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
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