Film Beginning of the end.
History of the World Part I marks Mel Brooks' middle spot in his career as a film director. Everything before was better; everything after was worse. Although Brooks started going down a slope in the late 70s after Young Frankenstein, HOTWPI is the one where you notice where things are going wrong. Half of the jokes feel forced and hoaky. True, previous Brooks films suffered from this, but here, they very often miss their mark and the spirit rather than tongue-in-cheek is more like "because I say it's funny". Still has several memorable moments and Brooks classic and incredibly talented Production Posse really help lift it (slightly) off the ground.
Film Possibly Brook's best work...
I know many people loved Blazing Saddles, and I did too, but I really have a soft spot for Hot WP 1.
It's easily Brook's most quotable work, and that's saying something. The setups are insanely hilarious, the songs earworms, and the acting by a long list of now-Comedy-Gods is flat out stellar. The plot is nonexistant - it's just a series of vignettes. But who cares. It's a 2 hour laughfest
The IMBD rating of 6.9 is criminally low, and I can only attribute this to people far too young to get the 1970s pastiche. Or, more likely, they don't understand how much of modern comedy movies was first done here (or, maybe more accurately, first PERFECTED here).
And I know that Brooks didn't intended to do a Part 2, but I've always hoped.....
Film A comedy epic, if not an epic comedy.
This film was on my list for one big reason- it was the last Madeline Kahn/Mel Brooks collaboration I had yet to see. Not surprising for me.
The film is a series of vignettes depicting history from the Stone Age to the Old Testament to Ancient Rome to the Spanish Inquisition to the French Revolution. There's not a lot connecting the segments together except for when there is, in Brooks' typical script-defiant surrealism...which feels uninspired in this film. Otherwise, the comedy is pretty good. Kahn puts in a great show despite her vaguely-defined role as Empress Nympho, and Andreas Voutsinas is great as the catty noble Bearnaise. There are a lot of great gags, and the dark sides of history are often commented upon. Some of it hit a little too hard for me, though. There's an unpleasant scene of someone whipping a horse, a Roman slave auction that could have had better satire or commentary, unpointed use of the f-slur (it is used by bad people, but didn't feel needed), and horrific misogyny via Louis XVI that feels a lot darker than it may have been seen by the filmmakers.
The film may be inconsistent in its comedy and historical commentary, but there is one scene that's Mel Brooks at his best: the Spanish Inquisition. It's as if Brooks asked how he could make the "Springtime for Hitler" number even more shocking and elaborate, and found the way. The horror of the time period is made extremely clear and the Jewish victims are never mocked, while the bubbly tone and ridiculous visual gags turn it into a commentary on the Inquisition's view of their ideology while also making the villains of history into jokes. It's a fantastic scene for its staging alone, and the commentary and audacious tone are masterful.
This film really only has one artful, brilliant scene and doesn't quite come together. But it's a damn good scene and there are good jokes I'm glad were made besides.