To Be or Not to Be

To Be or Not to Be (1983) is an American wartime comedy directed by Alan Johnson, starring Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft — watch it online on iFILM. Warsaw, autumn 1939: German troops move into the city, and a troupe of Polish theater actors suddenly find themselves performing the most dangerous role of their lives. No stage, no audience. Just occupation.

Frederick Bronski, a vain and mediocre actor played by Brooks, has to lead his company in a real-world improvisation: smuggle themselves out of occupied territory while dismantling a traitor who's about to hand the Polish resistance to the Germans. Their tools are stolen uniforms, theatrical makeup, and the ability to deliver a lie with a straight face. The German officers in the film are played as broad caricature — pompous, self-important, and routinely outfoxed — which was exactly the tradition Brooks was working in, echoing Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 original of the same name.

Brooks and Bancroft were married in real life, and the ease between them reads on screen. Charles Durning, playing the German colonel, landed a Golden Globe nomination for the role. Watch To Be or Not to Be (1983) online on iFILM.