Humanity Through the Ages was made in response to successful historical films such as The Last Days of Pompeii, and directed in a highly serious style contrasting sharply with most of Méliès's work.
Méliès made two appearances in the film, as a druid and as a judge in the Spanish Inquisition.
The first scene includes a moment staged by Méliès to recreate Pierre-Paul Prud'hon's 1808 painting Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.

The Méliès scholars Paul Hammond and John Frazer have noted that the film's highly pessimistic tone is unusual among Méliès's work; both scholars have suggested that the pessimism derives from the intense commercial pressure Méliès felt from competitors during the making of the film.
Humanity Through the Ages was made in response to successful historical films such as The Last Days of Pompeii, and directed in a highly serious style contrasting sharply with most of Méliès's work. Méliès made two appearances in the film, as a druid and as a judge in the Spanish Inquisition. The first scene includes a moment staged by Méliès to recreate Pierre-Paul Prud'hon's 1808 painting Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime.
The Méliès scholars Paul Hammond and John Frazer have noted that the film's highly pessimistic tone is unusual among Méliès's work; both scholars have suggested that the pessimism derives from the intense commercial pressure Méliès felt from competitors during the making of the film.
Humanity Through the Ages