User reviews

Irwin Allen's production of 'The Story of Mankind' has been called one of the worst films ever made, a film so bad that it has NEVER been released on video, and barely ever appears on television (and only then in a VERY abbreviated form.) This is UNFAIR! While the film is intentionally (and sometimes unintentionally) campy, it has many milestones that make it worthy of respect. First, it is Ronald Colman's final film (he died a year after the release), and he still shows the urbanity, the kindness, and the 'voice' that made him unique. Second, it is the last theatrical appearance of the Marx Brothers (although they appear separately), and Harpo plays the harp one last time, a bittersweet experience. Third, Vincent Price plays the Devil, and certainly no actor is more perfect for the role! Fourth, the film foreshadows Irwin Allen's later work, on television ('Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea', 'Time Tunnel') and in film ('The Poseidon Adventure', 'The Towering Inferno'). There are other milestones to this film, as well, but I think you can see my point!

The story is VERY loosely based on Henrik Van Loon's wonderful, witty history of the human race (which is a fabulous read, if you ever get the chance!) The 'basic' framework of the story has been changed into an 'End of the World' tale, set in the heavens. High Judge Cedric Hardwicke must decide whether or not Earth should be allowed to blow itself up, after the creation of a 'super' bomb. Two counsels are selected; for the Prosecution is the Devil (Vincent Price), sly and sarcastic, and pleased that God's ultimate creation has fallen on it's face; for the Defense is the Spirit of Mankind (Ronald Colman), an entity that carries the essence of all of Man's achievements, both good and bad.

As both sides present their cases, the 'history' of the world is played out, using Warner Brothers' stock footage and guest star cameos. Among the most memorable of these cameos are Virginia Mayo as a vampy Cleopatra, Peter Lorre, a lazily derranged Nero, Hedy Lamarr as a pious Joan of Arc, Harpo Marx miming Sir Issac Newton, Groucho Marx leering and wisecracking as Peter Minuit, buying Manhattan Island, and Dennis Hopper as a WAY over-the-top young Napoleon!

Throughout the proceedings, Price and Colman (who had appeared together seven years earlier, in 'Champagne for Caesar') trade barbs over Man's worthiness, in exchanges both funny and sadly true, at times!

'The Story of Mankind' is NOT classic cinema, but it is fun, and has a kind of charm uniquely it's own. It should NOT be forgotten!

Irwin Allen's first venture into all star spectacle was one all star disaster. The Story of Mankind contains some of the most incredible casting decisions of all time. Virginia Mayo as the blond Cleopatra, Dennis Hopper chewing the scenery with Napoleon, Peter Lorre dining on the scenery for weeks as Nero, Marie Wilson as Marie Antoinette as a roadshow Marilyn Monroe, that's just some of them.

The film also is known for being the last film which featured all three of the Marx Brothers though they all have different roles. Chico plays a monk who is Christopher Columbus's confidante, Groucho euchres the Indians out of Manhattan island as Peter Minuit, and most astonishing of all, Harpo Marx as Sir Isaac Newton who discovers gravity when an apple conks him on the bean.

Holding all these portrayals together is a story where mankind itself is being judged. A super H Bomb is about to be discovered and let loose will do in the world's population. It's Judgement Day a coming.

But mankind has its advocates and detractors. Speaking for the prosecution is Old Scratch who's been bringing the worst out in man for centuries in the form of Vincent Price. But man has his good side as well and who better than Ronald Colman to demonstrate man at his most civilized best. Colman and Price plead their case before The Judge played by Cedric Hardwicke.

In those three individuals you have some of the finest speaking voices the English language ever knew. When the film is on them as they each bring out the exhibits for their case it's a pleasure to listen to. Then when the focus is on the individual stories, you want to scream in agony.

What was Irwin Allen driving at, I'm still trying to figure it out. Was he deliberately camping it up with some of these casting decisions? If it was satire, it just doesn't get off the ground.

This was Ronald Colman's farewell film and while it's hardly something I'd like to go out on, I can't think of any man who could have stated the case for civilization any better.

So when you see The Story of Mankind, fast forward through some of the exhibits and treasure every moment the advocates are before the judge.

