Sarentrol Masterful Cinema

SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

RoosterCogburn The plot is based on the multiple alternation of the Hubert Hawkins (played by Grand Danny Kaye). He is a fairy-tale comedian who serves in the "Black Fox" troop. The "Black Fox" is a narcotic Robin Hood-Persiflage on the Eroll Flynn representation. Hubert falls into the palace of the lion through adverse circumstances. There he is thought to be Giacomo, the "King of Jesters and Jester of Kings". He takes this role to preserve his identity. Only Giacomo is actually a mission killer and for Ravenhorst (splendidly silly and demonic: Basil Rathbone) eliminate the reigning king. However, there are still the true heirs.I've got it! I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right? - Right. But there's been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace! The film unfolds the unique joke in its incredible shaking rhymes. I love it. Danny Kaye in top shape.

The_Film_Cricket Danny Kaye only made a handful of features but this was the films that best displayed his gifts. In this spoof of Errol Flynn swashbucklers, set in merry old England, he plays Hubert Hawkins, a former carnival entertainer who now works for a notorious Robin Hood-like outlaw named The Black Fox. He gets involved in court intrigue when the infant king has his birthright usurped by the imposter Roderick. Hawkins gets himself involved in a convoluted plot: The phony king finds out where The Black Fox's camp is located and so the outlaw instructed Hawkins to escort the infant monarch – who bears the royal birthmark, the purple pimpernel, on his posterior – away from the camp. He and maid Jean (Glynnis O'Conner) elude the king's men disguised as an elderly wine merchant and his granddaughter. Slipping away, they find shelter in an old farmer's shack where they are joined by Giacomo (John Carradine) who pronounces himself "King of Jesters and Jester to the King". A light bulb goes off in Hubert's head and he whomps Giacomo over the head, intending to steal his identity and slip into the palace, installing himself in the king's confidence while planning to let The Black Fox's forces in in order to overtake the throne.The plot is probably more complicated than it needs to be – what we really want to see is Danny doing his thing. We want to see his snappy performance of "You'll Never Outfox the Fox" which he performs to boost morale within the camp. We want to see his performance of "The Maladjusted Jester", a performance before the phony king that displays his gift for tongue twisters. And of course we want to see the famous bit involving two goblets, one of which is poisoned and the other is safe "The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!" Ah-Ha but there's a change in the plan so it becomes "The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true." We want to see the verbal dance as he explains to the King the business of the duty to the Duke and the Doge and Duchess and the details therein.With his craft honed in his youth in the Catskills, Kaye is a fanciful presence, a man of merriment who knows how to kid himself. He spent years perfecting his vocal inflections, his dances, his singing voice, he is the consummate entertainer. He can change personalities on a dime as in scene in which he is under a spell cast by the witch Gremelda. When she snaps her fingers he goes into a trance in which he becomes the greatest swordsman of all. Fighting the evil Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone), he unknowingly snaps his fingers and his mind switches back to the fumbling Hubert then another snap of the fingers and he is again the Hubert the expert swordsman.I love the way this heavily plotted movie takes time out to give him his moments. Example is "The Maladjusted Jester" number in which he is thrust before the King to make him laugh, but he has nothing to work with, so he just makes it up. We know that it is rehearsed and practiced but he makes his act look effortless, this dance of words and of song are flawless. That's why it always makes me a little sad that he never got the credit for his performance here. He was a pure joy to watch. He said "If you're not cooking with joy, happiness and love, you're not cooking well."

T Y This film looks crisp. The sets are beautiful. The matte work that allows the castle set to appear like it's sitting over Pacific Coast cliffs are nice. The film definitely cost money. And I was charmed by the clever "Outfox the Fox" number which I originally saw on YouTube. People's raves made me check it out.But those things are all it has going for it. The characters have nothing to do, and the script is a half-effort. The comedy is extremely weak, composed of fleeting gags that are bloodlessly run through their paces without having been mined for any potential. It's like a first draft with place-holders for the jokes. "The chalice from palace" shtick isn't funny even once and just pointlessly kills time until even the characters reject it, so they can move on. I can see why you might enjoy it with your kids, but it's pretty poor for mature viewers. My father absolutely hated Danny Kaye, and his whole generation responded with no more than tepid interest. Which meant there was no trick to missing his entire output as I was growing up. T.C.J. is not godawful. It doesn't make me wince in pain, but this is a lot of foolishness with little or no comic substance. There's a dumb finger-snapping gag. There's Kaye acting like a putz. There's 300 dumb repetitions of "Get it?" "Got it!" "Good!" This is not comedy gold, more like comedy tin. I may have laughed twice.

Syl The Court Jester's film version has dancing and music as well as a storyline about the court jester played by the wonderful Danny Kaye. The great (not dame yet) Angela Lansbury CBE plays the beautiful Gwendolyn who doesn't want to marry Griswold. The great (not dame yet or honored at all) Glynis Johns plays maid Jean. She fits right in with the boys of Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest. The film version is colorful with great costumes, art direction, and scenery to recreate the Arturian times. The cast is first rate that includes Sir Basil Rathbone along others as well. The film is smart enough not to be corny and to poke fun at itself. Like the scene with the baby who holds the mark, Kaye's character suggests that a woman should hold the baby. Gwendolyn states "if you love him (Griswold) so much, then you marry him" to her own father, the King and ruler of Camelot. It could be adapted to a Broadway musical since most of Broadway musicals are now being adapted from films anyway.