The Court Jester (1955)

Please don't spend money on this.

It is a performances centric movie

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

"The court jester" is an extremely, and I mean extremely, thorough attack on almost every trope and cliché related to movies, especially of the cloak-and-dagger kind, about chivalry, royalty, dynastic intrigue and the Middle Ages. For instance, you've got the Infant Heir In Danger, saved and protected at great risk by a small band of faithful subjects : it's a thundering great big old cliché, which goes back to storytelling conventions already old when Homer was young. The infant heir is bearing a distinguishing mark on his body : again, this is a cliché so old that it travels back for many, many centuries, to a time where people believed that rulers were special, either because they were gods or because they were in close contact with gods. However, "The Court Jester" gives this cliché a nicely satirical twist, by stating that the infant bears his special sign on his butt... However, the movie's strength is at the same time its weakness : like nearly all spoofs, it works best if you are familiar with the material or genre being spoofed. If you've never looked at a "straight" Hollywood movie about, say, Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, Prince Valiant, Merlin, King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table... you're likely to miss out on a great deal of the madness. The acting is excellent and lead actor Danny Kaye does a sterling job, especially in the scenes where he switches personalities at the speed of light, going from timid and reasonable to dashing and gallant - and back again.So try the movie, it's very funny. Do not be surprised if, for weeks afterwards, you find yourself saying "Yea, verily yea" in a deep and solemn voice. It will wear off, especially after a few martinis...

My early thirties year old lodger and I did the "The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle" routine about two hours ago. Realistically we were probably the only people in London that did. Yet the fact that the film still resonates has to count for something. It's just fun.

I won't pretend like I'm the biggest fan of Danny Kaye, given that the only other projects I've seen him in are "The Inspector General" and his guest appearance on The Muppet Show. However, I feel like this movie is to Danny Kaye what Muppet Treasure Island was for Tim Curry: a must-see for any and all who want others to join in worship of their idol.The film borrows a few elements from Robin Hood: band of rebels in a forest, evil usurper sitting on the throne, romance, swordplay, antics for everyone. However, the focus of the film is, in fact, the bumbling sidekick that no one expects anything of. Hawkins (played by Kaye), after he's done singing musical numbers while impersonating his boss, finds himself caught up in a plot to oust the tyrant usurper and restore the rightful heir: a small baby with an obviously painted flower on his left buttock. And even though Hawkins is as bumbling as bumblers get, he manages to woo a princess, insult nobility, assassinate royal advisers, and avoid any morning stars on a collision course with his cranium.Like I said, this movie has about everything Danny Kaye can bring to the table in it: he jumps around, he swings on ropes, he's bumbling, he talks quickly, he sings, he dances, he injures himself for our amusement, he steals props from the set (seriously, look that up on YouTube; he's even more over-the-top as himself), he's just all-around a great lead.And, to the movie's credit, the songs are pretty entertaining as well. "The Maladjusted Jester" is one of the best solo numbers I've ever seen in a movie, certainly a cut above the stuff that roles out from The Muppets or whatever hot new band is being paraded around by record companies. "The Black Fox" number in the beginning is also wonderful, being mysterious and quick like its subject matter, as well as providing a good fake-out for first time viewers.Overall, I have no complaints about this movie. The story's great, the songs are great, the characters are great, the comedy's great, and Danny Kaye is FANTASTIC.

This is one of the better Kate vehicles, one that remains watchable half a century later. It features most, if not all, of the Kaye schtick; the tongue-twisters, the mugging, the balladeering - in this case a lullaby - all the stuff in fact that tends to grate when the earlier - 40s - movies surface on TV. It helps, of course, that Basil Radford is on hand as chief villain. Radford was, hands down, the finest swordsman in Hollywood ( fencer, for the pedants, though I accept that Radford's old opponent Errol Flynn was a swordsman in both senses of the word) and more could have been made of the final showdown between him and Kaye instead of aborting the duel via catapult. The plot was old when Cain was lining up Abel in his cross-hairs but no one really notices. Sammy Cahn weighed in with some fine (sorry about that, Sylvia) lyrics with Mrs Kaye, Slyvia Fine, restricted to music only with the exception of The Maladjusted Jester, John Carradine appeared all too briefly as the real Giacomo and all in all a good time was had by all.