THE STORY OF MANKIND Must Be Seen To Be Believed

THE STORY OF MANKIND falls squarely in the middle as a movie that is as bad as it is good and vice versa. But have no doubts, it is one of the best bad films that you will ever see. Producer Irwin Allen whose disaster movies (TOWERING INFERNO) and sci-fi TV series (VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA) were still in the future cut his teeth on this 1957 historical and hysterical glimpse at the history of Man. Based on a serious work by Dutch author Henrik van Loon (actually his real name, pronounced LONE), this all star extravaganza must be seen to be believed.

I remember seeing it as a child on TV. It was in black & white and I thought how awe inspiring it all was. A high tribunal in outer space deciding the ultimate fate of Mankind while the Spirit of Man (Ronald Colman in his last film) and the Devil (Vincent Price at his most elegant) argued for and against. The arguments on both sides were compelling and Mankind is left to determine his own fate. Something to do with the super H-Bomb (remember this was the Cold War 1950s).

As fantasies go this is pretty cut-rate but where else can you see Peter Lorre as Nero, Virginia Mayo as Cleopatra, Hedy Lamar as Joan of Arc, and Dennis Hopper(!) as Napoleon. Let’s not forget Francis X. Bushman as Moses, Agnes Moorehead as Queen Elizabeth I, Edward Everett Horton as Sir Walter Raleigh and you haven’t lived until you see Groucho Marx as Peter Minuet buying Manhattan from the Indians or Harpo Marx as Sir Isaac Newton. Mix these players with the greatest collection of stock footage ever seen and you have an unforgettable experience.

As history it’s worthless but the entertainment value is priceless. Seeing it in Technicolor only adds to the fun especially in the earthly visits. The celestial courtroom scenes are also memorable. The movie is very well made for its limited budget. They match up the stock footage nicely and the costumes do look good but the script is really camp. In its defense the movie makes no attempt to be serious, nevertheless it’s films like THE STORY OF MANKIND that show us just how bad a Hollywood film can be in a really good way.