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The
Court Jester
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 Get it? |
To ensure that Hawkins will win a joust with Griswold, Griselda poisons one of the drinks for the pre-joust toast. She tries to explain to the jester which drink is poisoned.
| "The pellet with the poison is in the
vessel with the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true." |
And after he gets that straight, she comes to him again and says,
| "Listen! They broke the chalice from the
palace and replaced it with the flagon with the figure of a
dragon." "Did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle?" "No, the pellet with the poison is in the flagon with the dragon. The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true." |
Hawkins gets it hopelessly mixed up, but he manages to survive anyway.
In the end there is an interesting bout of fencing with Hawkins and Ravenhurst, with Hawkins alternating between barely managing to stay alive and out-fencing Ravenhurst. The beginning of this duel, when Hawkins slices through the candles with his sword, is a parody of the fencing scene between Rathbone and Tyrone Power in The Mark of Zorro. Ravenhurst is finally defeated when some little people sneak up behind him and surprise him. Then Hawkins flips him onto the catapult, which hurls Ravenhurst into the lake.
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The Court Jester Danny Kaye's in top form in this lusty comic spoof of medieval England by the same team that brought Knock on Wood to the screen two years ago Dressed for a lavish time, in VistaVision and Technicolor, the Paramount release assures top values in rollicking family entertainment. It's loaded with an assortment of bright gags, wild slapstick and outrageous gimmicks (a band of fighting midgets, magic spells and magnetized armor), precisely tailored to Kaye's own fantastic brand of wit. Add to this some merry songs and the comic's double-talk tour-de-force: "the pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon not the chalice from the palace get it? got it? good!" There's a lot of plot here, concerning the efforts of a patriot band to drive out the usurping king, and restore the rightful "baby king with the purple pimpernel." Kaye plays the imposter-jester, inside man in the castle, and by slipping in and out of spells and what-not, keeps it all moving at a pleasant pace with light-hearted charm. Good support is offered by Glynis Johns as the maid-in-arms who loves him, Basil Rathbone as the sinister figure of satiric evil, Cecil Parker as the delightfully foolish king, and by Mildred Natwick—who's got the evil eye. Every once in a while, there's a pause to let the plot catch up—but twelfth century England hasn't been so much fun in years. Kaye poses as the court jester to win access to the castle's secret passage so that his chief, the Black Fox, can attack and depose false king Parker. An alliance is in the making between the king and Griswold of the North (Middleton) which is bad news for the patriots and is opposed by evil Rathbone (who wants no intruders snatching his influence over the king) and by princess Angela Lansbury (who would have to marry the grisly Griswold). Rathbone also believes the jester is his paid assassin, and the princess believes he is her true love. Miss Johns is also circulating, since she has caught the favor of the king. As the baby, also in the castle, is passed back and forth, and things get thicker and funnier, the jester accidentally wins a duel-to-the-death with Griswold as the band of midgets enter to save England—and all bow to the baby king. —The Independent Film Journal, February 4, 1956 |
Even at sixty-four, Rathbone appears to duel as expertly and easily as he did when he was younger. Fencing coach Ralph Faulkner, who has coached many film greats in the art of dueling, doubled for Rathbone in some of the fencing scenes because the choreography was too fast for Rathbone to keep up.
Danny Kaye learned to fence for the film and picked up the sport so readily that he amazed his instructor, Ralph Faulkner. In his autobiography, Basil Rathbone raves about Danny Kaye, writing that his "exceptional talents have always made a deep impression on me." Rathbone adds that Kaye did not rely on his God-given talents for success, but worked very hard, "with an aptitude for assimilating and perfecting anything he decides to accomplish. ... In 'The Court Jester' we had to fight a duel together with saber. I don't care much for saber but had had instruction in this weapon during my long association with all manner of swords. Our instructor was Ralph Faulkner, a very well-known swordsman on the Coast who had specialized in saber. After a couple of weeks of instruction Danny Kaye could completely outfight me! Even granting the difference in our ages, Danny's reflexes were incredibly fast, and nothing had to be shown or explained to him a second time." (In and Out of Character, pp. 152, 153)
Although Rathbone wrote that a couple of weeks of
fencing instruction enabled Danny Kaye to outfight him, Kaye was in
fact doubled. In his book, By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai,
Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions, Richard Cohen revealed, "At
the insistence of the production heads Kaye's fencing was doubled—partly
because Rathbone was then sixty-four, partly for the timing of the comedy
effects, and partly for Kaye's own safety, as he had to parry a number of
cuts to head and legs with his eyes closed. Later, after his success in
The Court Jester, Rathbone was at his Hollywood club taking a foil
lesson watched by two old fencing hands. Each time he neared them they
would intone, recalling the famous exchange that runs through the film,
'Get it? Got it. Good.' Finally Rathbone could stand it no longer.
Flinging off his mask he turned and seethed, 'Please stop it.'"
Angela Lansbury, who played Princess Gwendolyn, is the daughter of Moyna Macgill, a British stage actress
who appeared on the West End stage with Basil Rathbone. Macgill played Desdemona
opposite Rathbone in Othello in 1921.
Macgill also appeared in the 1944 film Frenchman's Creek (as Lady Godolfin).
She was married to Reginald Denham from 1919 to 1924 (they had one child), and then
she married Edgar Lansbury and had Angela. The Court Jester is the
only film in which Angela and Basil appeared together.
