{"id":1049,"date":"2016-09-01T01:19:42","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T01:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/?p=1049"},"modified":"2018-08-07T02:50:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T02:50:32","slug":"theatre-in-film-to-be-or-not-to-be-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-to-be-or-not-to-be-1983\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre in Film: To Be Or Not To Be (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes section-header-post\" style=\"margin-top:;margin-bottom:;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><h3>Theatre in Film: <em>To Be Or Not To Be<\/em> (1983)<\/h3>\n<font size=\"2\" color=\"grey\"><span style=\"border:1px solid ;-webkit-border-radius:50%;-moz-border-radius:50%;border-radius:50%;-moz-box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3);-webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3);box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0,0,0,.3);margin-right:25px;float:left;\" class=\"fusion-imageframe imageframe-glow imageframe-1 hover-type-none author-image\"><a class=\"fusion-no-lightbox\" href=\"http:\/\/performerstuff.com\" target=\"_self\"> <img src=\"http:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/authorimage.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"img-responsive\" style=\"-webkit-border-radius:50%;-moz-border-radius:50%;border-radius:50%;\"\/><\/a><\/span><p>Written by Ashleigh Gardner<\/p>\n<p>August 30, 2016<\/p>\n<\/font><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><div class=\"fusion-one-full fusion-layout-column fusion-column-last fusion-spacing-yes section-body-post\" style=\"margin-top:;margin-bottom:;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper\"><p style=\"text-align: left;\">Have a love affair with theatre\u00a0<em>and\u00a0<\/em>film? Me too! It\u2019s an ongoing relationship that\u2019s a thrill to have, and Performer Stuff\u2019s\u00a0Theatre in Film series celebrates the\u00a0great films that effectively depict a life in the theatre.<em>\u00a0<\/em>Part III\u00a0in our ongoing\u00a0tribute to theatre-centric cinema continues\u00a0with Mel Brooks&#8217; 1983 comedy,\u00a0<em>To Be Or Not To Be,\u00a0<\/em>a remake of the 1942 original.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>To Be Or Not To Be<\/em> (1983)<\/h4>\n<br><div align=\"center\"><div class=\"fusion-video fusion-youtube\" style=\"max-width:600px;max-height:350px;\"><div class=\"video-shortcode\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9rIRIZ8thEE?wmode=transparent&autoplay=0\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/div><br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><b>Director: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mel Brooks<br \/>\n<\/span><b>Starring: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Tim Matheson, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jos\u00e9 Ferrer<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Charles Durning, James Haake, and Christopher Lloyd<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\">What happens:<\/h4>\n<br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poland, 1939. A Warsaw theatre company led by husband-and-wife team Frederick and Anna Bronski (Brooks and Bancroft) performs in the days leading up to the Nazi occupation of\u00a0<\/span>Poland. Immediately before performing a play that parodies Hitler, the troupe is reprimanded by the Polish government and must perform Frederick\u2019s <i>Highlights from Hamlet<\/i> (a long-winded and self-indulgent attempt at honoring Shakespeare\u2019s best-known work). During Frederick\u2019s \u201cTo be or not to be\u201d speech, a young fighter pilot, Lieutenant Andrei Sobinski (Tim Matheson), escapes to Mrs. Bronski\u2019s dressing room and spends time there with her and her dresser, Sasha (James Haake). During one of these meetings, the company finds out that Nazis have crossed the border into Poland. War is imminent. Sobinski leaves for duty.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Nazis take everything, leaving the Bronskis and many of their employees homeless. Leiutenant Sobinski has meanwhile met with Professor Siletski (<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jos\u00e9 Ferrer<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), a British officer and spy for the Germans, who has secret plans to expose names of resistance members to the Nazis. Sobinski travels to war-torn Warsaw and teams up with the Bronskis to defeat Professor Siletski. Over the course of a few days, the Bronskis, Lieutenant Sobinski, and the theatre troupe use their theatrical experience in acting and costuming to convince Nazi officers that Frederick is, at separate times, the dead Siletski <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hitler. They escape to safety in Britain in a plane after dodging German gunfire.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: left;\">Why it matters:<\/h4>\n<br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the bleak circumstances <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To Be Or Not To Be <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">showcases, the film is a raucous comedy in the Mel Brooksian style, complete with mistaken identities, false beards, bumbling S.S. officers, flustered German soldiers (Christopher Lloyd in particular), and a purpose beyond comedy. