Top 10 Facts About the Movie 'History of the World, Part I'

I like this comedy because it is a pretty entertaining interpretation of the World History.

One of my favorite scenes is when they show how music was invented - by smashing each other's feet with rocks to get screams, and practicing this until being able to perform Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus".

The Top Ten

1 'History of the World, Part I' is a 1981 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Mel Brooks

Also starring him in several roles.

Speaking of Mel Brooks, although slightly off-topic:
I love this movie and I love Spaceballs. I regard them as two of my favorite comedy movies, and every minute or so there's a hilarious slapstick joke or pun, they are fast paced and constantly deliver something to loudly laugh about. But I never got why Young Frankenstein was so highly praised. While I can see it detailedly and carefully recreated the atmosphere and settings of the original 30s Universal movies... I never found it to be truly funny. There are a few giggles here and there ("What knockers", the blind man, the musical number,...) but also large slow paced parts with little to no jokes going on. What's so special about it?

2 This film is a parody of several subgenres

3 The film has 4 main segments set during the Stone Age, the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition, and the French Revolution

4 The film was a box office success, grossing $31.7 million from a $10 million budget

But it was considered a commercial disappointment

5 It was rated "R" which stand for "crude sexual humor, language, comic violence, sex and nudity, and drug use"

I have seen this movie several times and I haven't seen anything worse than in the PG-13 rated Austin Powers movies. Unlike the German FSK rating system, which is often random and unpredictable because it rates the movie from a psychological point of view, a harsh rating by the American MPAA can be very easily avoided by staying within the boundaries, and for what I know this movie actually does (no harsh language, the "nudity" is also not there, and the sexual content is just verbal).

@Metal_Treasure: hehe, that's Bea Arthur's dialog.

But there are a few scenes of slapstick violence as well, such as King Louis trapshooting people or a caveman getting hit with a speer, but still there are "worse" scenes of comic violence in most PG-13 parody or slapstick movie (head bitten off in "Austin Powers", guy being torn apart in "Vampires Suck", heart being ripped out of chest in "Dumb and Dumber"), so it should be easy to get the movie re-rated.

Nudity is seen mainly in the scenes of the Stone Age because people had no decent clothing back then, LOL

6 'Part I' in the film title is a joke because there's no Part II. The title is just a play on 'The History of the World, Volume 1' by Sir Walter Raleigh. But the end of the film presents a mock teaser trailer for 'History of the World, Part II'

And of course, no sequel has been released.

7 The film is based on a book first published in 1614 (The History of the World, Volume 1). This book was written by Sir Walter Raleigh while prisoner in the Tower of London

Sir Walter Raleigh (circa 1554 - 29 October 1618) was an English landed gentleman, writer, poet, soldier, politician, courtier, spy and explorer.
He was arrested in 1603, charged with treason for his involvement in the Main Plot against Elizabeth's successor, James I, and imprisoned in the Tower of London, in the so called Bloody Tower.

8 Sir Walter Raleigh completed only the first volume because in the meantime he was beheaded

9 The film is narrated by Orson Welles

10 Mel Brooks regrets putting "Part I" in the title because he never intended to make a sequel but "the kids keep writing me letters asking when we are going to see part two"

The Contenders

11 Mel Brooks said the Moses scene was a last-minute addition

This is one of my favorite scenes!

12 Mel Brooks had his doubts about the Spanish Inquisition number

13 The film has a large ensemble cast

14 Bea Arthur makes an uncredited cameo as an unemployment insurance clerk

It was 4 years before her portrayal of Dorothy Zbornak in "The Golden Girls" (with which she became famous over here), but she has already had a leading role in "Maude" and has acted in several other series.

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