Product: The Court Jester [VHS] (1956)
Rating: 5.0
"Unmatched Verbal Hijinks"
There are many excellent contemporary comedians, but few approach that area where Danny Kaye was a master, the one of verbal mixups. "The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle, but the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true" series of instructions, as delivered by the wonderful Mildred Natwick and subsequently butchered by the timid and nervous Kaye is rightly called a classic routine. Has there ever been anything quite this funny verbally on film?Kaye is fairly well represented on DVD, but, oddly, one of his best films has yet to appear. I refer to the unbeatable "Knock on Wood." His performance here includes superb physical comedy such as a remarkable under the table sequence where he engages in the rapid shifting of his own hands to prevent being discovered by a host of seated spies. Verbally, in this film, he is also at his peak. For instance, in a scene where he poses as a British car salesman recently returned from an Indian vacation, he is asked how he enjoyed the Himalayas. The momentary confusion on his face lets us know he has no clue what the Himalayas are. But his cluelessness, marvelously enough, is only momentary. With that instant arrogance and unearned sense of superiority which made Kaye's satiric targets so recognizable to the British, he trumps his questioner with the answer, "Loved him. Hated her."