The Story of Mankind is a 1957 American dark fantasy film loosely based on the nonfiction book The Story of Mankind (1921) by Hendrik Willem van Loon. The film was directed and coproduced by Irwin Allen and released by Warner Bros. Plot Scientists have developed a weapon called the Super H-bomb that can exterminate the human race. A high tribunal in the Great Court of Outer Space is convened 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 are too finely balanced. A decision is suspended until they return. When they return, they expect to see a resolution of humanity's age-old struggle with itself. Cast Ronald Colman as The Spirit of Man Vincent Price as Mr. Scratch Hedy Lamarr as Joan of Arc Groucho Marx as Peter Minuit Harpo Marx as Sir Isaac Newton Chico Marx as Monk Virginia Mayo as Cleopatra Agnes Moorehead as Queen Elizabeth I Peter Lorre as Nero Charles Coburn as Hippocrates Sir Cedric Hardwicke as High Judge Cesar Romero as Spanish Envoy John Carradine as Khufu Dennis Hopper as Napoleon Bonaparte Marie Wilson as Marie Antoinette Helmut Dantine as Mark Antony Edward Everett Horton as Sir Walter Raleigh Reginald Gardiner as William Shakespeare Marie Windsor as Joséphine de Beauharnais George E. Stone as Waiter Cathy O'Donnell as Early Christian Woman Franklin Pangborn as Marquis de Varennes Melville Cooper as Major Domo Henry Daniell as Bishop Cauchon Francis X. Bushman as Moses Jim Ameche as Alexander Graham Bell Austin Green as Abraham Lincoln Bobby Watson as Adolf Hitler Production 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, and Warner Bros.