It's the one with the purple pimpernel on it. Yes, this is the musical spoof of swashbuckling epics with totally tongue twisting lyrics that will have you in stitches. An evil usurper to the throne has killed off all of the members of a royal family-all except one, a baby boy who can only be identified by a birthmark on his derrière, and this has all the King's horses and all the King's men pulling down the diapers of every tot in the kingdom trying to find him. With them all on a rampage, a mysterious hero named the black fox makes it his duty to protect the little boy and conquer the king so the rightful heir can take over. A carnival entertainer (Danny Kaye) poses as a famous court jester to get inside the palace in order to assist the fox and attracts the attention of the usurper's princess daughter (Angela Lansbury) even though he is in love with the right-hand man (oops, woman) of the black fox.
Thanks to the wacky mind of Kaye's real-life wife Sylvia Fine, Kaye gets a series of patter songs and rhythmic dialog that will have you in stitches. Lovely Glynis Johns plays the black fox's captain that poses as a lady in waiting to assist Kaye in his quest while Lansbury keeps threatening her witch-like companion (Mildred Natwick) with death unless she can prevent Kaye from being killed by her evil father. Other memorable character actors in this include Basil Rathbone as the main villain, John Carradine as the real jester, and Edward Ashley as the black fox. The tongue-in-cheek attitude of its players make this a pleasing family film that both children and adults can enjoy, even those who find swashbuckler movies to be predictable and pedestrian.
Danny Kaye is most of the show here, his over-the-top performance totally appropriate. Every member of the cast has moments to shine, particularly Natwick with her famous "pessle with the vessel/Chalice with the palace/flagon with the dragon" speech that twists the tongue of practically everybody trying to repeat it. Something tells me that little kiddies watching this will trip over their tongues as well in trying to repeat the hysterical limerick.
Glynis Johns, best remembered for "Mary Poppins" and Broadway's "A Little Night Music" (and much later prickly old ladies of imperious natures) is a lovely heroine, her lemon-puckered voice a pleasure to the ear. Lansbury ("Murder She Wrote", "Bednobs and Broomsticks", and ironically, Broadway's "A Little Night Music") isn't given an opportunity to shine with rather ordinary material, but it is obvious that she is having fun with this part that could have become a one-dimensional villainess had she not infused the character with a romantic nature. Rathbone isn't playing his typical villain; There's a lot of humor to be found in his cad determined to take over the country once he rids the kingdom of the usurper's enemies. Kaye takes over where Errol Flynn fought Rathbone in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" in a hysterically funny fencing sequence.
The songs are not anything remarkable, but a dance number at the beginning featuring a group of little people billed Hermine's Midgets is well choreographed. This is a film that can be seen over and over again with each tongue-twisting line of the screenplay tempting the viewer to rewind so they too can remember where the pellet with the poison has been placed.
Thanks to the wacky mind of Kaye's real-life wife Sylvia Fine, Kaye gets a series of patter songs and rhythmic dialog that will have you in stitches. Lovely Glynis Johns plays the black fox's captain that poses as a lady in waiting to assist Kaye in his quest while Lansbury keeps threatening her witch-like companion (Mildred Natwick) with death unless she can prevent Kaye from being killed by her evil father. Other memorable character actors in this include Basil Rathbone as the main villain, John Carradine as the real jester, and Edward Ashley as the black fox. The tongue-in-cheek attitude of its players make this a pleasing family film that both children and adults can enjoy, even those who find swashbuckler movies to be predictable and pedestrian.
Danny Kaye is most of the show here, his over-the-top performance totally appropriate. Every member of the cast has moments to shine, particularly Natwick with her famous "pessle with the vessel/Chalice with the palace/flagon with the dragon" speech that twists the tongue of practically everybody trying to repeat it. Something tells me that little kiddies watching this will trip over their tongues as well in trying to repeat the hysterical limerick.
Glynis Johns, best remembered for "Mary Poppins" and Broadway's "A Little Night Music" (and much later prickly old ladies of imperious natures) is a lovely heroine, her lemon-puckered voice a pleasure to the ear. Lansbury ("Murder She Wrote", "Bednobs and Broomsticks", and ironically, Broadway's "A Little Night Music") isn't given an opportunity to shine with rather ordinary material, but it is obvious that she is having fun with this part that could have become a one-dimensional villainess had she not infused the character with a romantic nature. Rathbone isn't playing his typical villain; There's a lot of humor to be found in his cad determined to take over the country once he rids the kingdom of the usurper's enemies. Kaye takes over where Errol Flynn fought Rathbone in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" in a hysterically funny fencing sequence.
The songs are not anything remarkable, but a dance number at the beginning featuring a group of little people billed Hermine's Midgets is well choreographed. This is a film that can be seen over and over again with each tongue-twisting line of the screenplay tempting the viewer to rewind so they too can remember where the pellet with the poison has been placed.