![]() This is a wonderful work that, I have no hesitation in saying, is absolutely vital for anyone who wants to really understand the glory of the cinema. Farce rarely works in the cinema, but here it does, and in the grand manner - just look at how many times the situation regarding Professor Siletsky changes profoundly during the film - it is dizzying - yet the characters manage to come up with (often self-defeating or inappropriate) schemes on every occasion. Finally, and most important, is the notion of farce. Now its not surprising that the film is so. To Be or Not to Be is a 1983 American war comedy film directed by Alan Johnson, produced by Mel Brooks, and starring Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Tim Matheson, Charles Durning, Christopher Lloyd, and Jos Ferrer. The movie is a comedy and yet is every bit as effective in inspiring the war effort. Apart from the satirical aspect of the story and the way in which Hitler and the Nazis are mercilessly ridiculed for their authoritarianism and the fear which is their only motivator, the film pokes gentle fun at the vanity of actors in a warm and happy manner. 'To Be or Not To Be' doesnt trivialize the barbarity of the Nazi regime as much as it ennobles art and gives an aura of metaphysical importance to laughter, as the main characteristic of the reasonable person. The principle actors - Carole Lombard (breathtakingly beautiful) and Jack Benny in particular, but many of the supporting cast as well - throw themselves into the affair with a gusto that is completely infectious. The very complicated narrative is presented virtually flawlessly and the comedy is never allowed to hold up the narrative. ![]() Of all of them, this was the film which got the greatest ovation - about 5 minutes with a nearly full house standing and applauding! They may have applauded for many reasons, but here are certainly some of them. At the onset of WW2, a Polish actors family and the Polish Resistance help the troupe of a theatre escape Poland and the invading Nazis. Starring: Mel BrooksAnne BancroftCharles Durning. In 1996, I presented a massive season of 'the greatest' films in Belfast for the centenary of cinema - 250 titles in 9 months. Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft star in this comedy as actors trying their bumbling best to save the Polish underground from the Nazis. 'To Be or Not To Be' skips lightly over all of the minefield of a subject like this and it is difficult or impossible to think of any other filmmaker who might have managed it (if you look at Mel Brooks' limp remake, you can see why). Lubitsch was, by this time, coming to the end of an exquisite career that defined the nature of sophistication in 'light' cinema. The answer is, ultimately, irrelevant to the viewing of this modest masterpiece. what Miss Powell was getting at was that, given the horror of the Holocaust, it is appropriate to laugh at the Nazis. There is a famous review of this film by the late Sunday Times critic, Dilys Powell which begins 'Is the joke funny?'.
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