The Court Jester (1956)

Directors:

Melvin Frank
Norman Panama

Writers:

Norman Panama (written by) and
Melvin Frank (written by)

Release Date:

27 January 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Musical

Tagline:

SONGS! Where Walks My True Love -- Baby Let Me Take You Dreaming -- Life Could Not Better Be -- The Maladjusted Jester -- My Heart Knows A Lovely Song! -- Outfox The Fox

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

King | Jester | Fox | Key | Poison

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win

Cast

Danny Kaye	...	Hubert Hawkins
Glynis Johns	...	Maid Jean
Basil Rathbone	...	Sir Ravenhurst
Angela Lansbury	...	Princess Gwendolyn
Cecil Parker	...	King Roderick I
Mildred Natwick	...	Griselda
Robert Middleton	...	Sir Griswold
Michael Pate	...	Sir Locksley
Herbert Rudley	...	Captain of the Guard
Noel Drayton	...	Fergus
John Carradine	...	Giacomo
Edward Ashley	...	Black Fox
Alan Napier	...	Sir Brockhurst
Lewis Martin	...	Sir Finsdale
Patrick Aherne	...	Sir Pertwee
Richard Kean	...	Archbishop
Hermine's Midgets	...	Ensemble
The Jackson Michigan Zouave Drill Team	...	Marching Knights - Knighthood Ceremony (as The American Legion Zouaves Of Richard F. Smith Post No. 29, Jackson, Michigan)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eric Alden	...	King's Man (uncredited)
Lee Belser	...	Court Lady (uncredited)
Chad Dee Block	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Leo Britt	...	Sir Bertram (uncredited)
Bill Cartledge	...	Pageboy (uncredited)
Phyllis Coghlan	...	Hairdresser (uncredited)
Tommy Cottonaro	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Billy Curtis	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Frank Delfino	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Leslie Denison	...	Guard (uncredited)
Burnell Dietch	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Floyd Hugh Dixon	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Irving Douglas	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Alan Eric	...	Forester (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Townsman (uncredited)
William Augustus Fuller	...	Forestry Officer (uncredited)
Irving Fulton	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Russell Gaige	...	Chamberlain (uncredited)
Edward Gibbons	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Richard Gilden	...	Forester (uncredited)
Harry Guardino	...	Forester (uncredited)
Roy G. Gunther	...	Pageboy (uncredited)
Kenneth Harp	...	Forester (uncredited)
Robert Hart	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Len Hendry	...	Guard (uncredited)
Robin Hughes	...	Black Fox's Man with Message (uncredited)
John Irving	...	Gate House Guard (uncredited)
Charles Irwin	...	Griswold Aide (uncredited)
James B. Jordan	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Morgan Justin	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Ray Kellogg	...	Court Official (uncredited)
Ethan Laidlaw	...	King's Soldier (uncredited)
Mike Mahoney	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Roger Lee McKee	...	Knight Recruit (uncredited)
Frank Meservey	...	Knight Recruit (uncredited)
Lee Miller	...	Frank (uncredited)
Harry Monty	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Lloyd Nelson	...	Knight (uncredited)
Nels P. Nelson	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Paul Newlan	...	Soldier / Guard (uncredited)
John O'Malley	...	Courier / Announcer (uncredited)
Tudor Owen	...	Friar (uncredited)
Larry Pennell	...	Novice Knight (uncredited)
Gerald R. Peters	...	Forester (uncredited)
Joe Ploski	...	Townsman (uncredited)
William Pullen	...	(uncredited)
A.J. Buster Resmondo	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
'Little Billy' Rhodes	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Ronald R. Rice	...	Knight Recruit (uncredited)
Thomas G. Royal Jr.	...	Forester (uncredited)
Wallace Russell	...	Forester (uncredited)
Joel Smith	...	Forestry Officer (uncredited)
Robert E. Smith	...	Priest / Forester / Guard (uncredited)
George Spotts	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Gary Stalley	...	Infant (uncredited)
Larry Stalley	...	Infant (uncredited)
Ed Stoddard	...	Forester (uncredited)
Henry Lewis Stone	...	One of Hermine's Midgets (uncredited)
Trevor Ward	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Leo Wheeler	...	Specialty Dancer (uncredited)
Claud Wuhrman	...	Knight (uncredited)
Stephen Wyman	...	Forester (uncredited)

Directed by
Melvin Frank
Norman Panama

Writing credits
Norman Panama		(written by) and
Melvin Frank		(written by)

Produced by
Melvin Frank	....	producer
Norman Panama	....	producer
Sylvia Fine	....	executive producer (uncredited)
Danny Kaye	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Walter Scharf		(uncredited)
Vic Schoen		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Ray June		(director of photography: VistaVision)
Ray Rennahan		(director of photography) (uncredited)