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To Be Or Not To Be<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a remake of the 1942 film of the same name, directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. The original film, at the time of its release, provided social and political commentary on the war, which was a clear and present danger to Europe: World War II officially <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">began<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, and the outlook was grim. By the end of September in 1944, the entire city of Warsaw had been destroyed by the Germans. Where Lubitsch\u2019s film mainly focuses on the theatre troupe\u2019s plight and the destruction of Warsaw, Brooks\u2019 film includes another victim of Hitler\u2019s wrath: the homosexual population of Europe. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the same way the members of the Jewish faith were forced to wear a large Star of David on their clothing, homosexual men and women were required to wear an upside down pink triangle. (Today, this symbol has been reappropriated as a representation of gay pride and gay rights.) After the Nazis invade Poland, the Bronskis are forced to move somewhere else; Sasha offers his apartment. In a scene where Sasha is in the middle of leaving for a date, Anna sees that he has sewn a pink triangle to his clothing. \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d she asks. Suddenly reminded of this symbol, he tells her sadly that they, too, have to wear markers of oppression.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a later scene, Nazi soldiers in search of Sasha invade the theater during a performance. Anna and the rest of the cast hide Sasha by dressing him up in a showgirl costume so he can perform in the show (and claim he is only an actor in drag, not a gay man). He performs the number with Frederick until the soldiers storm the stage, arrest Sasha, and detain him in preparation for transport to a concentration camp. Luckily, through Anna\u2019s clever trickery and Frederick\u2019s disguise as the dead Professor Siletski, they later convince Colonel Erhardt (Charles Durning) to release Sasha. If nothing else, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To Be Or Not To Be <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a shining example of the kind of haven theatres represent to those groups who require protection from religious or social persecution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Below is a music video of the song \u201cTo Be Or Not To Be (The Hitler Rap)\u201d that was released on the film\u2019s soundtrack. Brooks satirized Hitler in a number that was derived from the burlesque show within the film. It includes the line from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Producers<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019 show-within-a-show, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Springtime for Hitler<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Don&#8217;t be stoopid, be a smarty. Come and join the Nazi Party&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<br><div class=\"fusion-video fusion-youtube\" style=\"max-width:600px;max-height:350px;\"><div class=\"video-shortcode\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZtSWAARzm3A?wmode=transparent&autoplay=0\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><br><br><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This film is the first featured in Part III of \u201cTheatre in Film\u201d. See below for the others in Part III.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-series-all-that-jazz-1979\/\"><strong><em>All That Jazz\u00a0<\/em>(1979)<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-series-tootsie-1982\/\"><strong><em>Tootsie<\/em>\u00a0(1982)<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-the-dresser-1983\/\"><strong><em>The Dresser<\/em><\/strong> <strong>(1983)<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>A Chorus Line<\/em>\u00a0(1985)<\/strong>\u00a0<em>(Coming soon.)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Want to start with <strong>Part I<\/strong>? Check out\u00a0<strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-42nd-street-1933\/\">42nd Street\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/span>(1933)<\/strong>. Didn\u2019t get to read <strong>Part II<\/strong>?\u00a0Begin with\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/theatre-in-film-series-the-band-wagon-1953\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Band Wagon<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/em><strong>(1953)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><hr \/>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: left;\"><em><strong>Ashleigh Gardner<\/strong>\u00a0received her AA in Theatre\/Drama\/Dramatic Arts\u00a0from Valencia College and\u00a0her Bachelors Degree in English Literature and\u00a0Masters Degree in Literary, Cultural, and Textual Studies from\u00a0the University of Central Florida. She is a playwright, an actor, and PerformerStuff.com\u2019s Editor.\u00a0<\/em><\/h5>\n<h5>Thumbnail image from\u00a0<em>To Be Or Not To Be<\/em>. Photo copyright \u00a9 20th Century Fox\u00a01983.<\/h5>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [...]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[259,265],"tags":[6,106,319,107,82,364,80,384,63,14,105,383],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}