THE COURT JESTER
Paramount-Dena-VistaVision) ECAUSE we don’t all laugh at the same things, comedy films are amongst the hardest to review, but I shall be surprised if The Court Jester is not pretty generally enjoyed. Personally, I found it more even than Knock on Wood. This new Danny Kaye film is a tale of the Middle Ages, about a wicked usurper who has made his way to the throne by killing everyone he can lay hands on who has any real claim to it. His followers. are harassed by a band .of outlaws who, he presently discovers, have the real vrince with them
in the forest. You soon realise that this is.a rather tongue-in-cheek affair when you see that the usurper is Cecil Parker and that the symbol which brings the baby prince’s loyal subjects to their knees is the royal birthmark, a purple pimpernel, on the baby’s buttocks; and as Hubert Hawkins, an entertainer with the outlaw band, Danny Kaye has struck the right note with a wonderfully amusing impersonation of an old man even before the plot fairly gets moving when he enters the castle disguised as a jester from the Italian court, Certainly one of the most gentle and likeable men in films, Mr. Kaye has a story here that gives’ him generous opportunities, and plotting, loyve-making, duelling, sword-fighting, now bewildered, now dashing (as he falls under a witch’s spell), he keeps the fun going steadily and at a satisfying pace. The action delightfully parodies the sort of film we have all seen, yet it never goes so far that we lose interest. in the plot. Actually it’s hard not to take seriously at times the sinister forces around the usurper when one of his counsellors is Basil Rathbone. The women in the cast include Glynis Johns, who plays an attractive heroine very capably, and Angela Lansbury, quite adequate as the usurper’s daughter. The Court Jester, which Norman Panama and Melvin Frank scripted and directed, includes some agreeable songs by Sylvia Fine, and Sammy Cahn, and. these are, . vs course, well put across, by Mr.. Kaye.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19560525.2.38.1.1
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 877, 25 May 1956, Page 19
Word count
Tapeke kupu
349THE COURT JESTER New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 877, 25 May 1956, Page 19
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in