Mankind is on the verge of discovering the secret of the Super H-bomb so a special tribunal meets in outer space to discuss what to do. Arguing on behalf of mankind is the Spirit of Man (Ronald Colman). Arguing that humanity must be destroyed is Mr. Scratch (Vincent Price). They both use examples from history to make their cases.

Here are some of the historical reenactments. Cavemen discover fire in the middle of an attempted murder and rape. Cleopatra (Virginia Mayo) kills her brother and seduces Caesar and Marc Anthony (Helmut Dantine). Peter Lorre plays a drunken Nero laughing while Rome burns. The most embarrassing episode belongs to Hedy Lamarr as Joan of Arc. Her Joan wears bright red lipstick and a terrible wig. Her trial is presided over by Henry Daniell dressed as Santa Claus. Agnes Moorehead hams it up as Queen Elizabeth I, who receives military counsel from William Shakespeare! Groucho Marx plays Peter Minuit in a painfully unfunny comedy segment where he rips off Indians for Manhattan island. Marie Wilson is a bimbofied Marie Antoinette. 21 year-old Dennis Hopper is a soft-spoken Napoleon with 37 year-old Marie Windsor as his Josephine. Among the other stars we see in this are Cedric Hardwicke as the celestial tribunal's judge, John Carradine as Pharaoh Khufu, Charles Coburn as Hippocrates, Chico Marx as a monk offering advice to Columbus, Edward Everett Horton as Sir Walter Raleigh, Harpo Marx as Isaac Newton, and Don Ameche's younger brother Jim as Alexander Graham Bell.

Today Irwin Allen is best remembered for his contributions to television like Lost in Space or his '70s disaster flicks like The Poseidon Adventure. The Story of Mankind wasn't Allen's first film but it was his first notable one. This movie came about during the heyday of Atomic Scare movies. The decade was full of them, usually in a sci-fi setting. There were some great classics like The Day the Earth Stood Still made during this era rife with paranoia. This film has the reputation of being one of classic Hollywood's biggest stinkers. Personally, I like it! But part of why I like it is because it's so flawed. It's got an all-star cast, most of whom are laughably misused. The script is terrible with some of the corniest dialogue you'll ever hear and some truly cringeworthy speeches. The history is inaccurate and blends myth with fact. It's all filmed in lush Technicolor but on cheap sets with tons of stock footage. Still, I can't help but enjoy it. It's a movie that falls squarely into the "so bad it's good" camp for me. Taken seriously, it's ridiculous and offensive to your intelligence. Taken lightly it's quite a bit of cheesy fun.

It has the distinction of being both Ronald Colman's final film and the final film to feature the main three Marx Bros. together (although they bafflingly share no scenes). By the way, listening to the Devil's point of view, it struck me how that is the more likely view we'd see advocated today, not only in films but in real-life discourse as well. Kind of depressing. Worth seeing for a variety of film fans but especially for fans of Price and Colman, who have two of the most pleasant voices the movies ever knew.

Unlike most people, I really enjoyed this film. Not only was it unintentionally funny, but it had all the elements that would later be associated with many of Irwin Allen's latter works (stock footage and an all-star cast). Vincent Price is at his sinister best playing Mr. Scratch, the devil, and Ronald Colman is wonderful as the spirit of mankind. Too bad this film isn't on video or DVD because it truly is a cult classic that is an acquired taste.

The opening titles of this historical epic – one of the most notoriously misjudged films in Hollywood history – boast no fewer than 25 stars but, having personally gone through it, I have to say that its reputation is entirely justified! I'd always been interested in it, of course, yet I'd practically given up hope of ever catching the film…and, eventually, I only managed to come across a soft-looking, panned-and-scanned VHS copy with forced Spanish subtitles (which will more than suffice under the circumstances).

Actually, the central premise isn't half-bad – a tribunal in outer space(!), presided over by Sir Cedric Hardwicke, convenes to determine whether mankind should be allowed to go on living or else let it obliterate itself via the misuse of nuclear weapons! In fact, the opening half-hour or so is fairly decent but, as soon as one realizes that the film will be a constant parade of Hollywood stars stolidly appearing (portraying is hardly the correct term to use here) as famous historical figures – who are subsequently given little of consequence to do – it becomes a depressing, repetitive and altogether rather dull charade!

