The Court Jester (1955)

The Court Jester
Directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama
Written by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank
1955/USA
Dena Enterprises
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Hawkins: But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle?

Griselda: No! The pellet with the poison’s in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true![/box]

This musical send-up of “Robin Hood” features what is probably Danny Kaye’s best performance.  As a bonus, it reunites us with Basil Rathbone, who even does some fencing.

Hubert Hawkins (Kaye) entertains the rebel band headed by the Black Fox and is often assigned to care for the infant heir to the throne of England.  He is in love with Maid Jean (Glynnis Johns), one of the rebel soldiers.  Evil King Roderick I, who has usurped the throne receives news that the infant lives.  Hawkins and Jean are assigned to move the boy to a hidden sanctuary.

On the way, they run into Giacomo, who is on his way to become jester to the King.  This looks to be the ideal way to infiltrate the palace and Hawkins takes his place.

Once Hawkins arrives, there are any number of mishaps before the fairy tale ending.  One of the most amusing of these is when a witch (Mildred Natwick) hypnotizes Hawkins to woo the Princess Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury).

I’m not the world’s greatest Danny Kaye fan but he keeps his shtick under control here and is entertaining.  Rathbone has aged a lot by 1955 but he’s still a very good villain and a graceful fencer.

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