History of the World: Part I (1981)

Parodying creation, the caveman film, the biblical epic, the crusades and the French Revolution, Mel Brooks got most of it right. There are only a few groaners, a few eye raisers and many genuine laughs, a few of them worthy of a Danny Thomas spit take.Utilizing humor styles perfected the year earlier with "Airplane!" while utilizing his familiar style of delicious bad taste, Brooks uses much of his regular crew of funny people. With dry narration by Orson Welles, Brooks goes all out to satirize the genre of phony Hollywood history. The highlights are the Roman Empire sequence with a delightfully hysterical performance by Madeline Kahn as an unnamed Roman empress, with a deliberately grotesque performance by Dom De Luise as the Emperor. Historical timing would show it as Tiberius as the scene moved to Judea on the night of the last supper. Ironically, John Hurt who played Caligula in TV's "I Claudius" plays Jesus in a cameo.The inquisition sequence is a parody just like "Springtime For Hitler" to show the atrocities against the Jewish population. It is semi- successful as long as you realize the point Brooks was making and the real history behind it.Some great art direction makes the French Revolution sequence better than it actually is although the cameos by several familiar faces is also of help. With Cloris Leachman standing out as the Dickens character Madam De Farce, that segment is raised a notch, just as the Roman Empire sequence was with its cameo by Bea Arthur.As for the coming attractions at the end, it now seems pointless, not only because there never was a sequel, but because it really isn't funny. So a in all a mixed bag, but middle of the road Brooks is certainly better than no Brooks.

Another great film from the humorous world views of Mel Brooks. This film is a skit comedy. Skits that give us funny and twisted snapshots of world history that most of us are familiar with.With Brooks' film, you can see the comical side of "well history may have happened this way". Who knows; I'm sure the people in our history books may have had some funny accidents like falling off their chair (a la America's Funniest Home Videos) or some other comical moment in their life. Looking at it like this gives Brooks' film a bit more humor and maybe a bit more realistic view of the famous people from history that is painted having no humorous follies. Remember they were only humans after all so "happy accidents" and funny moments could have really occurred to them.8.5/10

Mel Brooks hams it up big time. He's starring, writing, and directing this crazy Brooks version of history. It's a big hit and miss constant stream of broad jokes. At a lot of times, this feels dated like a vaudeville act from an age long gone.The biggest and best laughs have to be Madeline Kahn as Empress Nympho during Roman times. No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes. You've gotta love it.Although Gregory Hines is fine, I can't help but wonder what if Richard Pryor could be in this. It's a disappointment. And that's a big part of the disappointment in this movie. There is a lack of up and comer new comedians. This is mostly a reunion of old timers. With the rise of SNL and that comedic scene, the times are passing it by.

This is a series of sketches(and they're frankly quite hit and miss), detailing(well, spoofing) historical events(I have a feeling the Moses bit is what actually happened if The Old Testament wasn't a collection of poorly written, hateful fiction), starting at the dawn of man and ending with The French Revolution. Other than the longest portion, set in ancient Rome, there is no continuous plot, really. It's a nice satire, with plenty to laugh at, with silly stuff, cleverness, plays on words, smut, some slapstick, crude material, weirdness. We do get the, for the period mandatory, annoying "sassy black dude"(on the plus side, it makes fun of Christianity). This is quite sexually suggestive, and features some rather nice cleavage. It's *very* Jewish and Brooksian. There are a few ill-shot and/or –edited bits, though on the whole, it is put together well(in spite of the occasional obvious matte painting). The central musical number(about the Inquisition!) isn't half bad. There is a bunch of mild violence and disturbing content, and a moderate amount of strong language. I recommend this to any fan of Mel. 7/10