Product: The Court Jester [VHS] (1956)
Rating: 5.0
Brilliant and funny
Cecil Parker is perfectly cast as the idiosyncratic usurper king. Basil Rathbone is excellent as the king's villainous noble henchman. Angela Lansbury offers the humorous love interest, with great aplomb and fine diction. Yet the whole thing is bound together by two things. First is Danny Kaye at his brilliant and musical best. Secondly is the script. If you take the trouble to analyse it, there seems to be not a redundant word, let alone a wasted phrase. Some serious film reviewers marvel at the climatic sword fight between Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone in Robin Hood. The sword fighting sequence between Kaye and Rathbone is not only blindingly skilful but also incredibly funny. It is a sheer joy to watch, again and again and again!Ian Hunter.Author of `e-Love'.