Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

rowmorg This is a very funny movie, we had heartfelt laughs throughout. It's just great to see the Nazis sent up in style. If only Hollywood could manage it about the US Nazis of today! Yes, Anne Bancroft is a brilliant actress (and, of course, she has no breasts). She and Mel Brooks carry this picture off superbly and the whole production has such brio and good cheer that you can only give it an eight for sheer entertainment. I don't care who made an earlier picture (even if it's Ernst Lubitsch and Jack Benny in 1942) this is an original, and is definitely collectible (if the DVD ever comes out). We have been watching Euro art movies that paralyse you to the fingertips with boredom, and this picture lights up your life and gives you a kick in the pants like few others do. To hell with Euro art movies about bondage and lesbianism, let Mel Brooks reign supreme!

winner55 To begin with, it is unfair to compare this to the Lubitsch classic for any number of reasons. First, of course, is that for Lubitsch and his audience, the Second World War was a living issue: Jack Benny threw himself into the Bronski role with such energy because he was of Polish-Jewish family, and had some idea what Nazsm meant for any relatives he might have had in Poland at the time. Although Brooks is also Jewish, the immediate threat Benny and Lubitsch recognized is for Brooks a thing of the past. Nor dare he overplay that hand; for Lubitsch, the full horror of the Holocaust had yet to be discovered; Brooks and his director have to play against our knowledge of it in a way that avoids raising any thoughts of atrocities involved.Also, due to Hollywood censorship issues of the time, that the marriage between the Bronskis is failing because Anna is a nymphomaniac had to be carefully encoded in the dialog of the Lubitsch film, so that only sophisticated adults could understand the full implications of what was being said; even so, the script actually pushes the envelope quite a bit. By the time the Brooks version was made, there was no longer any envelop to push. While this means Brooks and Bancroft can get more explicit about their marital issues, it also means a loss of sophistication.Finally, there is the very look of the film. Director Johnson has avoided any reference to "the Lubitsch touch" which included a certain sparkle to the lighting as well as hip-to-head two-shots intercut with close-ups, and a sweeping, yet highly detailed, set-design. Johnson has gone for a "classical" feel to his movie, but his visual references - lighting, color, composition - are to the 1950s, which quietly emphasizes the sexual farce element of the film, since the '50s were the era of the particularly American sexual farce - Some Like It Hot, The 7 year Itch, Pajama Game, etc.And as an inheritor of the 1950s comedy style, I think this film works pretty well. The characterizations are lively (this is really Brooks at his best) the timing is solid and the pace swift, inconsistencies rapidly vanish and are easily forgiven, the dialog remains amusing and is not fixated by topical references. And there's an undeniable chemistry between Brooks and Bancroft, as well as an ensemble feel to the film as a whole.Taken in its own right, its no classic - but it's a pretty funny movie.

Syl This remake could not have had a finer cast led the magnificent Mel Brooks and his wife Anne Bancroft. I remembered him saying once that he loved singing and dancing Polish with his wife and now I can see why. They begin the show singing and dancing in Polish. I was surprised by how much they spoke Polish in the beginning. Unlike most Polish depictions, they are not considered to be taken as jokes in this film. They are in Warsaw with their theater troupe. In actuality, Warsaw was destroyed 90% by the war's end so it was probably very unlikely that they could outsmart the Germans but it's not a true story. The Jews wear the yellow Star of Davids and the homosexuals wear the pink triangle. Now the film could have ignored that part of the war but they did not. They wisely incorporated it into the storyline. They remind us of the concentration camps and the certain death that they would have faced. While the stars of the film and the fictional theater troupe, Anne and Frederick Bronski played by Bancroft and Brooks are forced out of their own home to live with their homosexual cast member played memorably by David Haacke in this small one room apartment. The rest of the cast is superb with Charles Durning, Tim Matheson as the young military man in love with Anna, Estelle Reiner, George Gaines, George Wyner, etc. Anne Bancroft is positively beautiful and glowing in her performance. She is truly a star and we know Mel loved her to death and she loved him in life as well. I don't get into the plot because I don't want to spoil it. It's worth watching again and again. Rest in peace, Anne.

Petri Pelkonen Mel Brooks plays a bad Polish actor Dr. Frederick Bronski and Anne Bancroft plays his wife Anna.She does that also in real life.When the Nazis take over Warsaw they try to find a way to escape to England.To Be or Not to Be (1983) is a real comedy gem that hasn't got a lack of funny moments.If I mentioned them all I would be charged of overdoing.Of course you find some drama also because of the topic.I mean, there's the II Worldwar, the Nazis and the Jews.You can't make that all comedy.But I have to tell you this; if you got a Jewish master of comedy making fun of the Nazis you can't fail.It is noticed that the Jews are the best of comedians.If there was an average gentile comedian there in the lead instead of Mel this movie just wouldn't work so good.When he disguises himself as Hitler, that's just hilarious.The Führer himself was very hilarious.If only he had been only joking.That would have been a bad joke, but still.He and his fellow Nazi clowns are an easy target to make comedy of.The actors playing Nazi parts are superb here.Christopher Lloyd does an excellent job as Capt.Schultz and Charles Durning as Col Erhardt.The casting in this movie is something you have to give credit for.Mr Brooks and Mrs Bancroft make a marvelous couple in the lead.Tim Matheson is brilliant as Lt.Andre Sobinski and José Ferrer is great as Prof. Siletski.To Be or Not to Be is an eternal question that Hamlet kept asking and also the title of this film.But don't expect another version of Shakespeare's play because that's just something you're not gonna get.What you are gonna get is something much funnier.Watch this movie if you wanna die laughing.