At least, the main roles of The Spirit Of Man (a suave and gracefully aged Ronald Colman in his last film) and Mr. Scratch aka The Devil (a typically genial turn by Vincent Price) are ideally filled – something which, alas, can't be said of most of their colleagues: Hardwicke himself merely gets in a few inane phrases between Colman and Price's rebuttals, but, for good measure, we also have to contend with John Carradine (as a campily-dressed Pharaoh), Peter Lorre (as a thoroughly miserable Nero, which is ironic given that the role had often inspired actors towards hamminess!), Virginia Mayo (unrecognizable as Cleopatra), Hedy Lamarr (an embarrassingly miscast Joan of Arc), Dennis Hopper (as a wimpy Napoleon Bonaparte!) and, surely the weirdest casting choice of all, the Marx Brothers (appearing in their final team effort, albeit separately: Chico barely registers as a monk in the Christopher Columbus episode, Groucho incongruously appearing fully in character, with glasses and wisecracks intact[!], as obscure American Pilgrim Peter Minuit, and Harpo, ditto, as a mute and harp-playing Sir Isaac Newton)!!

The various re-enactments (amidst which Colman and Price are free to roam) display a rampant use of stock footage – thus making the film seem more expensive than it actually is – and naturally end with the present i.e. 1957 crisis; in hindsight, the script's constant reference to the "Super H-bomb" is amusing and dates the show more than anything else! At a mere 100 minutes, such an ambitious enterprise was doomed from the start and, indeed, it feels too much like a crash-course in World History (intercut with elementary bits of Philosophy). Perhaps, the kindest thing that can be said about THE STORY OF MANKIND is that, for better or worse, it did pave the way for Irwin Allen's heyday as a producer of star-studded Hollywood blockbusters.

The Story of Mankind when I saw it was a movie I initially found difficult to rate. Mainly because it is a big mess. Having said that somewhat, it is a mess that is worth seeing.

The production values are hardly high art, but they are decent. The sets are okay, the costumes are interesting and the cinematography is not exceptional but not exactly cheap either. I liked the premise as well, and it started off decently with Sir Cedric Hardwicke presiding over things nicely. There is also some good performances. Ronald Colman gives far from his best performance, but he is very suave and convincing, Marie Antoinette is nicely coquettish and Agnes Moorhead chews the scenery with glee. It was also nice to see the Marx Brothers, Harpo and Chico aren't really that funny but Groucho is though there was the odd moment not to do with Groucho more to do with the writing and the way the characters were written that came across as more offensive than amusing. Best is Vincent Price, with his powerful voice and magnetic presence, he is gleefully wicked.

However, the direction falls flat as if it is unsure of which direction to go whether it wanted to be a history lesson or an exercise in camp. The dialogue is mostly absolutely abysmal, but it is so hard not to laugh at how bad it is. The film goes at an uneven pace with some segments faster than others or better acted and written. The characters are little more than stereotypes and caricatures and badly explored ones at that, and there are some unintentionally hilarious ideas incorporated into the story especially with Joan of Arc. I liked the leads and Moorhead and Groucho, but the rest of the cast are just bizarre. Peter Lorre though isn't too bad, perhaps too young and somewhat too effeminate too but there are some moments of unexpected poignancy, but Hedy Lamarr is woefully miscast as Joan of Arc and a very over-the-top Dennis Hopper does nothing with the role of Napolean.

Overall, The Story of Mankind is a mess, but it was worth watching and I personally wouldn't put it on my worst movies ever list. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I saw this film on a late, late show on television a long time ago (pre-cable, if you van believe that!) It was impossible to follow the plot. Was there one? The fun is in spotting the famous actors doing bits.

Groucho, Chico, Harpo. The best reason to watch any movie. Together, they would have been more of a hoot!

Irwin Allen loves these all-star studded set pieces but believe me, The Towering Inferno was "toweringly" better!

Most didn't make sense and most seem disjointed, but if it comes on late night again, I'll be there! Can't take my eyes off it!

