Mel Brooks - The Crazy History of the World

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Movie
German title Mel Brooks - The Crazy History of the World
Original title History of the World, Part I.
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1981
length 92 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Mel Brooks
script Mel Brooks
production Mel Brooks ,
Stuart Cornfeld ,
Alan Johnson ,
Joel Chernoff
music John Morris
camera Woody Omens
cut John C. Howard
occupation

Mel Brooks - The crazy history of the world (Original title: History of the World, Part I ) is a film by Mel Brooks . The film parodies human history from the Stone Age to the French Revolution . The focus is on the Roman Empire and France in the late 18th century.

action

The film consists of several sections that appear in different episodes of world history :

  • In the Stone Age it is dreary and boring until humor and music are discovered. The discovery of music is rather accidental: while working, a stone falls on the foot of a prehistoric man, whereupon he screams. Hitting different feet makes different sounds: a melody.
  • As Moses , Brooks receives 15 commandments from Jehovah . As he was practicing his address to the Jewish people, one of the three tablets slipped out of his hand and broke. Only ten commandments are hailed from the Jewish people.
  • In the Roman Empire, Brooks mimes the “Stammtisch philosopher” (in the original: “ Stand-up philosopher”) Comicus . Just as he is about to collect his unemployment benefit, his agent appears and tells him that he has a job in " Caesars Palace ", which he also accepts. Then Comicus meets a maiden from the imperial palace and a slave from Ethiopia . In the imperial palace his political jokes about the plump emperor are badly received and he has to flee. Together with his Ethiopian friend he disappears from the city. A giant joint that the Ethiopian makes from a scroll and marijuana picked from the roadside is misted for their pursuers .
    Under the blue and white striped sail of the ship “ El Al ” the friends reach Judea , where Comicus accepts a job as a temporary waiter and first tries to talk to a “young gentleman of great gentleness” and his twelve friends about the leftover soup of the day (pun with the English Expression last supper for the last supper ).
  • The Spanish Inquisition is briefly touched on, in which Brooks plays the Grand Inquisitor Torquemada in a kind of musical .
  • The last chapter is about the eve of the French Revolution. While King Louis XVI. (Mel Brooks) and the nobility gives in to decadence, the people go hungry. In fact, it is so poor that it doesn't even have its own language, just an “accent like Maurice Chevalier ”. To protect the king, Count de Monet and his companion Bernaise decide to replace the king. Coincidentally, this resembles a resignation provider ("Pisspagen") at court and the roles are promptly swapped. The "Pisspage" was now to be executed with the guillotine instead of the king by the revolutionaries . But he escapes again with the help of the Ethiopian (from the Roman Empire; from the beginning of the film) from the city.
  • A preview of the film “The Crazy History of the World 2” appears, which will never be released: Adolf Hitler as a figure skater (fell victim to the cut of the German version, but the complete uncut version is now also being shown on German television), a Viking funeral and Jews in space.

Reviews

“World history as a macabre and disrespectful farce, which in several episodes caricatures above all the decadence and cruelty of changing social and political systems and subverts the Hollywood genre of the historical spectacle with subversive, often vulgar comedy. In spite of the high production costs, however, it is far less fast-paced and style-conscious than earlier Brooks films. "

- Lexicon of international film

Special

  • The English original title History of the World, Part 1 ( English for The History of the World, Part 1 ) is incorrectly translated in the German version as The History of the First World War .
  • Mel Brooks never thought of doing a sequel. The original title History of the World, Part 1 quotes a book by Walter Raleigh . The British author and explorer could never write a second part because he was beheaded beforehand.
  • Brooks works a lot with puns that are not used in German. For example, there is a count named “Count de Monet”. In English, this becomes a running gag, as it is constantly called "Count de Money". The double meaning of “count” (“Graf” and “count”) as well as the play on words Monet (as a name) and Money ( English for money ) can only be fully developed here. In the German dialogue book, the play on words was at least partially transferred by establishing a relationship between “Monet” and “Moneten”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mel Brooks - The Crazy History of the World. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 30, 2015 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used