormat of Europe", Sobinski rushes to England to fly and fight alongside the Polish squadrons of the Royal Air Force. He returns with Professor Siletsky (Ferrer) on a mission to organize the Polish resistance. Siletsky is secretly a Nazi collaborator, and Sobinski's love letters to Anna have attracted the attention of the Gestapo. Frederick and his troupe need to think fast, and put on the performances of a lifetime to save Anna, and escape unharmed from the Nazis. Hopefully, nobody walks out in the middle of the performance...

Charles Durning is along for the ride as Colonel Erhardt, and plays it so over the top that he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Recommended film, although my one complaint about the DVD is that it doesn't include the Mel Brooks music video for "To Be or Not to Be (The Hitler Rap)", which peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Since the DVD doesn't seem to have it, even as an easter egg, I'll include it right here. Enjoy, and can you believe that such a song almost was a Top 10 smash?