For years, I read about The Story of Mankind as one of the worst movies ever as cited in the book "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time". I also had a copy of Henrik Van Loon's book of the same name it was based on which I just read. It was updated to the '80s, the copy I had. So having read the book, I went to the Dailymotion site and watched the movie. It has an interesting wraparound segment with Ronald Colman representing the good side of Mankind and Vincent Price representing the bad side in court before Judge Cedric Hardwicke. Then we visit the various historical segments. Virginia Mayo as Cleopatra is perhaps one of the most inane of those though I got a hoot out of Agnes Moorehead as Queen Elizabeth I. My main interest was seeing The Marx Brothers in one last film together. Only they're not together here: Chico is an adviser to Christopher Columbus, Harpo is Sir Isaac Newton who plays his harp for the last time on film, and Groucho is the guy who swindled the Indians out of Manhattan! Appearing with him in that segment was his then-wife Eden Hartford as the Indian daughter Laughing Water. His daughter Melinda also appeared in a separate segment as a little girl. Both Groucho and Harpo are pretty funny while it's amusing just recognizing Chico when he's on. Producer-director was Irwin Allen doing his first of his all-star productions though this wasn't as epic-laden as his subsequent disaster movies of the '70s as the frequent use of stock footage here exhibits. In summary, The Story of Mankind is not even a good movie, but it's certainly interesting to watch for the way certain attitudes were presented at the time concerning the way history was viewed at the time. P.S. For anyone who thought Harpo wore a blond wig, it must have been quite a surprise to see him wearing a red one in this-his only color film appearance!

Just saw this for the first time on Turner Classic Movies. This was quite a good movie, in fact, I would say, it was a bold and courageous move by Irwin Allen considering the time period.

Today the history as touted by Mr. Snatch (a great performance by Vincent Price) would not appear anything radical or new. However, we're talking about over a half-century ago when bluntly pointing out how Native American Nations were massacred trying to defend their land and homes instead of them being portrayed as savages attacking poor and noble pioneers who sought no gain other than leading a great country westward - that was sac-religious back then in the days of John Wayne- type history (sorry about that, Duke). Or bringing out (and not being denied by Man, played equally as great by Ronald Coleman) the manipulation and exploitation associated with events otherwise looked upon as noble in an age that fostered the Committee on Un-American Activities, conformity, repression of free speech, blacklisting and the ruining of so many people's lives - it was just about unheard of back then.

Of course, most of the supporting cast performances were more campy than dramatic (the expression on Heddy Lamar's face playing Joan when first hearing her calling had me in stitches and reminded me of Bill Cosby's early-career Noah routine, when, as the Lord called upon him to build an arch, Noah replied "yeah, right.... who is this really? Am I on Candid Camera or something?"

Again, if that film came out today it wouldn't be much, but for it to come out back then, I found that amazing.

I remember reading the classic comic version of this film contemporaneous with the release of the film. When I finally saw the movie, its trial of humanity with the Spirit of Mankind and the Devil walking through time to tell humanity's story appealed to my young imagination. It is, on the one hand, an efficient film--the story of mankind in 100 minutes, using stock footage from other movies, with cameos by stars who were getting up their in years and were anxious to appear in a film financed by a major studio again. As a film, it is hokey, with bad dialogue and cardboard sets through which the Devil and the Spirit of Mankind are obviously filmed at a separate time from the actors in their cameos. But I take pleasure in its being Ronald Colman's last film, giving him abundant screen time to use his melodious voice, although he does it in a far from meritorious vehicle. I enjoyed seeing him in scenes with Vincent Price and Sir Cedric Hardwicke, also of a beautiful voice. And I am intrigued that it was one of the last theatrical screenplays of Charles Bennett, who wrote classic films with Alfred HItchcock. The structure of the screenplay, which he co-wrote with the director is intriguing, although the poor dialogue appears improvised. It was a film of its time--audacious in that it did not shy away from including Hitler in its showing of recent history just 12 years after the Holocaust ended and having an actor portray him and that its story reflected the then-current fears of the atomic destruction of the world. It was just on Turner Classic Movies, and my wife watched it for the first time. She smiled at 43-year-old Hedy Lamar playing 19-year-old Joan of Arc and at Virginia Mayor playing a brunette Cleopatra as if she were Lucrezia Borgia. But my wife seemed captivated by some scenes--such as Agnes Moorehead as Queen Elizabeth I with Reginald Gardiner as William Shakespeare inspiring her by quoting the last lines of his play King John. It was an influential movie for its time. It seems silly and dated now, but evidently it can still entertain in spots.

