History of the World: Part I

Mel Brooks takes aim at human civilization itself in History of the World: Part I, a sprawling anthology comedy that skewers everything from the Stone Age to the French Revolution. The film jumps across millennia, following characters played by Brooks himself: Moses, a stand-up philosopher named Comicus, Torquemada, King Louis XVI, and a lecherous Jacques. Dom DeLuise hams it up as Emperor Nero, Madeline Kahn plays Empress Nympho, and Harvey Korman chews scenery as Count de Monet. Shot on a $10 million budget, the movie grossed over $31 million at the box office, a solid hit for 1981. Brooks wrote, produced, and directed, bringing his signature brand of musical parody, slapstick, and bawdy humor. Though reviews were mixed, the film has become a cult favorite, earning a 6.8 rating on IMDb. It remains Brooks' only historical anthology, though a sequel was long teased.[edit]

The film opens with cavemen in the Stone Age, including a grunting chief played by Sid Caesar, whose main concerns are fire, the wheel, and avoiding saber-toothed tigers. Anachronistic gags abound as they discover basic tools and invent the first crude jokes.

Moses descends from Mount Sinai with three stone tablets containing fifteen commandments, but he fumbles and drops one, leaving only ten. His exasperation with the Israelites sets the tone for the film's irreverent take on sacred history. The segment introduces Moses as a beleaguered leader more concerned with logistics than divinity.

Ancient Rome is ruled by the decadent Emperor Nero, played by Dom DeLuise as a preening, gluttonous tyrant. He ignores the empire's problems while his wife, Empress Nympho (Madeline Kahn), pursues her own pleasures. The Great Fire of Rome provides a backdrop for Nero's infamous fiddling, depicted here as a self-absorbed musical performance.

The Spanish Inquisition segment features Torquemada (Brooks) as a fanatical grand inquisitor who tortures heretics with cheerful sadism. A Jewish slave named Josephus (Gregory Hines) tries to survive by entertaining the court with song and dance. Comicus, a stand-up philosopher, also appears, performing routines for Roman audiences and later for Torquemada, with mixed results.

The French Revolution section contrasts the starving masses with the oblivious aristocracy. King Louis XVI (Brooks) is a gluttonous monarch obsessed with food, while Marie Antoinette remains detached. Madame Defarge (Cloris Leachman) knits names of those to be executed, and the Count de Monet (Harvey Korman) schemes to maintain his status. The segment builds toward the storming of the Bastille and the revolution's musical climax, but stops short of the actual guillotine.[edit]