Production info

The Story of Mankind
USA, 1957

Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Virginia Mayo, John Carradine

  

Scientists have developed a weapon, called the Super H-bomb, which if detonated will wipe out the human race entirely. A High Tribunal in The Great Court of Outer Space is called upon to decide whether divine intervention should be allowed to stop the bomb's detonation. The Devil prosecutes mankind while the Spirit of Man defends it. Both are allowed to take the tribunal to any period of time to present evidence for mankind's salvation or damnation. They take the tribunal from prehistory through ancient Egyptian, Greco-Roman, medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment and modern times, looking at historical figures played by a host of guest stars. The ancient Egyptian evidence takes us to the times of pharaoh Khufu, the great builder, but also to Cleopatra, who is portrayed as a petulantly girlish blond dame, the example of guilty pleasure!

Based on Hendrik Van Loon’s children’s novel, The Story of Mankind, the first winner of the prestigious Newberry Award for outstanding children’s literature. Director Irwin Allen latched onto Van Loon's novel to produce this rather wonderful gimmicky camp version of the story for a more adult audience. The film re-uses mass-scene footage from Howard Hawks' 1954 movie "Land of the Pharaohs" that equally features king Kheops, and some costumes from 1954 "The Egyptian".


NOTICE - This website contains documentation and other information about motion pictures, television movies and episodes from television series related to ancient Egypt and Egyptology. It reports these materials to serve the study of ancient Egypt as a phenomenon in modern popular culture media. As such, the material on this site is provided solely for the purpose of non-commercial, non-profit educational use, comment, scholarship and research. Though the copyright to most photographic material presented here is owned by third parties, the editor wishes to express that in line with the aforementioned use no copyright infringement is intended. For this reason all images are limited to low resolution thumbnail size. In this respect the visitor should be aware that the use of image material from this site for purposes other than private viewing may infringe copyrights owned by others. The further copying, redistribution, or publication of any part of this site is therefore prohibited. Any concern about or objection to material placed on this site can at all times be made known to the editor and will be addressed. This website does not feature ads, does not generate money or profit in any way and does not use cookies.

Created and maintained by Hans van den Berg
This site is ©2000-2024 Hans van den Berg, The Netherlands. The editor claims no copyright to the images.