The Story of Mankind is a noble attempt to argue the case of humanity, whether he is inherently good or evil, as he has just developed the "super H bomb." Vincent Price is at his best as the Devil arguing against humanity. It was a poor choice in general to reconstruct so many scenes of human history, especially since the screenwriter(s) changed the events so much as to make them unrecognizable. The casting is very odd and distracting in these sequences, too. The film is chock full of once-brilliant character actors like Agnes Moorhead, who embarrasses herself as Queen Elizabeth, and especially the Marx Brothers. I guess one of the biggest reasons you might want to see this is to see what Groucho, Harpo, and Chico looked like in technicolor (which, if you remember Groucho in The Big Store, was too expensive for their earlier vehicles). They among the numerous actors retain their vaudville characters in this film. Groucho plays Peter Minuit, the man who fleeced Indians out of Manhattan island. He makes suggestive comments towards the chief's daughter, but none of them are funny. Chico is on screen for 30 seconds as a priest arguing about the shape of the world with Columbus (he is the only one to retain his dignity in this movie; at least his character was Italian). Harpo plays Isaac Newton in a particularly pathetic sequence. He starts to play his harp, and apples drop onto his head. Then he mugs for the camera. No Brother fell further from grace than Harpo.

Basically, The Story of Mankind forgets its purpose, worrying too much about the elaborate recreations than the philosophical argument. This plot could have made a good film, I think. Its ending is one of ambiguity, which is where it should be. It tells us that the filmmakers did intend to make a serious film. I say that this is worth ignoring. For a better film with the same message, we all have and still love to watch The Day the Earth Stood Still. 5/10.

THE STORY OF MANKIND (1957) is a very elusive all-star misfire about a heavenly debate over should earth survive or be wiped out. For the defense, you have the Spirit of Man (Ronald Colman), for the prosecution, you have Satan (Vincent Price having a ball!) They each call examples of humanity by showing famous good and evil people. We see little skits involving Nero (Peter Lorre making googly-eyes at members of an orgy!) Napoleon (22 year old Dennis Hopper playing the part like a naughty frat boy!) Christopher Columbus (miscast Chico Marx), Issac Newton (even more miscast Harpo Marx!) The cast gets stranger and stranger. Aging Hedy Lamarr as Joan of Arc? Where was everybodies agent? The end result looks like the biggest celebrities in Hollywood are doing a 5th graders' play! An amazing film, a tape I treasure!

The Story of Mankind is a buffet of all-star overacting and stock footage. I had no clue what I was getting into: I just saw the premise, Vincent Price, and the Marx Brothers and that had me sold. What was intended to be a message about humanity's potential for good and evil is instead an unintentional comedy, almost an accidental parody of the bloated Technicolor historical epics that were being thrown at 1950s audiences to get them away from their black-and-white television sets.

The tone is all over the place. One minute we're looking at murder and depravity, and then the next we have Groucho Marx swindling the Native Americans. The acting runs the gamut from campy to atrocious. Agnes Moorehead screams and devours the expensive sets as Queen Elizabeth while Peter Lorre as Emperor Nero roars and cackles during the most hilarious orgy in history. The woman discussing medicine with Charles Coburn's Hippocraties has to be one of the most dreadful actresses ever. Vincent Price is the best actor in the whole thing, delivering a charismatic performance as Satan himself. Ronald Colman gives his final screen role as The Spirit of Mankind, and is the only actor who doesn't indulge in any ham or cheese.

There's tons of stock footage too. Badly integrated stock footage, at that.

In conclusion, this is wonderfully awful. Watch it.

"The Story of Mankind" initially only came to my attention because I'm an enormous fan of Vincent Price and because I really want to watch all the films and TV-series he ever appeared in, …particularly the ones where his character is credited as "The Devil"; duh! When I started reading more trivia about this production and its infamous reputation, I naturally became only more intrigued. How is it possible that a film with such a phenomenal cast and ambitious premise is labeled everywhere as one of the worst turkeys ever created? The practically unaffordable all-star cast as well as the flamboyant plot can easily be clarified if you take a closer look at the name of the producer/director. Irwin Allen was one of the most notorious big spenders in Hollywood ever. He's mostly known for producing a series of massively budgeted disaster movies during the seventies ("The Towering Inferno", "The Poseidon Adventure"…) but apparently he already had a fondness for bombastic productions in the fifties. The film's turkey reputation can perhaps be clarified easily as well, because the concept is ludicrous, megalomaniac and downright insane.

