Irwin Allen
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Story of Mankind is a 1957 American fantasy film, very loosely based on the nonfiction book The Story of Mankind (1921) by Hendrik Willem van Loon. The film was directed and co–produced by Irwin Allen and released by Warner Bros. The all-star cast movie was a critical failure.
Plot
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, who goes by the name of Mr. Scratch, prosecutes Mankind while the Spirit of Man defends it.
Scratch and the Spirit of Man 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 Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, and modern times, looking at historical figures.
Ultimately the tribunal is asked to rule. The high judge, facing Mr. Scratch and the Spirit, with a large assemblage of peoples in their native costumes behind them, declares that the good and evil of Mankind is too finely balanced. A decision is suspended until they return. When they do come back they expect to see a resolution of humanity's age old struggle with itself.
Cast
- Ronald Colman ... The Spirit of Man
- Vincent Price ... Mr. Scratch
- Hedy Lamarr ... Joan of Arc
- Groucho Marx ... Peter Minuit
- Harpo Marx ... Sir Isaac Newton
- Chico Marx ... Monk
- Virginia Mayo ... Cleopatra
- Agnes Moorehead ... Queen Elizabeth I
- Peter Lorre ... Nero
- Charles Coburn ... Hippocrates
- Sir Cedric Hardwicke ... High Judge
- Cesar Romero ... Spanish Envoy
- John Carradine ... Khufu
- Dennis Hopper ... Napoleon Bonaparte
- Marie Wilson ... Marie Antoinette
- Helmut Dantine ... Mark Antony
- Edward Everett Horton ... Sir Walter Raleigh
- Reginald Gardiner ... William Shakespeare
- Marie Windsor ... Joséphine de Beauharnais
- George E. Stone ... Waiter
- Cathy O'Donnell ... Early Christian Woman
- Franklin Pangborn ... Marquis de Varennes
- Melville Cooper ... Major Domo
- Henry Daniell ... Bishop Cauchon
- Francis X. Bushman ... Moses
- Jim Ameche ... Alexander Graham Bell
- Austin Green ... Abraham Lincoln
- Bobby Watson ... Adolf Hitler
Production background
The film was former publicist Irwin Allen's first attempt at directing live actors after his documentaries The Sea Around Us and The Animal World. In May 1955 Allen announced he would write, produce and direct a film based on the book.
