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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Paramount
Salesrank: 756
Released: March 30, 1999 |
| Our Price: $6.18 |
| Used Price: $4.97 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Kaye plays a court jester who becomes involved with outlaws trying to overthrow the king.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: NR
Release Date: 2-MAY-2006
Media Type: DVD
Description of The Court Jester:
Danny Kaye spoofs Robin Hood and Scaramouche in this inventive slapstick swashbuckler. Portraying the clownish but good-hearted entertainer Hawkins, he infiltrates the court of the corrupt Basil Rathbone (up to his usual brand of cruel villainy) disguised as the legendary king of jesters, Giacomo. After a court sorceress hypnotizes Hawkins into believing he is also a legendary assassin, Hawkins has more identities than he can keep straight, and Kaye zips back and forth between them at, literally, a snap of the fingers. Comic highlights include a wonderful sword fight with Rathbone in which he constantly switches identities, and the classic "chalice from the palace/vessel with pestle" wordplay as Hawkins plays "hide the poison" and forgets where it is. With comely Glynis Johns as his spy-in-arms love interest, Angela Lansbury as the scheming princess, and Mildred Natwick as the dotty spellcaster, this is Danny Kaye at his comic best. --Sean Axmaker
The Court Jester Reviews:
ONE OF THE BEST 
2009-12-11 - FAST SERVICE, EXCELENT CONDITION AND THE MOVIE IS ONE OF THE BEST DANNY KAYE DID ITS AN OLD MOVIE BUT ALL AGES COULD ENJOY THIS ONE.
so happy
2009-12-09 - I was so happy to get this on dvd, so I could share this movie with my kids. They thought it was as fun as I do. I again was very pleased with the quickness of delivery and the condition of the movie. Great!
Life Could Not Better Be...
2009-12-01 - Mediaeval England: The country suffers under the yolk of King Roderick (Cecil Parker), a tyrannical nobleman who has ascended to the throne through the means of a coup d'état which has eradicated all but a single member of the legitimate royal lineage. The heir apparent, an infant who sports a royal birthmark in the shape of a purple pumpernickel on his plump posterior, resides in the forest under the aegis and protection of the heroic outlaw, "The Black Fox" (Edward Ashley), and his group of merry men who have sworn to overthrow the dastardly Roderick and his weaseling subordinate, Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone). A complicated turn of events sees Hubert Hawkins (Danny Kaye), the infant's ward, infiltrate Roderick's castle disguised as a court jester and become embroiled in a fine farrago of dastardly doings and hilarity...
Though no shrinking violet, the older I get, the more disenchanted I become with a cinema which increasingly seems to revere the values of selfishness, vulgarity, pessimism and nihilism. Thank the stars then for films like "The Court Jester".
I grew up with Danny Kaye. His films were regularly broadcast during the school holidays in the UK and Australia, and it's for this reason that a goodly number of poms and skips in the late-twenty to mid thirty-something age group (the latter being my generation) will inform you that 'the pellet with the poison is in the vessel with the pestle, but that the chalice with the palace holds the brew that is true' should you mention this particular film to them. And it's easy to see why. It's an absolute joy to watch and marries a hilariously convoluted plot with a stellar cast featuring likes of Angela Lansbury, Glynis Johns and John Carradine, and an absolutely superlative turn from Kaye in what must be one of the best showcases of his talents as a comedian, singer and dancer. The scenes in which he satirises the swashbuckling heroes of the day are absolutely hysterical. Likewise, the formation marching choreography of the guard who sweep up Kaye during his 'knighthood' is absolutely breath-taking.
If you're looking for an antidote to the blues, today's increasingly self-obsessed culture or the seemingly endless media coverage of the global financial downturn, pick this film up. I guarantee that it will send you on your way with a smile on your face and a jaunty refrain of the film's brilliant opening credit song, "Life Could Not Better Be" on your lips.
And I have no doubt that if we produced more films like this and my other Kaye favourites, Wonder Man [Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo], The Secret Life of Walter Mitty [Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo] and Hans Christian Andersen today, we'd be a far happier society.
THERE'S A CHALACE IN THE PALACE WITH A BREW THAT IS TRUE
2009-08-19 - When I was five years old I remember meeting a man who put an eiderdown around my shoulders and he made me laugh so much. He said: I am going to show you a little bit of a film and all we saw was:
1956:
There's a chalace in the palace with a brew that is true;
There once was an ugly duckling with feathers all fluffy and brown; .../and she walked with a quack and a waddle and a quack and a very fine eiderdown.../pttt get out, pttt pttt get out, pttt get out of here; and she walked with a quack and a waddle and a quack and a very fine eiderdown;
The King was in the altogether, the altogether, the altogether the King was in the Altogether ... /etc.../ The film was either never made or there are two versions going around, because I believe this film is just beginning to come out now in 2009.
Barbara O'Sullivan
Best movie we've seen this year
2009-07-17 - I love Danny Kaye! This movie has everything - witty music, great dancing, funny repartee, and Danny Kaye at his best. Lyrics by Sylvia Fine kept us in stitches. A great family movie, although kids might not understand some of the lyrics.
