The Court Jester

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Alec B An insane vehicle for Danny Kaye. Each scene slowly adds more and more outrageous farce elements until the frenzied finale. Its often quite funny but the movie is a little exhausting. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/24 Full Review Tom S I have absolutely no idea why this movie is rated so highly. I kept waiting for something remotely interesting to happen, but all I got was tired tongue twisters and a second rate sword fight. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 09/28/23 Full Review Audience Member I first saw this movie in the theater for my fifth or sixth birthday party. Since then I have seen it so many times to this day I still have a good bit memorized, and I consistently name it as my favorite movie of all time (and I'm a movie buff). Furthermore, when I was a grad student of English lit, my medieval lit professor showed it in class, noting that--as is mentioned in the prologue--they did tons of research to get the details authentic. Like many others, I consider it the best of Danny Kaye. And check out the young, beautiful Angela Lansbury, and Basil Rathbone before Sherlock Holmes. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Simply put, Danny Kaye is arguably the most talented American entertainer of the previous century, and "The Court Jester" is his best film, employing his talents as a dancer, singer, impressionist, master of elocution and languages, to a greater degree than any of his other films, most of which deserve high marks as does his own network television variety show int he early '60s. No one possesses Kaye's ability to evoke the "inner child" of all of us to the same degree as Kaye--which he does paradoxically through his sophisticate sense of language, gesture and expression (Cole Porter wrote his most difficult lyrics for Kaye, knowing that ONLY he could memorize and deliver these pyrotechnical tongue-twisters.) Warnings: for some unexplained reason, the film was allowed to go uncopyrighted, resulting in numerous cheap, inferior prints with fuzzy edges and weak pastels in place of sharp images with solid colors and a score with high fidelity sound. Recently, the problem has been solves. Don't settle for a "colorized" look in place of the original VistaVision full-spectrum color. And be sure to see the film more than once, and be on the alert for the tongue-twister about the "vessel with the pestle" in the "chalice with a palace." Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Audience Member Best Danny Kaye comedy. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review matthew d Outrageously hilarious to this day! Melvin Frank and Norman Panama's period comedy The Court Jester (1955) is one of my favorite comedy classics as it's basically a spoof of The Adventures of Robin Hood and Errol Flynn. Their direction is stellar with striking vision for a fast paced and funny comedy for any age. Frank and Panama's writing is silly, yet clever with stark dry wit, impressive tongue twisters, and numerous creative gags that'll keep you laughing from start to finish. They directed The Court Jester like it's a serious historical piece that happens to have all these delightful jokes throughout it by chance. It's quite charming. Danny Kaye's Herbert Hawkins is such a pleasant leading joker of a character. He effortlessly spoofs Errol Flynn's Robin Hood with a silly persona and foolish manner. He sings, dances, tongue twists, whistles, and swashbucklers with an impressive versatility. The Court Jester is really one giant actor's reel for Kaye to dazzle with his jack of all trades jester. You have to hear his deep endearing singing, complex tongue twister gags, and daring sword fight with Basil Rathbone's entertaining Sir Ravenhurst. Rathbone was Hollywood's greatest fencer, so it's an astonishing delight to see him duel Danny Kaye, especially since it was Rathbone who dueled Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood. Glynis Johns is drop dead gorgeous, spirited with a feminist independence, humorous agency, dreamy husky voice, and stylish glamour like the greatest of screen actresses. I adore Glynis Johns as Maid Jean, the Captain of the stern Edward Ashley's Black Fox forest rebels. She is a wonderful dear of cinema in The Court Jester. She gets nearly as much screen time as Danny Kaye here, much to my enjoyment. Angela Lansbury is pretty as Princess Gwendolyn, but it's her thirsty lust for Kaye that is so funny. Cecil Parker is very funny as the foolhardy King Roderick I. His scenes alongside Glynis Johns are perhaps the funniest moments in The Court Jester. John Carradine gets a funny cameo as the real court jester Giacomo. Mildred Natwick is great as the witch Griselda. Robert Middleton's hefty presence as Sir Griswold has a dark gravitas and fun rage against Kaye's court clown. Tom McAdoo's editing keeps The Court Jester to a briskly paced 101 minutes of nonstop joy. Ray June's cinematography looks as sweeping with gorgeous wide shots everywhere, beautifully framed as if it were for a genuine period drama. Hal Pereira and Roland Anderson's art direction is lovely with stunning backdrop paintings and vividly colored scenes. Sam Comer and Arthur Krams' set decoration adorns this castle set with deep purples and ornate furnishings of all kinds of medieval things. Walter Scharf, Van Cleave, and Vic Schoen's score is pretty with a lively tempo and sweet renaissance style. All the lyrics are witty for the sung songs with even more jokes herein these tunes. Edith Head and Yvonne Wood's costumes are gloriously intricate and regal in appearance. The pink dress for Angela Lansbury, or the orange or green dress on Glynis Johns are truly beautiful clothing designs. I like the black and white suits for Danny Kaye's fashion as well. Basil Rathbone's purple lord's outfits are excellent too. Wally Westmore's make-ups give every lady cute blush and a natural warmth. In all, The Court Jester is definitely worth seeing still for Danny Kaye's humor and Glynis Johns' performance. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Court Jester

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