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Movies that feel like To Be or Not to Be (1942)

If you loved To Be or Not to Be, the closest films we have are The Shop Around the Corner (1940), Trouble in Paradise (1932) and The Philadelphia Story (1940). All three share To Be or Not to Be's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 6 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on FlixFling, Philo and fuboTV and others, checked against today's data.

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes8.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Ernst Lubitschwittyplayfulbleakromantictender

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If To Be or Not to Be hit the spot, these will too

The Shop Around the Corner poster
The Shop Around the Corner
1940 · dir. Ernst Lubitsch
🍅 99%8comedy · drama · romance

Ernst Lubitsch working the same nerve twice

The difference: None of the bleakness that defines To Be or Not to Be

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

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Trouble in Paradise poster
Trouble in Paradise
1932 · dir. Ernst Lubitsch
🍅 90%7.9comedy · crime · romance

Ernst Lubitsch directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Missing the bleakness of To Be or Not to Be

Thief Gaston Monescu and pickpocket Lily are partners in crime and love. Working for perfume company executive Mariette Colet, the two crooks decide to combine their criminal talents to rob their employer. Under the alias of Monsieur Laval, Gaston uses his position as Mariette's personal secretary to become closer to her. However, he takes things too far when he actually falls in love with Mariette, and has to choose between her and Lily.

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The Philadelphia Story poster
The Philadelphia Story
1940 · dir. George Cukor
🍅 100%7.8comedy · romance

The same mix in both: wit, then play

When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.

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His Girl Friday poster
His Girl Friday
1940 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 99%7.8comedy · romance

Romantic where it counts, tender underneath

Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife. She’s threatening to quit and settle down with a new beau, but, as Walter knows, she has a weakness: she can’t resist a juicy scoop.

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The Palm Beach Story poster
The Palm Beach Story
1942 · dir. Preston Sturges
🍅 94%7.5comedy · romance

Witty comedy, and it commits to that

A New York inventor, Tom Jeffers, needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife, Gerry, decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying an eccentric Florida millionaire, J. D. Hackensacker III.

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Bringing Up Baby poster
Bringing Up Baby
1938 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 97%7.8comedy · romance

Romance with a pulse of play, in both cases

David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances, he meets Susan Vance, and the duo have a series of misadventures which include a leopard called Baby.

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It Happened One Night poster
It Happened One Night
1934 · dir. Frank Capra
🍅 98%8.1comedy · romance

Both trade on romance more than on being war

A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.

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The Awful Truth poster
The Awful Truth
1937 · dir. Leo McCarey
🍅 94%7.6comedy · romance

Comedy built on tenderness, twice over

Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start undermining each other's attempts to find new romance.

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Amélie poster
Amélie
2001 · dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
🍅 90%8.3comedy · romance

The same preoccupation in both: love triangle

The difference: 59 years apart, and the 2000s show

At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. But when she bumps into a handsome stranger, will she find the courage to become the star of her very own love story?

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Grease poster
Grease
1978 · dir. Randal Kleiser
🍅 65%7.2romance · comedy

Witty romance in both cases

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

Australian good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance despite their eccentric friends?

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Notting Hill poster
Notting Hill
1999 · dir. Roger Michell
🍅 84%7.2romance · comedy

Both rooted in London

London bookstore owner William Thacker's quiet life turns upside down when a chance encounter with famous actress Anna Scott sparks an unlikely romance challenged by their vastly different worlds.

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Meet the Parents poster
Meet the Parents
2000 · dir. Jay Roach
🍅 85%7comedy · romance

Airplane is the engine of both

Greg Focker is ready to marry his girlfriend, Pam, but before he pops the question, he must win over her formidable father, humorless former CIA agent Jack Byrnes, at the wedding of Pam's sister. As Greg bends over backward to make a good impression, his visit to the Byrnes home turns into a hilarious series of disasters, and everything that can go wrong does, all under Jack's critical, hawklike gaze.

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The best-reviewed films that share To Be or Not to Be's defining feeling.