Glynis Johns (Maid Jean) is a British actress, who, like Basil, was born
in South Africa. The Court Jester was her first American film, and
the only film she made with Basil Rathbone.
Cecil Parker, the
English actor who played King Roderick, appeared in more than 90 films,
but The Court Jester was the only film in which he shared the
screen with Basil Rathbone. They did, however, work together in the play
Tonight or Never that ran at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, in
November 1932.
The little people were members of an ensemble called Hermine's Midgets.
 Ravenhurst believes the jester poisoned Brockhurst, Finsdale and Pertwee, and praises him. |
 Ravenhurst and Sir Locksley enjoy the jester's performance. |
The film was written, directed and produced by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, the talented duo who also wrote several of the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby "Road" films. The Court Jester wouldn't have been nearly so funny without the witty script penned by Frank and Panama.
With a budget of $3,700,000 production began in January of 1955. The Court Jester was reported to be the most expensive comedy produced as of 1955. The castle interior and its courtyard were built on two separate Paramount sound stages at the cost of over $200,000.
Filming was completed by March 18, 1955. Post production (editing, scoring, visual effects, etc.) took about nine months. The Court Jester was released in the United States on January 27, 1956 (February 1 in New York City).
It had a successful opening week, but ended up earning only about $2 million at the box office, half of the $4,000,000 that was invested in it. Years later, The Court Jester came to be considered a comedy classic.
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The Court Jester Spoof of medieval romance, a la Danny Kaye, is a good romp. Witty script, great production values, fine cast, add up to topflight entertainment. Big B.O. where Kaye clicks. This latest Danny Kaye starrer is sumptuously produced, with great eye-appeal, and diverting in its comedy. A spoof of the conventional medieval romance, it is, in addition, filled with the kind of hilarious patter songs and routines that Kaye is justly famous for. The half dozen Fine-Sammy Cahn tunes are witty and engaging. Norman Panama and Melvin Frank—who wrote, produced, and directed this one—have come up with a script that, despite occasional lapses, is well stocked with laughs. In the hand of a master like Kaye, and an unusually capable supporting cast, including Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Cecil Parker and Mildred Natwick, it fairly sparkles. One sequence, in which Natwick, attempting to poison Kaye's enemy, warns Kaye that the poison is in the "vessel with the pestle, not the flagon with the dragon" is a show-stopper. And a scene featuring the American Legion Zouaves drill team in double time will also get howls. The Panama-Frank production is a real eye-filler, resplendent in Technicolor, and in Edith Head-Yvonne Wood costumes. Mixed-up lot concerns the attempt of a group, which includes Kaye and Glynis Johns, to restore the rightful king to the English throne (12th century), and depose pretender Cecil Parker. Kaye enters the court disguised as a jester and the hilarity begins. He unintentionally wins princess Angela Lansbury's love and falls in with traitor Basil Rathbone. After untold complications, the true king is recognized (he's an infant), Kaye and Johns plan to marry. —Film Bulletin, February 6, 1956 |
The Court Jester
premiered in London February 9, 1956. Danny Kaye flew to London for the
premiere, which was at the Plaza Theatre. The proceeds of the premiere
showing went to the West Indies Hurricane Relief Fund. Danny Kaye was not
the only celebrity to attend the premiere; H. R. H. Princess Margaret also
attended. Her personal interest in the film was due to the fact that it stars
Danny Kaye, of whom she was a fervent admirer. She had met him on a number
of occasions and had several of his records among her collection.
Attending the premiere of the film must have been much more of a personal
pleasure than an official duty. The photo to the right shows Princess Margaret
greeting Danny Kaye and Glynis Johns in the foyer of the Plaza
Theatre, London.
A crowd of two or three hundred people stood outside the theatre despite the intense cold to cheer the Princess when she arrived. Upon her arrival at the cinema, Princess Margaret was received by Lord Lloyd, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Colonies, and Sir Hubert Rance, the former Governor of Trinidad who was chairman of the West Indies Hurricane Relief Fund. Delegates attending the Caribbean federation conference were presented to the Princess. She had spent a month touring the Caribbean the previous year and visited the offices of the relief fund in London in November 1955.
At the end of the film Danny Kaye came on to the stage and sang some of his most popular songs and entertained the audience for about 40 minutes. Princess Margaret joined in the singing of some of the songs during Kaye's show after the film.
The London premiere of The Court Jester raised around £4000 for the West Indies Hurricane Relief Fund.
 The King is surprised to learn that the child (the true king) lives. |
 Sir Locksley and Ravenhurst |
The songs, written by Sammy Cahn and Sylvia Fine (wife of Danny Kaye), include:
- "The Maladjusted Jester"
- "Life Could Not Better Be"
- "My Heart Knows A Lovely Song"
- "They'll Never Outfox the Fox"
- "Baby, Let Me Take You Dreaming"
- "Where Walks My True Love"
The Court Jester is an enjoyable movie and Basil is a superb villain, as always.
Turner Classic Movies has a few "Court Jester" video clips on its website. Here's one that features Basil:
See more pics and reviews on Page Two.
Visit Page Three for pictures of Posters, Lobby Cards and Promo Photos.
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The Court Jester is available
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Images on this page and pages two and three are from The Court Jester, copyright Paramount Pictures.
