So much average

Sadly Over-hyped

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

An old friend of mine considers this the funniest film he knows, and I'm not inclined to argue with him. Based on the Robin Hood of Errol Flynn, which had appeared 17 years before, in 1938, the Court Jester develops the other side of the coin of that vintage Sherwood masterpiece. Everyone knows the stuttering sign-language, what doges do, and the vessel with the pestle, as well as the flagon with the dragon, and magnetic armour. But there's much more. What about glamorous Angela Lansbury's "Oh, father"; and Captain Jean's "Raise your arm". Cecil Parker, as always, is a riot as the usurping monarch with cautious concern for his health, and Mildred Natwick features strongly in the only role she was born for. Kaye is at his best when snapped into devil-may-care mode, easily the equal of dastardly Basil, and the little men have a field day. I can't think of anything else to say. Brilliantly written.

Crossed between The Scarlet Pimpernel and Charles Laughton in Henry VIII plus 1938's Robin Hood's jousting lies Danny Kaye's sublime 'The Court Jester'.In vivid Technicolor and sparkling like a new cut diamond, the visual and lyrical gags are amazing. Cecil Parker as the King and Angela Lansbury as Queen try and control a dastardly Basil Rathbone and beautiful Glynis Johns. A threadbare plot pivoting around a baby with a birthmark on its bum, who is the true heir to the throne, drives this zany film.Danny Kaye was a tongue-twister extraordinaire and here they flow thick'n'fast, with some of the funniest lines ever twisted on the tongue. Kaye is swift and natural in all his routines and is a joy to watch.Some of the scenes with the dwarfs don't look right these days and there are a few not-so-strong patches. But, the sublime bits make you instantly forget those and as it rattles through, it barely stops for breath.The DVD is cheap and for a rainy, cold weekend afternoon, Court Jester will provide all the tonic that you could possibly endure.

This is one of the better Kate vehicles, one that remains watchable half a century later. It features most, if not all, of the Kaye schtick; the tongue-twisters, the mugging, the balladeering - in this case a lullaby - all the stuff in fact that tends to grate when the earlier - 40s - movies surface on TV. It helps, of course, that Basil Radford is on hand as chief villain. Radford was, hands down, the finest swordsman in Hollywood ( fencer, for the pedants, though I accept that Radford's old opponent Errol Flynn was a swordsman in both senses of the word) and more could have been made of the final showdown between him and Kaye instead of aborting the duel via catapult. The plot was old when Cain was lining up Abel in his cross-hairs but no one really notices. Sammy Cahn weighed in with some fine (sorry about that, Sylvia) lyrics with Mrs Kaye, Slyvia Fine, restricted to music only with the exception of The Maladjusted Jester, John Carradine appeared all too briefly as the real Giacomo and all in all a good time was had by all.

The Court Jester's film version has dancing and music as well as a storyline about the court jester played by the wonderful Danny Kaye. The great (not dame yet) Angela Lansbury CBE plays the beautiful Gwendolyn who doesn't want to marry Griswold. The great (not dame yet or honored at all) Glynis Johns plays maid Jean. She fits right in with the boys of Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest. The film version is colorful with great costumes, art direction, and scenery to recreate the Arturian times. The cast is first rate that includes Sir Basil Rathbone along others as well. The film is smart enough not to be corny and to poke fun at itself. Like the scene with the baby who holds the mark, Kaye's character suggests that a woman should hold the baby. Gwendolyn states "if you love him (Griswold) so much, then you marry him" to her own father, the King and ruler of Camelot. It could be adapted to a Broadway musical since most of Broadway musicals are now being adapted from films anyway.