Cheap History of the World -- Part I (DVD) (Mel Brooks, Gregory Hines) (Mel Brooks) Price

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Customer Reviews of History of the World -- Part I

History of the World--Part I
I am a HUGE Mel Brooks fan, and my Mel Brooks shrine would not be complete without this DVD. I had never seen it before, but I had read about it. To tell you the truth, Mel has had funnier films. Includes most of Mel's commonly used actors, such as Harvey Korman as Claude de Monet, Madeline Kahn as the Emperess, Dom DeLuise as Emperor Nero, and Cloris Leachman as an enraged French citizen. It starts out with "The Prehistoric Man", in which the cavemen invent weapons and music. Then in "The Old Testament", Moses (just one of Mel's many characters in this movie) is given three slates of five commandments each. He accidentally drops one slate, and quickly covers up the accident by saying there were only ten to begin with. Then, there is "The Roman Empire". In my opinion the funniest stuff happens in this part of the movie. Mel is Comicus, a stand-up philosopher, along with his agent Swiftus Lazarus (Ron Carey, last seen as Brophy in "High Anxiety"). They find this virgin named Miriam and a happy-footed Ethiopia native named Josephus (Gregory Hines), and must escape after Comicus insults the emperor for being overweight in the middle of his comedy routine. Then there is "The Spanish Inquisition" and "The French Revolution", both uninteresting and containing very few effective jokes. All in all, Mel could've done better, although some jokes had me laughing for minutes. I leave you with the most repetitive and funny quote from this movie: "It's good to be the King!"

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Brooks' finest work!!!
I don't know how else to put it. Mel Brooks is just sheer genius. Period. This film is so good, I wonder if it just might pass up Blazing Saddles, (probably not). From the Dawn of Man to the French Revolution, from the Stone Age to the Spanish Inquisition, from the Old Testement to the Roman Empire, Mel Brooks gives us a 92 minute lesson in history, the way that it never happened! As I said before, Mel Brooks is a comic genius. First, hes able to direct such an inferior movie, second, he wrote the screenplay, and third, he still had enough room for 5 whopping roles in the film!!! This film has many familiar faces like Mel Brooks, (Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, High Anxiety), Madiline Khan (Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles), Harvey Korman, (Blazing Saddles), and Dom DeLuise, (Silent Movie). Mel Brooks gang pulls it off again with hilarious slapstick, and some out-of-date humor, (like Las Vegas' Caeser's Palace). There's a lot to laugh at, and you won't be dissapointed. Very little of the humor is dry, but a majority of them hit their marks. A very etertaining movie. A must see.

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written by David Laing, not Julia Laing
One of Mel Brook's finest movies, in this one, he sets out to parody history, from the Stone Age, to the French Revolution. The first time period is the Stone Age, where we see the first homosapien and homosexual marriage, and discover how music was invented. Next, in a very short bit, we see Moses coming down from a mountain with the 15 commandments, until he drops one slab, and it becomes the 10 commandments. The next era is the Roman Empire, where after Philatipis[or something like that] gets a gig to do comedy for Caescar, he offends, the emporer, so him and his new found friend must fight each other to the death, but instead stop fighting and try to escape from Rome. The 4th era is by far the funniest, and the most offensive, The Spanish Inquisition. So in a musical extravaganza, we see how the Catholics tried to convert the Jews to become Catholics, and in the last part, we behold the French Revolution, and one of the greatest lines in this movie. So, see this hilarious movie, but if you are easily offended, then do not see this. The only thing that aggravates me was that Brooks had a part 2 planned out, but it was never released. At the end of the movie, we get a preview of the unreleased History of The World part 2.