History of the World, Part I

History of the World, Part I
File:History of the World Part I DVD.jpg DVD box art depicting eras parodied in the film
Directed by	Mel Brooks
Written by	Mel Brooks
Produced by	Mel Brooks
Starring	Mel Brooks Sid Caesar Shecky Greene Gregory Hines Dom DeLuise Madeline Kahn Harvey Korman Cloris Leachman
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox
Release dates	June 12, 1981
Running time	92 min
Language	English
Budget	$11,000,000 USD (est.)

History of the World, Part I is a 1981 film directed by Mel Brooks. As in Brooks's other films he plays a major role by writing, producing, directing, and starring in the film. Brooks plays five roles: Moses, Comicus the stand-up philosopher, Tomás de Torquemada, King Louis XVI, and Jacques le garçon de pisse. The large ensemble cast also features Sid Caesar, Shecky Greene, Gregory Hines, and Brooks regulars Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman and Cloris Leachman. The film also has cameo appearances by Gene Wilder, Bea Arthur, Hugh Hefner, John Hurt, Jackie Mason, Paul Mazursky and Henny Youngman, with a narration by Orson Welles.

Synopsis

The film's story, such as it is, is a parody/spoof of the "historical spectacular" cinematic genre, including the "sword and sandal epic" and the "period costume drama" subgenres. The four main segments of the film consist of stories set during the Dawn of Man, the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition, and the French Revolution. The film also contains several other intermediate skits including reenactments of the the Ten Commandments and the Last Supper.

The Dawn of Man

The film opens with several scenes depicting the early behavior of man. The opening of the film is set to Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, which is an apparent parody of the opening sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Memorable scenes include depictions of inventing fire, the first marriage, the first artist (which in turn gives rise to the first critic), and early attempts at comedy.

Included in this segment also is the Ten Commnandments scene. Moses (played by Brooks) is shown coming down from Mount Sinai after receiving the law from Yaweh. When beggining to proclaim the the reception of the law to the people, Moses proclaims "I give you The Fifteen..." (his proclamation is broken by his dropping of one of three tablets) "I mean, The Ten Commandments!"

Comicus the "Stand-up Philosopher"

The part of the film set in the Roman period revolves around Comicus (played by Brooks), an apparently underemployed stand-up philosopher in the city of Rome. The scene opens with a series of shots depicting comically nonsensical situations of life in Rome such as a column salesman, an inventor giving a sales pitch for plumbing, and a slave auction. Comicus first appears trying to collect an unemployment payment when his agent informs him, much to his chagrin, that he got him a gig at Caesar's Palace. Before he arrives at the palace, Comicus saves the life of a horse named Miracle (the horse figures prominently throughout the film often rescuing the protagonists of the scene), meets a vestal virgin named Miriam, and befriends an Ethiopian slave named Josephus (portrayed by Hines). Josephus is renowned for his proficiency at the "Ethiopian Shim-Sham Sand Dance" and for pleasing the Empress (played by Kahn) with certain physical aspects.

The scene at the palace opens with Caesar (played by Deluise) holding court. He recieves treasures from a recent conquest and listens to Comicus's performance. Comicus starts off well, garnering huge laughs. He soon forgets his audience and begins to joke about tense subjects concerning Caesar, mainly jokes about being overweight and corrupt politics. Caesar is enraged and orders Josephus and Comicus to fight to the death in a gladiatorial manner. Both combatants are obviously unskilled and unwilling to kill each other. The fight ends with both agreeing to fight their way out of the palace. They are assisted in their escape by Miriam, the vestal virgin, and are rescued by Miracle.

The group is chased by several Roman soldiers through the streets of the city. The soldiers eventually corner the group when Miracle comes to their rescue once more. The rest of the chase is done on chariot. The group makes for the port with the soldiers right behind them. It appears that the soldiers will catch the group, but Josephus spots a patch of plants by the road that turns out to be marijuana, and begins to burn it. When the soldiers come through the area, marijuana's well-known side-effects kick in leaving the soldiers incapacitated. The group then sets sail from the port to Judea. There they take jobs at a local restraunt. It is here that Comicus takes part in the famous Last Supper.

The Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition segment is performed in the style of a grandiose Broadway production. The segment is one long song and dance number featuring Brooks as the infamous Torquemada. Several instances of "comical" torture are shown including a spinning Iron Maiden and several slapstick instances.

The French Revolution

This segent opens with several shots depicting the squalor the peasants of Paris are subjected to. Street vendor are shown selling rats for food and one vendor is shown selling "absolutely nothing." The fillm then cuts to a scene in a tavern were several peasants have gathered together to discuss their situation. The situation is so horrible it prompts one peasant to remark "... we are so poor we don't even have our own language. All we have is an accent. We all talk like Maurice Chevalier, hoh, hoh, hoh!" They then go on to plan out the French Revolution.

Meanwhile, the King of France is approached with the news that the peasants don't think that he likes them. He responds with shock at the accusation, then proceeds to practice his marksmanship by shooting peasants who have been flung into the air. A beautiful woman then approaches him and asks him to free her father, who has been arrested. He agrees under the condition that she would have sex with him that night. The advisor later manages to convince the king that he needs to go into hiding while a stand-in pretends to be him. They choose the "piss-boy", whose job it is to carry a bucket in which the royals can urinate (both the piss-boy and the king are played by Mel Brooks), and he agrees. Later that night, the woman with the captured father arrives and offers herself to the "piss-boy" dressed as the king. He wryly comments, "It's good to be the King," but after he realizes why she has come, he simply pardons her father without requiring the sexual favors. After he returns from the prison, the peasants burst into the room and capture the piss-boy and the woman. With his head in the guillotine, the woman says, "It would take a miracle to save us." The movie comes to a close with a classic Deus ex machina when Miracle suddenly arrives, drawing a cart with Josephus driving, and he carries the two away to a giant rock carved to be shaped like the words "THE END."

At the very end of the film there is a teaser-trailer for History of the World: Part II, which promises to include a Viking funeral, Hitler on Ice, and Jews in Space. The melody for the "Jews in Space" song was later recycled by Brooks for the "Men in Tights" musical number in Robin Hood: Men in Tights. The music that underscores the Viking Funeral segment is Vorobyaninov's Theme, composed for an earlier Brooks film, The Twelve Chairs.

Despite this, no sequel was actually planned for, and the "Part I" of the film's title is merely a historical joke. The History of the World was a book written by Sir Walter Raleigh while prisoner in the Tower of London. He had only managed to complete the first volume before being beheaded. Mel Brooks' films usually have sequel jokes in them; for example, Spaceballs was, according to Yogurt, supposed to be followed by Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money. Template:Endspoiler

"It's Good to be da King"

This popular catch phrase comes from its repeated use during the French Revolution segment of the film. Brooks, as Louis XVI, says this blatantly into the camera on several occasions as if to justify the King's wanton behavior. Brooks also portrays "Le Garçon de Pisse", "The Lowly Pissboy", who carries a bucket for royalty to urinate into and later impersonates the King. Brooks as Le Garçon delivers the same line with a sense of surprise when he is able to sample the King's luxurious lifestyle for the first time. Brooks recorded a hip-hop song of the same name which reached the 67th position on Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The line would be used by Brooks twice more: once in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, when King Richard kisses Maid Marion, and later in his stage musical version of the film, The Producers, as a lyric in a musical number about a Broadway producer titled "The King of Broadway."

Trivia

• In the scene where the nun/swimmers are coming out of the water in the group menorah at the end of the Inquisition scene, their heads seem to come alight with sparklers. Upon closer inspection, one realizes that the sparks are going into the flame, rather than falling out. This is because the scene was filmed in reverse.

External link

• History of the World: Part I at IMDb
• Images