Film Editing by
Tom McAdoo		(edited by)

Art Direction by
Roland Anderson		(art direction)
Hal Pereira

Set Decoration by
Sam Comer		(set decoration)
Arthur Krams		(set decoration)

Costume Design by
Edith Head		(costumes)
Yvonne Wood		(costumes)

Makeup Department
Wally Westmore	....	makeup supervision
Willard Colee	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Gertrude Reade	....	hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management
Hugh Brown	....	assistant production manager (uncredited)
Frank Caffey	....	production manager (uncredited)
Charles Woolstenhulme	....	unit production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John R. Coonan	....	assistant director (as John Coonan)
William Watson	....	second unit director (as Wm. Watson)
Bernard McEveety	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Carl Coleman	....	props (uncredited)
Dorothea Holt	....	illustrator (uncredited)
Joe Keller	....	props (uncredited)
Lew Vasquez	....	prop shop (uncredited)

Sound Department
John Cope	....	sound recordist
Harry Lindgren	....	sound recordist
A.H. Barnett	....	production sound mixer (uncredited)
A.H. Barnett	....	recordist (uncredited)
Doug Grant	....	boom man (uncredited)
Bill Wistrom	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Farciot Edouart	....	process photography
John P. Fulton	....	special photographic effects
Irmin Roberts	....	special photographic effects

Stunts
Eric Alden	....	stunt double: Basil Rathbone (uncredited)
George Dockstader	....	stunts (uncredited)
Richard Elmore	....	stunts (uncredited)
Ralph Faulkner	....	fencing double (uncredited)
Lila Finn	....	stunt double: Glynis Johns (uncredited)
Bob Herron	....	stunts (uncredited)
Allen Pinson	....	stunt double: Danny Kaye (uncredited)
Clint Sharp	....	stunt double: Danny Kaye (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Alfred Cline	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Howard Kelly	....	gaffer (uncredited)
William Schurr	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Joe Schuster	....	electrician (uncredited)
Mike Semenario	....	grip (uncredited)

Casting Department
Bert McKay	....	casting (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bud Clark	....	wardrobe: men (uncredited)
Hazel Hegarty	....	wardrobe: women (uncredited)

Music Department
Sammy Cahn	....	words and music by
Sylvia Fine	....	words and music by
Vic Schoen	....	music conducted by (as Victor Schoen)
Vic Schoen	....	music scored by (as Victor Schoen)
Gerard Carbonara	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Van Cleave	....	composer: title music (uncredited)
Franz Waxman	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Victor Young	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
D.R.O. Hatswell	....	technical advisor
Hal C. Kern	....	assistant to the producers
Richard Mueller	....	technicolor color consultant
James Starbuck	....	choreographer
Bea Allen	....	dance assistant (uncredited)
Robert Alton	....	choreographer (uncredited)
Elmer Bernstein	....	dance rehearsal pianist (uncredited)
Wilda Bieber	....	dance instructor (uncredited)
Patricia Casy	....	dance rehearsal: ballet dancer (uncredited)
George Chakiris	....	dance instructor (uncredited)
Ralph Faulkner	....	fight choreographer (uncredited)
Alex Goudovitch	....	dance assistant (uncredited)
Sam Ledner	....	dance assistant (uncredited)
Gregor Marijan	....	dance rehearsal: ballet dancer (uncredited)
Joe Marino	....	dance rehearsal pianist (uncredited)
Bob McElwaine	....	publicist (uncredited)
Tim Taylor	....	double: Danny Kaye (uncredited)
Dorothy Yutzi	....	script clerk (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Dena Enterprises (presents)

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (as A Paramount Release)
• Paramount (1956) (France) (theatrical)
• Paramount Films (1956) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1966) (USA) (TV)
• Paramount Home Video (1983) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (2002) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2007) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #17501) | New Zealand:G | Netherlands:AL (original rating) (1956) | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Palos Verdes, California, USA

Company:

Dena Enterprises

Trivia:

Basil Rathbone was a world-class fencer and it was due to his efforts that the hilarious fencing scene was filmed without injury. He later admitted that several times he was almost skewered by Danny Kaye's sword.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the "They'll Never Outfox the Fox" number Hawkins finds a "most wanted" poster of the Black Fox. At 9:44 he begins ripping the paper and handing the pieces to his circus friends. On the first rip, the foley work is behind the action, so we don't hear the first rip until after Hawkins has started to tear it. On the third "rip", although we hear the sound of the rip, the paper does not actually tear.