More than 20 years ago, I watched a horror omnibus film called "Night Train to Terror" and I laughed myself silly because of the goofy wraparound story that featured God and Satan, sitting in a train carriage, discussing whether a handful of thugs belonged in heaven or in hell. Little did I know back then that this preposterous idea was actually just a simplified version of the same plot used in "The Story of Mankind"! Now that humanity has developed an all-destructive H- Bomb, sixty years prior to what has been scheduled, the heavens call together a tribunal that must decide whether mankind is allowed to survive or that it should be extinct for good. The almighty Vincent Price stars as the devil – of course – and pleas to the High Judge (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) that mankind doesn't deserve to exist further, what with the destructive tendencies they demonstrated since centuries already. God himself apparently couldn't make it, but he's replaced by "the Spirit of Mankind" (Ronald Colman) who represents the modest, everyday human being. The whole idea of the movie is that the Price, as the prosecutor, recalls famous historic cases to prove that mankind doesn't deserve to survive, while the Spirit of Mankind is the defending attorney. It must be said that the miserable spirit of mankind can't hold a candle to Vincent – the Devil – Price, and if all this nonsense was real, we would all be extinct! Price recalls some of the most eccentric madmen (or mad women) in history, and colorfully illustrates their share in history's darkest pages from the Roman Empire over the French Revolution, the Colonization of America and towards World War II. As a fan of Vincent Price, I must state that "The Story of Mankind" is worth watching. He has the most lines and screen time, even though he's only the 7th or 8th name on the opening credits, and clearly enjoys all the overlong philosophical monologues he's firing off. The vast majority of the film is stock footage, often terribly bad stock footage in fact. In spite of the versatile segments and cast, "The Story of Mankind" is dreadfully boring, which is probably the biggest letdown of all. Two-thirds of the phenomenal cast only appears in brief cameo roles. Another hero of mine, Peter Lorre, for example only has two lines and the contribution of the legendary Marx Brothers' is negligible as well.

Leave Ed Wood alone. To call "Plan 9 from Outer Space" the worst film ever made would be to deny this abysmally vulgar heap of Hollywood guano its rightful title. This pretentious fusion of witless whimsy and bathetic sociopolitical "commentary" actually does seem to be formed along the lines of "Plan 9," with badly-staged scenes of down-on-their-luck actors on cheap sets interspersed with what appears to be footage of battle and crowd scenes cribbed from higher-budget epics. But whereas "Plan 9" occasionally manages to be funny when it means to be and reasonably entertaining overall, this tacky pageant is appallingly lacking in basic showmanship, with scenes ranging from offensively unfunny (the disgusting burlesque of Groucho Marx stealing Manhattan from the Indians) to low camp (Hedy Lamarr attempting to impersonate Joan of Arc hearing her "voices") to tedious (Dennis Hopper doing absolutely nothing with the role of Napoleon) to the unexpectedly poignant performance of Peter Lorre as the psychotic Nero. Give the worst director trophy to Irwin Allen, for turning so much into so little.

Mankind has developed a world ending super bomb. Mr. Scratch aka The Devil (Vincent Price) and The Spirit of Man (Ronald Colman) must debate the survival of humanity before the Outer Space High Tribunal. They bring historical characters and events to make their cases.

I mostly checked this out for the Marx Brothers. Groucho does a weird comedic skit swindling the native Americans out of Manhattan after an hour of semi serious trek through history. It's odd to have a couple of comedic skits in an otherwise serious dissertation of good and evil. It's also obvious that this is a clip show stealing large crowd scenes in other cinematic epics. Non of the historical dramas are that dramatic. Nothing is truly compelling. The connective tissue is the trial which is terribly dry. I did laugh at Groucho mostly due to the clash of tones. It's not a good movie.

Before Irwin Allen was nicknamed "Master of Disaster" in the 1970's, he produced and directed this history lesson, based on Hendrik Van Loon's book.

