Product: The Court Jester [VHS] (1956)
Rating: 4.0
The vessel with the pestle... and all that jazz
Outside of the obligatory "White Christmas" this is one of my personal Danny Kaye favorites as he takes on once again the role of the good-hearted, if bumbling, soul that has fortune on his side. Toss in what could-have-been a very serious adventure story of kingdom overthrowing and the like and he could have been a serious brooding actor.But alas! There is simply too much fun to be had with this film, as his told from the opening song that pretty much lets us know that historical facts and presence were completely ignored here. So what we get is a truly hilarious, spunky movie with wildly outlandish performances. Indeed, I like to think Monty Python got some inspiration from "The Holy Grail" from this film.The baddies are bad, the goodies are good, and there is even a husband-desperate princess bossing around a wicked witch. Oh, and there are midgets. At the risk of not sounding politically correct, it's funny.Danny Kaye, Angela Lansbury, and even the lovely Glynis Johns are all hilarious. This is a vital comedy of errors.