SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

SimonJack "The Court Jester" is one of the best comedies of all time with one of the best multi-talented performers of the 20th century. Danny Kaye sings and swings, dances and fences, tongue-twists and spews puns, dons disguises and leaps and runs his way through medieval times to save England. Joining him in the cavorting and sporting is a super cast. And, amidst the comedy, music and action is a light-hearted spoof of the period and of the genre of swashbuckling films about that era.This film has a tremendous set, with some nice coastal scenes shot on the shores in California. The production is in wide screen Vista Vision and spectacular color. The costumes and all technical aspects of this film are excellent. It even has some special features including a cast of many dwarfs for songs and action scenes, and a special American Legion Zouave drill team from Michigan. The film is loaded with hilarious dialog. It has two segments of tongue twisters, including the one most well-known around the world, "the vessel with the pestle." It has antics galore, with Kaye changing personalities at the snap of fingers. One moment he's the meek, cowering Hubert Hawkins and the next he's the bold and bodacious Giacomo the Jester. Glynis Johns is very good as Maid Jean, and Angela Lansbury is a hoot as Princess Gwendolyn. Mildred Natwick makes an amusing Griselda, something of a witch who is an inadvertent ally to the jester in his true mission.Basil Rathbone is the main villain as Sir Ravenhurst, and Robert Middleton is the rough and crude neighbor who would have Princes Gwendolyn for his own. Cecil Parker rounds out the main cast as King Roderick I. And he has one of the funniest lines in the movie. It occurs after the armor-clad and laden knights have been hoisted by block and tackle onto their steeds. Kaye has not yet been unhooked when the trumpet sounds and his horse bolts off, leaving him swinging in mid-air. King Roderick yells, "Take that horse and put it back under that idiot." The American Film Institute in 2000 selected "The Court Jester" for its list of top 100 comedies. All known film organizations and ratings list it as one of the best comedies of all time. That's why its box office failure in 1956 seems so strange today. I don't remember my reaction when the film came out and I saw it as a young teenager. I didn't pay much attention to box offices or such details then. But in the years since, I've seen this movie three or four times. It's now in my permanent movie collection and I appreciate it immensely. It's pure entertainment. There are plenty of reviews about the story, so these remarks will explore a little more the anomaly of the poor showing of the film on its release. I wasn't able to find any reviews or critiques of the movie from the time of its premier. Later and more recent reviews don't help us understand the air and reception at the time the movie was made. A check of film lists reveals that very few comedies were made in late 1955 and in 1956. There were scarcely any action or swashbucklers made. Not a single comedy was in the top 25 grossing films in 1956. The only comedy that faired very well that year was the British film, "The Ladykillers." Heavy dramas dominated the silver screen around that time. After that, war dramas and romances were most common. Then came mystery and crime pictures, Westerns, musicals and some sci-fi. Why was Hollywood not producing more comedies then? Was it a sign of a mood and temperament change in society?The 1930s had spurred the production of hundreds of comedies including many of the best of all time. That was during the worldwide Great Depression and the American Dust Bowl. By the mid-1950s, we were in a period of peace and calm. Widespread consumerism and burgeoning affluence was the order of the day, with a new generation coming up that had not known hardships, suffering and sacrifice. The culture surely had changed. And with it, apparently, the public mood and tastes. This may explain the apparent lack of humor in the film industry, or the greatly reduced humor of the time. The humor would soon return though, and one wonders if it is coincidence that comedy got new life as the world again faced serious problems. The Cold War, race riots and segregation, and revolutions in several regions once more brought a sense of sobriety to society. And, the Soviet Union built an iron curtain across Eastern Europe. So, the civilized world once again needed comedy, and Hollywood was soon to oblige. For whatever reasons the public and critics of 1956 didn't like "The Court Jester," today it is recognized as a great comedy - one of the best of all time.

preppy-3 I missed the first 15 minutes so I'm not sure exactly what the plot was. It deals with Danny Kaye disguising himself as a court jester to help a baby claim his rightful place as king of England. Helping him is a beautiful woman (Glynis Johns) and a princess (Angela Landsbury) who wants him as her husband...or else! There's also Basil Rathbone on hand being evil as only he can.Bright beautiful Technicolor, a fast pace and beautiful costumes are the main attraction here. Also seeing Johns and Landsbury so young and beautiful is interesting. The problem is Kaye and the script. I have nothing against Kaye but I didn't find him particularly funny and his song and dance numbers were terrible. Also some of the jokes were groaners--one was repeated FOUR TIMES! Still I watched it all and was entertained. This is best for kids who would probably love it.

