   history of the world, part i is a 1981 comedy film written, produced, and directed by mel brooks. brooks also stars in the film, playing five roles: moses, comicus the stand-up philosopher, tomÃ¡s de torquemada, king louis xvi, and jacques, le garÃ§on de pisse. the large ensemble cast also features sid caesar, shecky greene, gregory hines (in his film debut), charlie callas; and brooks regulars dom deluise, madeline kahn, harvey korman, cloris leachman, andreas voutsinas and spike milligan. the film also has cameo appearances by royce d. applegate, bea arthur, hugh hefner, john hurt (as jesus christ), barry levinson, jackie mason, paul mazursky, andrew sachs and henny youngman, among others. orson welles narrates each story. despite carrying the title part 1, there is no sequel; the title is a play on the historie of the world, volume 1 by sir walter raleigh, as detailed below. ==plot== the film is a parody of the historical spectacular film genre, including the sword and sandal epic and the period costume drama sub-genres. the four main segments consist of stories set during the stone age, the roman empire, the spanish inquisition, and the french revolution. other intermediate skits include reenactments of the giving of the ten commandments and the last supper. ===the stone age=== cavemen (including sid caesar) depict the invention of fire, the first marriages (the first âhomo sapiensâ marriage which was swiftly followed by the first "homosexual marriage"; note that the movie preceded the first legal recognition of same-sex marriage (in denmark) by almost a decade), the first artist (which in turn gives rise to the first critic), and early attempts at comedy and music, by smashing each other's feet with rocks and thus creating an orchestra of screams. ===the old testament=== moses ([[mel
1980s_comedy_films 1980s_musical_films 1981_films 20th_Century_Fox_films American_musical_comedy_films American_parody_films Anthology_films Brooksfilms_films Depictions_of_Moses Depictions_of_Nero_on_film English-language_films Film_scores_by_John_Morris Films_directed_by_Mel_Brooks Films_set_in_France Films_set_in_ancient_Rome Films_set_in_classical_antiquity Films_set_in_the_15th_century Films_set_in_the_18th_century Films_set_in_the_1st_century Films_set_in_the_Roman_Empire Inquisition_in_fiction Portrayals_of_Jesus_in_film Screenplays_by_Mel_Brooks