The plot is that man has discovered the "Super H Bomb" sixty years ahead of schedule. A court convenes in Outer Space as The Spirit of Man (Ronald Colman), Mr. Scratch (Vincent Price) and his apprentice (Nick Cravat) argue whether man should be saved or allowed to blow themselves up. A parade of characters from history, good and evil, appear to make various points. With the exception of Bobby Watson, who plays Hitler and brings a note of unwelcome reality to the movie after ninety minutes of comic book history, the "bad" characters get most of the good lines and laughs. The "good" characters, with two exceptions, get the dreary lines and slow down an entertaining show; in some cases, they bring the movie to a screeching halt.

Vincent Price was inspired casting, and he carries off the role with admirable sarcasm, irony, and the occasional sneer. Nick Cravat acts with his eyebrows, and adds to the fun. Groucho Marx is a funny Peter Minuit, and Harpo Marx has maybe the best bit in the movie, as a harp playing Isaac Newton. Virginia Mayo's Cleopatra is amusing for the wrong reasons; she sounds like she came to Egypt by way of Atlanta. Agnes Moorehead, as Elizabeth I, roars and overacts her way through a badly written scene. Peter Lorre is a memorable Nero. In the three minutes allotted her scene, Marie Wilson sketches a brainless Marie Antoinette. John Carradine, as the pharaoh Khufu, cannot keep a straight face and grins at the camera in his first scene.

In his last film, Ronald Colman as The Spirit of Man gets the dreary lines and seems to think he's in a Serious Film. Hedy Lamarr is a Viennese sounding Joan of Arc. Charles Coburn as Hippocrates lectures the camera. Cathy O'Donnell stops the film as an early martyr. Chico Marx got star billing, but I couldn't spot him in the film.

This is a moderately fun watch if you are into "so bad it's good".

In heavenly outer space, two Angelic beings observe people on Earth have developed a "super H-bomb" which can destroy all human life on the planet. To see if Mankind is worth saving, a "High Tribunal" is convened. Defending the human race is "The Spirit of Man" (Ronald Colman) while devil's advocate "Mr. Scratch" (Vincent Price) prosecutes the case. This doesn't sound like a bad idea for a movie at all, but it is executed poorly. Participants are amateurish, bemused, and/or embarrassed. Producer/director Irwin Allen used the idea more effectively when commissioning the script for "The Prisoners of Space" (1966), wherein the Tribunal visited his "Lost in Space" TV characters.

** The Story of Mankind (11/8/57) Irwin Allen ~ Ronald Colman, Vincent Price, Cedric Hardwicke, Groucho Marx

Love this movie! Great acting for the time and up there with all the greats! It was too short and felt rushed. I would love to remake it today

When I was 8 years old, and going through my Marx Brothers phase, my father read in the TV Guide that they were showing the Marx Brothers film, "The Big Store" late on Friday night, and set the VCR to tape it for me. When I woke up on Saturday -- due no doubt to a misprint in the TV guide -- my father and I discovered "The Story of Mankind" had been recorded instead.

"The Big Store" was probably one of the least funny of all the Marx Brothers movies and nevertheless it stands as one of the century's finest works of cinema when compared with "The Story of Mankind." I can almost justify TV Guide's error, in that the Marx Brothers -- Groucho, Chico, and Harpo -- appear in both movies. Although in "The Story of Mankind," they are divided up into a series of unrelated scenes: Groucho plays Peter Minuit, Chico plays some guy talking to Christopher Columbus, and Harpo plays Isaac Newton????? Harpo's scene lasts about half a minute; Chico only has two or three lines; Groucho's scene is at least funny, but horribly racially insensitive by today's standards. The rest of the movie doesn't bear mentioning. They trotted out some of the finest actors of the day, and made them recite total garbage. What a disappointment.

TV Guide, I sent you a nice letter, I'm still waiting for an apology.

For the record: "The Big Store" has a wonderful bit of physical comedy with the Marx Brothers on roller skates, and a couple of songs by Virginia O'Brien. I was really looking forward to seeing it.

