The Court Jester

1955
Approved
1h 41m

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

14K

YOUR RATING

Danny Kaye, Angela Lansbury, and Glynis Johns in The Court Jester (1955)

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2 Videos

59 Photos

Adventure Comedy Family Musical

A hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against an evil ruler who has overthrown the rightful King.A hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against an evil ruler who has overthrown the rightful King.A hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against an evil ruler who has overthrown the rightful King.

Directors
- Melvin Frank
- Norman Panama
Writers
- Norman Panama
- Melvin Frank
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.8/10

14K

YOUR RATING

Directors
- Melvin Frank
- Norman Panama
Writers
- Norman Panama
- Melvin Frank
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total

Trivia
Features Basil Rathbone's final sword fight on film.

Goofs
When Hubert and Maid Jean are nearing King Roderick's castle, Sir Ravenhurst and Sir Locksley watch their arrival through telescopes, an invention of the 17th century.

Quotes
Hawkins: I've got it! I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right?
Griselda: Right. But there's been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: They *broke* the chalice from the palace?
Griselda: And replaced it with a flagon.
Hawkins: A flagon...?
Griselda: With the figure of a dragon.
Hawkins: Flagon with a dragon.
Griselda: Right.
Hawkins: But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle?
Griselda: No! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!
Hawkins: The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.
Griselda: Just remember that.

Crazy credits
The opening credits are a musical number where Hawkins dances around the credits as they appear. This is also the manner of a medieval theatre where an actor serves as a prologue to introduce the story.

Connections
Featured in The Dick Cavett Show: Danny Kaye (1971)

Soundtracks
The Maladjusted Jester
Written by Sylvia Fine
Performed by Danny Kaye

User reviews138

Review

Featured review

7/10

Danny Kaye Jests and Jousts

A supremely wacky and delightful Danny Kaye comedy.

Kaye plays a court jester impostor who infiltrates a king's court in order to put in motion a plan hatched by a scrappy band of Robin Hoodesque rebels who want to depose the tyrant and put the rightful heir on the throne. Unfortunately for Kaye, but fortunately for us, the plot is not as simple as it sounds, not when a traitor in the king's court (Basil Rathbone) has formulated his own plan to have the jester assassinate the king, and especially not when the king's saucy daughter (Angela Lansbury) has set her sights on marrying the jester as a way to avoid having to marry a rival king with whom her father wants to forge an alliance.

Kaye is absolutely hysterical, whether he's singing and dancing a big production number with a band of midgets or jousting with a rival knight while wearing a magnetized suit of armor. Glynis Johns plays a member of Kaye's merry band with whom Kaye has fallen in love, and Mildred Natwick plays the witch Griselda, who at one point tries to help Kaye poison a rival by explaining that the pellet with the poison is in the vessel with the pestle while the chalice with the palace has the brew that is true.

Grade: A-