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MOVIE INFO

Director:
Mel Brooks
Cast:
Mel Brooks, Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Ron Carey, Gregory Hines, Pamela Stephenson, Shecky Greene, Sid Caesar
Writing Credits:
Mel Brooks

Synopsis:
This Mel Brooks comedy traces Western history from the dawn of man up through the French Revolution, including Brooks' take on the fall of the Roman Empire and the Spanish Inquisition.

Box Office:
Budget
$11 million.
Domestic Gross
$31.672 million.

MPAA:
Rated R

DVD DETAILS
Presentation:
Widescreen 2.35:1/16x9
Audio:
English Monaural
French Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
Closed-captioned

Runtime: 92 min.
Price: $29.98
Release Date: 10/5/1999

Bonus:
• Theatrical Trailer


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
Sony 36" WEGA KV-36FS12 Monitor; Sony DA333ES Processor/Receiver; Panasonic CV-50 DVD Player using component outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Sony SA-WM40 Subwoofer.

RELATED REVIEWS

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History Of The World Part I (1981)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (May 9, 2006)

Although some readers may feel otherwise, I don't usually set out to slam movies. Every once in a while I critique a film that I already know I hate, but usually that occurs because the DVD in question is a hot property and we want to post the review of it. Sometimes it happens for other reasons, such as the fact I covered every one of the Oscar Best Picture-winning films on DVD. That meant I needed to confront flicks I knew I disliked, such as Rain Man.

However, I honestly try to remain open to new experiences, no matter how strongly the old ones make me believe I'll be unhappy. I know myself well enough that I'm not often surprised, but it does happen. For example, I expected to hate My Fair Lady because I usually don’t care for musicals, but I actually enjoyed the movie quite a lot.

I decided to check out Mel Brooks' History of the World Part I. When I was a kid, I loved Brooks' works, but that was a long time ago, and I haven't felt that way in quite some time. Based on that background, I didn't expect to enjoy World but I figured I'd give it a shot. Ultimately, my original fears proved correct: this film offers a tremendously lame and unfunny experience from start to finish. Even as someone who isn’t wild about Brooks, I thought it seemed very weak.

As implied by the title, the movie attempts no formal plot and instead substitutes a variety of sketches. There are six of these overall - including a "preview" for World Part II at the end - but two of the segments dominate the film: one that looks at ancient Rome, and another that takes place during the French Revolution.

The extended length of those two pieces marks the movie's biggest mistake. Had Brooks featured a very large variety of brief bits, the film could have skated past more easily. The greater the variety, the less likely we are to become tired of one subject. Unfortunately, although these pieces could have featured greater depth, they just drone on well past the point of interest. Granted, they had little going for them from the start, but at times it seems they'll never end and any comic possibilities are long exhausted by the time they finally do finish.

My criticism of the longer segments may imply that the shorter ones are more amusing, but that's not the case either. They're just as insipid and humorless as the others, but at least the pass more quickly. Brooks often seems to confuse "offensiveness" with "cleverness", as we find during the musical treatment of the Spanish Inquisition. Brooks mined comic gold from "Springtime for Hitler" in his early film The Producers and appears intent on repeating this success, but similar victory escapes him. This piece lies flat on the screen and provides absolutely no wit or insight into the subject.

Much of the time Brooks also seems more concerned with cramming the film full of celebrity cameos. I'll leave out the names to avoid any possible spoilers, though most folks under the age of 30 - actually, many under 50 - probably won't recognize a lot of the stars who appear here. Cameos can be fun - in fact, one that occurs during Steve Martin's The Man With Two Brains is absolutely inspired and provides one of the movie's best bits - but the frequent reiteration of them smacks of desperation. Brooks couldn't think of better jokes so he hoped we'd be entertained by recognition value.

It doesn't work, though I respect his attempt to redeem this miserable material. How misguided and poor a film is History of the World Part I? The movie features a bevy of Playboy models - including personal favorite Lisa Welch, AKA the Most Beautiful Woman Who Ever Lived - but they don't take off any clothes! That's like hiring Picasso to perform a comedy routine. Actually, that's not a bad idea. Unfortunately, Pablo was dead by the time Brooks made this film in 1981, but had he obtained someone similar to work in the project, it might have been more interesting. As it stands, History of the World Part I is a genuinely terrible movie with almost no redeeming value.


The DVD Grades: Picture D+/ Audio C/ Bonus D-

History of the World, Part I appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this single-sided, single-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. A relic of the old days when studios did little more than port over laserdisc transfers, this picture demonstrated a lot of problems.

Whoever mastered History jacked up edge enhancement to severe levels. The movie displayed a seriously artificial look that meant tons of shimmering and jagged edges. I could easily make out scan lines on my set as I watched this mess! Sharpness wasn’t terrible, but the film usually looked unfocused. The image offered a lot of fuzziness and mostly came across as a bit soft.

Source flaws were another concern. The movie suffered from consistent signs of specks, marks, and blotches. These were a frequent distraction.

Colors actually looked pretty good. The film used a natural palette and boasted quite a few instances of lively tones. Blacks were reasonably deep and firm, but shadows tended to be murky. Low-light shots suffered from a bit too much opacity. Overall, this was an ugly transfer without enough high spots to earn it more than a “D+”.

The film's monaural audio appeared only a little more impressive. Dialogue betrayed slight edginess once or twice but the lines generally sounded reasonably concise. However, those components tended to be a little flat.

A certain blandness infected the rest of the mix as well. Effects seemed clean but without much range. The score was similarly lackluster. Music showed decent clarity but failed to pack much punch, as both high-end and bass were muted. This was a listenable track but nothing better than that.

When we move to extras, all we find is a theatrical trailer. No other supplements pop up on this bare-bones release.

History of the World Part I stands as a perfectly dreadful flick. If there's any fun to be found in this clunker, I must have nodded off during those scenes. The DVD itself provides poor picture along with adequate sound and almost no extras. Avoid this weak DVD and terrible movie.

To rate this film visit the Mel Brooks Collection review of HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART I

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