Review of The Court Jester (1955) by James H — 21 Jun 2004

It's Medieval England, and the evil Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone) has had all rightful heirs to the throne killed so he can keep control of phony King Roderick (Cecil Parker). The last surviving heir is under the protection of an outlaw known as the Black Fox.

His job is to depose the false king, and restore the crown to its proper line. Enter Hawkins (Danny Kaye), a loyalist who infiltrates the castle disguised as Giacomo, the new court jester. Through various mishaps of swordplay, magic, and misunderstanding, "what started as a scary tale, ends up a fairy tale," and everybody's happy.

There's your plot, and it's a fine, fun one. But you watch this movie to enjoy Danny Kaye. He truly was a wonder man. The sheer joy of watching Kaye do what he does best is enough to make any bad movie watchable.

What's even better is he didn't make a whole lot of bad movies. Movies such as "The Court Jester" and "The Inspector General" were made to showcase his talent, sure, but they're also fine movies which can stand up on their own.

Kaye consistently works with the most talented performers (there's a fun joke in the opening credits that seems to be saying, "Wow, Basil Rathbone's in this!"), film makers (directors Melvin Frank and Norman Panama had just worked with Kaye on "White Christmas"), and songwriters (Sylvia Fine wrote for Kaye many times, and Sammy Cahn is only regarded as one of the greatest lyricists of all time).

As any true entertainer will tell you, surrounding yourself with talent only makes you look better. But who wouldn't have wanted to work with Danny Kaye? Take some time to be thouroughly entertained by this.

With any luck you'll be searching out more of Kaye's films.