HISTORY OF THE WORLD, PART I

US, 1981, 92 minutes, Colour.
Mel Brooks, John Hurt, Dom de Luise, Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Sid Caesar, Pamela Stephenson.
Directed by Mel Brooks.

History of the World, Part I is Mel Brooks writing, acting, directing - at his most raucous. The film is a potpourri of skits on historical periods. Some are hit-and-miss, others tongue-in-cheek parody. The range of jokes is rather narrow - they are all very much basic jokes, specialising in human function jokes. The level of wit is very school boyish - almost no obvious joke is all owed to pass by. The production values are quite elaborate and the film looks very good. There is a good cast supporting Brooks, actors and actresses with whom he has worked in several of his films. Pamela Stephenson and Spike Milligan, however, appear in the French Revolution sequence.

The film opens with a parody of 2001 : A Space Odyssey - but man's basic and primary skill seems to be self-abuse.

The short Stone Age segment focuses on the discovery of comic violence. Sid Caesar has the central role here.

Another brief excerpt follows where Brooks as Moses drops one of the three tablets of Commandments, thus reducing them to ten. This short sequence works very well - and Moses makes a strange reappearance in the Roman sequence.

The Roman sequence is a rather longer one. It is very similar in vein to Frankie Howerd's Up Pompeii. Howerd, however, turns and leers at the audience. Brooks sometimes does this but presents his jokes more obviously and raucously. There are the usual shenanigans in the Roman Forum, at Caesar's Palace - which does look like Caesar`s Palace in Las Vegas - and some comic routines. There is a toying with a more blasphemous touch when Comicus is exiled to Israel and actually serves at the Last Supper. He argues with Jesus - with jokes about the expletive use of Jesus' name. Finally Leonardo da Vinci arrives and the apostles are arranged around Jesus to suit the painting. Comicus, however, appears over Jesus' shoulder. In a surprise piece of casting, John Hurt is Jesus.

The brief Inquisition segment is outrageous parody which generally works. This time Brooks is Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor. There are torture sequences - but the whole thing turns into a song and dance routine, tableaux of the Busby Berkely variety and nuns doffing their habits to turn into Esther Williams-type swimmers.

The final section is a satire on the Man in the Iron Mask and the French Revolution - with a touch of A Tale of Two Cities. This section looks particularly good but has the same number of corny, crude jokes. Brooks himself has two parts: the King and the Chamber pot Boy. The finale is a rush job as the charioteer from the Roman segment arrives to rescue everybody. There is humorous postscript indicating what might be in a sequel: Hitler on Ice and a parody of The Muppets with Jews in Space.

Mel Brooks is an effective comic writer and actor. He made his mark with the Oscar-winning The Producers. Other films of his include The Twelve Chairs, the comic western Blazing Saddles, the horror parody Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie and the Hitchcock tribute-parody High Anxiety.