The Court Jester ***** (1955, Danny Kaye, Basil Rathbone, Mildred Natwick, Cecil Parker, Glynis Johns, Angela Lansbury) – Classic Movie Review 4576

The five-star 1955 classic comedy adventure The Court Jester from writer-directors Norman Panama and Melvin Frank is the one Danny Kaye film to take with you to a desert island.

It is a deliriously carefree medieval farce set in ye merrie olde England, where Kaye plays the humble valet Hawkins, who disguises himself as the titular royal joker and leads a revolt against an evil ruler who has overthrown the rightful king. Kaye gets to perform the brilliant ‘the chalice from the palace, the vessel with the pestle’, ‘the brew that is true’ routine, which is one of the all-time great comic moments in cinema.

The Technicolor gift-wrapped package includes the Sylvia Fine-Sammy Cahn tunes and a superb star supporting cast with the likes of Basil Rathbone (as the bad baron, Sir Ravenhurst), Mildred Natwick (the necromancer Griselda), Cecil Parker (King Roderick), Glynis Johns (Maid Jean) and Angela Lansbury (Princess Gwendolyn), all on great form.

Also in the cast are Robert Middelton as Sir Griswold, Michael Pate as Sir Locksley, Herbert Rudley as Captain of the Guard, Noel Drayton as Fergus, Edward Ashley as Black Fox, John Carradine as Giacomo, Alan Napier as Sir Brockhurst, Lewis Martin as Sir Finsdale, Patrick Aherne as Sir Pertwee, Richard Kean and Larry Pennell.

Glynis Johns was born on 5 October 1923.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4576

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