TheLittleSongbird Danny Kaye fans will be absolutely blown away by his performance here in The Court Jester. It is one of his all-time best, and showcases all the skills that he excelled at so well and better than most of his other roles, and this is coming from an actor who was versatile and enormously talented. He has a lovely controlled voice, he is very light on his feet as a dancer and has impeccable comic timing while making his character endearing rather than making him a total clown.He is wonderfully supported by an elegant, suave and suitably repellent Basil Rathbone as the film's villain (who plays it straight, which despite the film's silly nature contrasts very well), a hilarious Mildred Natwick and Glynnis Johns and Angela Lansbury who both have seldom looked more luminous and like Rathbone play it straight too while also being very charming and bagging just as many laughs as Kaye. John Carradine is underused but is effective too in his role, and Cecil Parker fares the same as Johns and Lansbury in that he manages to get a lot of great lines and humour while not getting over-silly or goofy. They are advantaged hugely by a deliciously witty and hysterically funny script, that is a non-stop laugh riot and filled with inspired wordplay and endearingly written characters that are essentially spoofs of pre-existing characters (Rathbone is like a Guy of Gisborne sort of character) and with every ounce of charm and spark.The story could have easily been tired (comedy of errors is not a new concept, and has had variable results when executed on film) and admittedly it's a bit sketchy, but that doesn't matter because the time just flies by, the spoofs are so much fun to spot and very cleverly incorporated and it's just so greatly entertaining, good-natured and warm-hearted. The Court Jester's most memorable scenes have to be the sword fight duel which is so professionally choreographed, on par with the likes of The Adventures of Robin Hood as one of the greatest and brilliantly wild (how Kaye and Rathbone managed to keep a straight face when doing that particular take is amazing, reportedly Rathbone kept getting convulsed with laughter before) and most notably the classic "vessel-with-the-pestle" routine, which is one the funniest things Kaye ever did and is reason alone to see The Court Jester.The Court Jester looks absolutely beautiful, with ravishing colours, lavish costumes and sets that give off a real sense of the medieval period and meticulously loving colour photography, while the film is superbly directed. The small number of songs, eight in total, fare memorably and have sweet melodies and extremely clever and witty lyrics (the same quality as the script-writing), Life Could Not Better Be and Outfox the Fox set up the characters nicely too without being heavy in exposition.In conclusion, The Court Jester is simply a delightful film which will be of no disappointment whatsoever to Danny Kaye fans. 10/10 Bethany Cox

CINEMINTZ-1 Inspired silliness from the team of Melvin Panama and Norman Frank starring Danny Kaye in probably his Finest Hour Plus. Definitely derivative of Adventures of Robin Hood in more ways than one with Rathbone as a villain almost equal to the one he played in that enduring Classic. But like comparing Young Frankenstein(74) with either Bride of Frankenstein or the Original Frankenstein(31),certainly there is certainly more comic interplay in Court Jester and it is definitely great on a lower level but the originals are still overall preferred. Whereas The Bride ,Frank(31) and Robin Hood deserve the highest rating,Court Jester is just a step below. Still there are not many scenes as memorable and hilarious as the pellet-pallet tongue twister scene which is as strong as the Marx brothers classics,though overall it is probably not quite the comic masterpiece as Duck Soup,Night at the Opera and even Horse feathers and Day at the Races are. As entertainment value goes it definitely delivers and probably belongs with the very best Comic Adventures ever made. Glynis Johns is as fine a romantic heroine and the use of dwarfs is almost on par with the Wizard of Oz.