THE STORY OF MANKIND (1957) is not a good movie, but it's a fascinating one on several levels. I'm most intrigued by the central event of the film, a debate over the fate of mankind undertaken, in a heavenly tribunal, between the "Spirit of Man," played by stately English actor Ronald Colman (in his final film), and a rather more sinuous type, Mr. Scratch (aka the Devil), played by Vincent Price on the cusp of his emergence as a major horror star. Colman speaks in defense of mankind, while Price argues for allowing the species' impending self-engineered demise. (This was the Atomic Age, after all.) Price offers concrete examples of man's inhumanity to man (and nature) and the various atrocities the race has committed, establishing a whole pattern of misconduct—theft, exploitation, slavery, mass murder, rape, pillage, plunder, perversion--that extends from Ancient Egypt right up to the present day. Colman glosses over these things, preferring to expound rather vaguely on man's lofty ideals and dreams of progress, exploration, and artistic achievement. When Colman brings up Leonardo da Vinci, for instance, Price points to da Vinci's detailed plans for highly destructive weapons of war. Price seems much more outraged by the crimes of mankind than Colman is, which marks his character as the true moralist in the film.

(In real life, Colman and Price were good friends and one exchange of dialogue in the da Vinci scene, where Colman insists that Price "knows nothing about painting," while Price responds that he "never pretended to be an art expert," is an in-joke reference to Price's already considerable reputation by that point as a connoisseur, collector and historian of art.)

On a more mundane note of cinephilic appreciation, I tried tallying up all the footage taken from earlier movies with historical themes. (Any time you see a shot with multiple extras and lavish sets, you know it's from a different movie.) Early on, for instance, we see John Carradine as the pharaoh, Khufu, sharing a scene with Price and Cedric Hardwicke (as the celestial judge). All three were in Cecil B. DeMille's spectacle from the previous year, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956), which took place in Ancient Egypt. Yet when this scene transitions to shots of pyramid building, they don't use clips from DeMille's film, but instead rely on clips from another film set in that period—LAND OF THE PHARAOHS (1955). Why? Because THE STORY OF MANKIND is a Warner Bros. production and the only color film clips they could use without having to pay exorbitant fees would have to come from Warner Bros. films. So when they go to the Trojan War, we see clips from HELEN OF TROY (1955). And when they go to the Crusades and other scenes from the Middle Ages, we see clips from KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS (1954). Piracy and ship battles between England and Spain for supremacy of the seas? CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER (1951). Elizabethan England? THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX (1939). Western scenes? DODGE CITY (1939). There were some clips I didn't recognize, though, such as the shot of Rome burning. (QUO VADIS?, 1951, was an MGM production.) Producer-director Irwin Allen would expand on this practice of mixing cheaply shot studio scenes with more lavishly filmed clips in his TV series, "Time Tunnel," some nine years later. (By then, of course, Allen would be at a different studio and have to rely on clips solely from 20th Century Fox.)

The recent cablecast of this film on Turner Classic Movies (on March 14, 2011) was beset by technical problems. The film often froze up and went black. This happened most egregiously during two sequences, one with Cleopatra (Virginia Mayo) and one with Peter Minuit (Groucho Marx), so I missed several seconds from each. I must say I didn't recognize Ms. Mayo in the dark wig. In another sequence, 45-year-old Hedy Lamarr turns up as the teenaged Joan of Arc(!). Marie Windsor plays a much taller and older Josephine to Dennis Hopper's Napoleon. (Josephine actually WAS taller and older than Napoleon, but not by that much.) Shakespeare is described by Queen Elizabeth (Agnes Moorehead) as a "young actor-poet," but is played by veteran character actor Reginald Gardiner, who'd been in films for 25 years at this point. Why couldn't they recruit bigger names to play Shakespeare and such other key historical figures as Columbus (Anthony Dexter) and Lincoln (Austin Green)?

Silent star Francis X. Bushman (Messala in the silent BEN-HUR) plays da Vinci—and has no dialogue. Cathy O'Donnell plays an early Christian in Rome some two years before appearing in a vaguely similar role in the BEN-HUR remake. In one piece of gimmick casting, Jim Ameche appears as Alexander Graham Bell, a role closely identified with his more famous brother, Don Ameche. (I'm guessing they tried to get Don to recreate it, but were turned down.) Seven actors in this cast went on to guest star on TV's "Batman": Vincent Price, Cesar Romero, Reginald Gardiner, Edward Everett Horton, Francis X. Bushman, Marie Windsor and Ziva Rodann.

For years I only knew this film as the last to feature all three Marx Brothers. On that basis, I'd always thought it was a comedy. It isn't. Still, it struck me as pretty funny to see an opening credits sequence where Francis X. Bushman, Franklin Pangborn and Dennis Hopper are among the many listed together ABOVE the title.