History of the World: Part I (1981)

Director:

Mel Brooks

Writer:

Mel Brooks (written by)

Release Date:

12 June 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | History | Musical

Tagline:

IN MEL WE TRVST

Plot:

From the dawn of man to the distant future, mankind's evolution (or lack thereof) is traced. Often ridiculous but never serious...

Plot Keywords:

French Revolution | Jesus Christ | Unemployment | Banana Skin | Ten Commandments

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Mel Brooks	...	Moses / Comicus / Torquemada / Jacques / King Louis XVI
Dom DeLuise	...	Emperor Nero
Madeline Kahn	...	Empress Nympho
Harvey Korman	...	Count de Monet
Cloris Leachman	...	Madame Defarge
Ron Carey	...	Swiftus
Gregory Hines	...	Josephus
Pamela Stephenson	...	Mademoiselle Rimbaud
Shecky Greene	...	Marcus Vindictus
Sid Caesar	...	Chief Caveman
Mary-Margaret Humes	...	Miriam
Orson Welles	...	Narrator (voice)
Rudy De Luca	...	Prehistoric Man / Captain Mucus - The Roman Empire (as Rudy DeLuca)
Leigh French	...	Prehistoric Man
Richard Karron	...	Prehistoric Man

Also Known As:

Mel Brooks' History of the World: Part 1 (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

92 min | Argentina:97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Latin | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Germany:16 | Iceland:L | Netherlands:MG6 | Portugal:M/12 | USA:R (Approved No. 26348) | Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-12 | Norway:16 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | Argentina:16 | France:U

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Brooksfilms

Trivia:

John Hurt did this movie because he had just gotten through doing two seriously dramatic films, and said that he wanted to have some fun and do a comedy.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Comicus is pulled into the Virgin room by Miriam, one of the virgins' says "Who's that?", but her mouth does not match "that".

Quotes:

Count de Monet: [to the piss boy] Wait for the shake!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Outlaw (#6.19)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Jews In Space

Mel's Historic Flop

When "History Of The World Part 1" came out in 1981, it had been four years since Mel Brooks' last screen comedy, and given his track record at the time and the long wait, "History" could not fail but disappoint. Watch it today - devoid of such high expectations - and you know what? It's still weak.

An overview of history from caveman days to the French Revolution, "History Of The World Part 1" introduces us to such characters as Moses, Comicus the Roman stand-up philosopher, and King Louis XVI, all played by Brooks' favorite actor - Mel himself. In various bits, we see man emerge from erotically fixated primitives to erotically fixated primitives with silly wigs.

"History Of The World" is really two mini-movies, one about Comicus the Roman and the other a "Tale Of Two Cities" parody of the French Revolution in which King Louis is replaced by a lowly lookalike, played of course by Mel. A few other bits are thrown around in the way of padded one-liners, but it's really more like Brooks couldn't be bothered with shooting a full-length movie this time. The French one at least is funny in parts, but much of what shows up on screen seems too thin for a story conference, let alone a movie.

And the jokes! Puerile third-grade schoolyard stuff. "In the year 1,000,000 BC, it is thought the first homo sapien marriage occurred," intones Orson Welles as we watch caveman Sid Caesar club a woman over the head. "It was shortly followed by the first homosexual marriage." The Rome segment is just bizarre, with pointless cameos from Hugh Hefner and Henny Youngman and a long joke involving a chariot with a giant reefer.

I believe Brooks' gradual decline as a filmmaker had to do with his increased focus on himself as central presence, and he really makes a case for it here. Why, in a film co-starring one of the great song-and-dance men of his generation, Gregory Hines, do you have the one big song-and-dance number star Mel Brooks?

At least the French segment works somewhat in the classic Brooks vein, with some familiar faces from his other movies getting some quality time like Harvey Korman, Andreas Voutsinas, and Cloris Leachman, in the last of her Brooks crone roles as bitter Madame Defarge: "We are so poor, we don't even have a language, just a stupid accent!"

It's also the segment that delivers the best lines. "It's good to be the king" is what Louis says after molesting various ladies of the court, and Brooks is just right for the part there, probably because he WAS the king on the set and knew what he was talking about. Korman's "Wait for the shake" is also a favorite of mine, right up there with "Walk this way" and "Where the white women at?" from past Brooks' classics.

But why Mel thought a chess gangbang would be so funny is lost on me, as is the comedy potential of a burping Dom DeLuise, or Jews being tortured by nuns in bathing suits. Call it hubris, but the sad fact was, for its many faults, "History" would be the last Brooks comedy that got within shouting distance of his "Blazing Saddles" peak. He could have just have easily subtitled this "Decline And Fall".