Quotes:

King Roderick:The Duke. What did the Duke do?
Hubert Hawkins:Eh... the Duke do?
King Roderick:Yes. And what about the Doge?
Hubert Hawkins:Oh, the Doge!
King Roderick:Eh. Well what did the Doge do?
Hubert Hawkins:The Doge do?
King Roderick:Yes, the Doge do.
Hubert Hawkins:Well, uh, the Doge did what the Doge does. Eh, uh, when the Doge does his duty to the Duke, that is.
King Roderick:What? What's that?
Hubert Hawkins:Oh, it's very simple, sire. When the Doge did his duty and the Duke didn't, that's when the Duchess did the dirt to the Duke with the Doge.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Industry: Pawn to King Four (#1.1)" (1998)

Soundtrack:

My Heart Knows a Love Song

The review that is true

Set in an era similar to Arthurian England, The Court Jester features a questionable king, Roderick I (Cecil Parker), who has taken over by killing off all of his opposition. He's working on building alliances between the most important, powerful and aristocratic families in his kingdom, including Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone); this will help build a trustworthy legitimizing base. His plans include trying to marry his off his daughter, Princess Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury), to the gruff Sir Griswold (Robert Middleton)--a scheme she firmly opposes. However, Roderick's men overlooked an infant of the otherwise massacred competing royal family. The infant, whom many in the kingdom would believe to be the rightful heir to the throne, is being looked after by the "Black Fox" (Edward Ashley). The Black Fox leads a motley crew; they live in the forest and bear some similarity to Robin Hood and his merry men. One of the Black Fox's men is Hubert Hawkins (Danny Kaye). After running into a court jester named Giacomo (John Carradine), Hawkins and Maid Jean (Glynis Johns) end up in a scheme to infiltrate Roderick's castle and give the Black Fox's men access for a coup.

Although you cannot tell from my accounting of the premise above, The Court Jester is a comedy, and a very funny one at that. However, it does have a fairly complex plot in its early stages--all of the above is relayed within the first 10 – 15 minutes. This is a slow burner, but as such, the last hour at least is a very solid 10. It's unfortunate that a few minor flaws in the earlier sections of the film (including the complicated plot) caused me to rate The Court Jester as a 9 instead. The last half is so incredible that I wanted to give the film a 10 instead; perhaps on subsequent viewings (this is only the second time I've seen the film; the first was many years ago) the opening sections will work better for me.

As one of the earliest "VistaVision" films, The Court Jester looks gorgeous. It is full of lush, extremely saturated color. The few panoramic landscape shots are stunning and almost surreal. Most of the film is set within Roderick's castle, however, which is no less attractive visually. Producers/directors/writers Melvin Frank and Norman Panama and their crew certainly got the period setting right. The Court Jester is just as authentic feeling as Knights of the Round Table (1953) or The Black Knight (1954), both part of a popular trend of the era of Arthurian and related films, leading to this satire.

The cast is excellent, even if some members such severely underused, such as Carradine and to an extent Rathbone. Of course, The Court Jester is really a showcase for Kaye's considerable and diverse talents. Kaye was adept at quickly changing characters, as in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), and gets to put that skill to great use here, first in disguises, then as the jester, and most importantly, as a hypnotized pawn in a number of "games". Princess Gwendolyn's matron, Griselda (Mildred Natwick), finds cause to put Hawkins under a spell to make him fall in love with the Princess, making a finger snap the cue for his hypnotic transitions. This leads to a hilarious extended sequence where different characters are interacting with Hawkins for different covert ends--some fueled by mistaken identity--and continually snapping their fingers. Kaye as Hawkins as Giacomo has to keep toggling back and forth between two personalities, neither of which knows about the other. Meanwhile, complicated plans are being made which he is expected to follow. Even funnier is that despite himself, he basically manages to follow the plans.

It's a bit silly, but the humor in The Court Jester is all about silliness--it's appropriate for the titular role and more importantly, it's just plain funny. From the finger snapping sequence through the end of the film is one long build up with increasingly outrageous situations, until we finally arrive at pandemonium, complete with tens of acrobatic midgets battling a cadre of knights in a scene remarkably prescient of the anarchic screwball comedies of the latter half of the 1960s.

Kaye's vocal talents are also put to considerable use, both in songs and in rapid-fire, sometimes nonsensical alliterative rhymes. There are a number of very famous--and rightfully so--instances of the latter throughout the film including the "vessel with the pestle/chalice from the palace/flagon with the dragon/brew that is true" bit, which has oddly taken on a life of its own outside of the film, and which like all of the comedy throughout the film slowly builds up to a hilarious climax.

Kaye also does a lot of physical comedy, including my favorite bit--the super-fast knighting ceremony, and he even does a bit of mostly serious fencing with Rathbone. Watching The Court Jester can only make one lament that Kaye was not featured in even more films; he was extremely talented and very unique.

The Court Jester has influenced many later films, including such diverse works as Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) (and by extension Jabberwocky, 1977) and A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995). But influence or not, this is a masterpiece despite its flaws, and should be viewed at least once by any cinephile worth his or her weight in purple pimpernels.