Parodying creation, the caveman film, the biblical epic, the crusades and the French Revolution, Mel Brooks got most of it right. There are only a few groaners, a few eye raisers and many genuine laughs, a few of them worthy of a Danny Thomas spit take.
Utilizing humor styles perfected the year earlier with "Airplane!" while utilizing his familiar style of delicious bad taste, Brooks uses much of his regular crew of funny people. With dry narration by Orson Welles, Brooks goes all out to satirize the genre of phony Hollywood history. The highlights are the Roman Empire sequence with a delightfully hysterical performance by Madeline Kahn as an unnamed Roman empress, with a deliberately grotesque performance by Dom De Luise as the Emperor. Historical timing would show it as Tiberius as the scene moved to Judea on the night of the last supper. Ironically, John Hurt who played Caligula in TV's "I Claudius" plays Jesus in a cameo.
The inquisition sequence is a parody just like "Springtime For Hitler" to show the atrocities against the Jewish population. It is semi- successful as long as you realize the point Brooks was making and the real history behind it.
Some great art direction makes the French Revolution sequence better than it actually is although the cameos by several familiar faces is also of help. With Cloris Leachman standing out as the Dickens character Madam De Farce, that segment is raised a notch, just as the Roman Empire sequence was with its cameo by Bea Arthur.
As for the coming attractions at the end, it now seems pointless, not only because there never was a sequel, but because it really isn't funny. So a in all a mixed bag, but middle of the road Brooks is certainly better than no Brooks.
Utilizing humor styles perfected the year earlier with "Airplane!" while utilizing his familiar style of delicious bad taste, Brooks uses much of his regular crew of funny people. With dry narration by Orson Welles, Brooks goes all out to satirize the genre of phony Hollywood history. The highlights are the Roman Empire sequence with a delightfully hysterical performance by Madeline Kahn as an unnamed Roman empress, with a deliberately grotesque performance by Dom De Luise as the Emperor. Historical timing would show it as Tiberius as the scene moved to Judea on the night of the last supper. Ironically, John Hurt who played Caligula in TV's "I Claudius" plays Jesus in a cameo.
The inquisition sequence is a parody just like "Springtime For Hitler" to show the atrocities against the Jewish population. It is semi- successful as long as you realize the point Brooks was making and the real history behind it.
Some great art direction makes the French Revolution sequence better than it actually is although the cameos by several familiar faces is also of help. With Cloris Leachman standing out as the Dickens character Madam De Farce, that segment is raised a notch, just as the Roman Empire sequence was with its cameo by Bea Arthur.
As for the coming attractions at the end, it now seems pointless, not only because there never was a sequel, but because it really isn't funny. So a in all a mixed bag, but middle of the road Brooks is certainly better than no Brooks.