This is a re-make by Mel Brooks of a 1942 comedy of the same name. In fact, it uses pretty much the same script, with only a few changes here and there. The original starred Jack Benny, of all people, and Carole Lombard, who died just after filming it. This one stars Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. The original was directed by Ernst Lubitsch … and Mel, I love ya, pal, but you're no Ernst Lubitsch. And you're certainly no Jack Benny.
Which doesn't mean Mel is bad by any means, or that this film is no good. They're just as different as Benny and Brooks. The story takes place in Poland in 1939, prior to and after the Nazi conquest. It concerns a theater troupe and deals with Nazis in a serio-comic way, much like Chaplin did in The Great Dictator. It was a departure for Jack Benny to play a role where he dressed up as a Nazi, and given the times, the film was not a critical success. In fact, a lot of people were deeply offended, even angry. This was not the light, witty "Lubitsch touch" people had come to expect. This was spoofing the unspoofable. And yet, time and history have been on the director's side, and the film is now viewed as a classic.
Brooks, on the other hand, had already had great success with "Springtime for Hitler," and for him to play a ham actor was typecasting of the highest order. The comedy is broader, as it has to be to accommodate Brook's particular talents. As for myself, it's impossible not to like a film that begins with Mel and Anne singing and dancing to "Sweet Georgia Brown" in Polish. And it's not possible for Anne Bancroft to do anything in a film that I don't like. I'm content to just look at her, and if she acts, and if it's comic acting, so much the better. But if you decide to watch just one of these films, see the Lubitsch.
Titles Starting with T
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)
Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
Take Care of My Cat (2001)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)
Take Shelter (2011)
Take the Money and Run (1969)
Taken 2 (2012)
Taking Chance (2009)
Taking Lives (2004)
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
Taking Sides (2001)
Taking Woodstock (2009)
Tales From the Script (2009)
Talk to Me (2004)
The Tall Guy (1989)
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Tangled (2010)
Tank (1984)
Tanner '88 (1988)
Tanner on Tanner (2004)
Targets (1968)
Tarnation (2003)
Taxi (2004)
Team America: World Police (2004)
Tears of the Sun (2003)
Ted (2012)
Teeth (2007)
Tell No One (2006)
The Tempest (2010)
Temple Grandin (2010)
Ten Canoes (2006)
Ten Days Wonder (1971)
Ten 'til Noon (2006)
The Tenant (1976)
Tender Comrade (1943)
Tender Mercies (1983)
Tenderness (2009)
Tension (1949)
The Terminal (2004)
Terminator Genisys (2015)
Terminator Salvation (2009)
Terribly Happy (2008)
The Terrorist (1998)
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
Texas Rising (2015)
Texasville (1990)
Thank You For Smoking (2005)
That Evening Sun (2009)
That Hamilton Woman (1941)
That Man From Rio (1964)
That's Dancing! (1985)
That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)
Them! (1954)
Them Thar Hills (1934)
Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
The Theory of Everything (2014)
They Came to Rob Las Vegas (1968)
They Drive By Night (1940)
They Might Be Giants (1971)
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
They Were Expendable (1945)
Thicker Than Water (1935)
Thief (1980)
Thieves Like Us (1974)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Things To Come (1936)
Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At her (2000)
The Third Man (1949)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
This Is the End (2013)
This Land is Mine (1943)
This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs the Late Henry Moss (2003)
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965)
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines; Or, How I Flew From London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965)
A Thousand Clowns (1965)
Three Ages (1923)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
The Three Caballeros (1944)
Three Days of the Condor (Second Review) (1975)
Three Kings (1999)
The Three Musketeers: The Queen's Diamonds, and The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974)
The Three Penny Opera (1931)
Three Strangers (1946)
Throne of Blood (1957)
Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Throw Mamma From the Train (1987)
Thunder Afloat (1939)
Thunder Birds (1942)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Thunderheart (1992)
THX-1138 (1971)
Tideland (2005)
Tightrope (1984)
Timbuktu (2014)
Time Bandits (1981)
Time Lapse (2014)
Time of the Wolf (2002)
The Time Traveler's (2009)
Timecode (2000)
Timecrimes (2007)
Tim's Vermeer (2014)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)
Tiny Furniture (2010)
Tiptoes (2003)
Tit For Tat (1935)
The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953)
Titus (1999)
To Be and to Have (2002)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
To Catch a Thief (1955)
To Have and Have Not (1944)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
To Rome With Love (2012)
Together (2000)
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Tolkien (2019)
Tom Dowd & the Language of Music (2003)
Tommy (1975)
Tomorrowland (2015)
Too Many Husbands (1940)
Top Of the Lake (2013)
Top Secret! (1984)
Topaz (1969)
Topaze (1933)
Topkapi (1964)
Topper (1937)
Topper (Second Review) (1937)
Topper Returns (1941)
Torah! Torah! Torah! (1970)
Torch Song Trilogy (1988)
Torn Curtain (1966)
Torrid Zone (1940)
Total Recall (2012)
Touch the Sound (2004)
Touching the Void (2003)
Towed in a Hole (1932)
Tower Heist (2011)
The Town (2010)
A Town Called Panic (2009)
Toy Story (1995)
Tracks (2013)
Traffic (2000)
Trafic (1971)
Trailer Park Boys (2001)
The Train (1964)
Trainwreck (2015)
Traitor (2008)
The Tramp and the Dictator (2002)
Transamerica (2005)
Transatlantic Tunnel (1935)
The Transporter (2002)
Transsiberian (2008)
Treasure Planet (2002)
The Tree of Life (2007)
Tremors (1990)
Tremors 5: Bloodlines (2015)
Tremors II: Aftershocks (1996)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960)
The Trip (1967)
The Trip to Boutiful (1985)
The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005)
Tron (1982)
Tron: Legacy (2010)
Tropfest New York 2012 (2012)
Tropic Thunder (2008)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
The Trouble With Harry (1955)
Trouble With the Curve (2012)
Troy (2004)
True Confessions (1981)
True Crime (1999)
True Romance (1993)
Trumbo (2015)
Truth (2015)
The Truth About Charlie (2002)
Tsotsi (2005)
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)
Tulip Fever (2017)
The Tunnel (2013-2017)
Tuntamaton sotilas (1955)
Turnabout (1940)
Turtles Can Fly (2004)
The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942)
The Twelve Chairs (1970)
Twin Sisters (2002)
Twisted (2004)
Two Brothers (2004)
The Two Faces of January (2014)
Two For the Road (1967)
Two For the Seesaw (1962)
The Two Jakes (1990)
Two Lovers and a Bear (2016)
Two Weeks Notice (2002)
The Twonky (1953)
Tycoon: A New Russian (2002)