The film contains five musical numbers, with snippets of deleted songs scattered throughout. If there was one flaw to “The Court Jester,” it would be that we need more music.
#The court jester becomes the king movie
Especially in Paramount’s recent restoration, this is a movie that’s an absolute pleasure to watch.
#The court jester becomes the king full
The movie is packed with people, with large scenes full of extras that offer a great visual depth to the images of banquets and ceremonies, fights and jousts. Its rich colors of red and blue, green and purple pastels and beyond make a strong visual impact against the drab grays of stone and castle, thanks especially to the sumptuous costuming by Yvonne Wood and Jewish designer Edith Head. “The Court Jester” is also, simply, a gorgeous movie. Even while supporting the monarchy, he makes a mockery of it - everything hinges on “a royal birthmark on the royal posterior of a royal child.” Which is to say he flashes a baby’s butt at crowds of people to prove they’re looking at the king. He turns their knighthood into a farce, their chivalry into a joke. He’s a jester who’s smarter than the fools at court, constantly outwitting the proper English gentlemen of nobility. And as the star of “The Court Jester,” he plays a role that doesn’t always have a direct analogue to Purim, but still feels distinctly Jewish.Īs Hubert Hawkins, Kaye plays a character who thumbs his nose at the traditional Christian monarchy. He was UNICEF’s first Goodwill Ambassador to the world’s children, a performer with comic agility and a delicateness, too. Born David Daniel Kaminsky to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, Kaye was a consummate entertainer who could sing, dance and read whole swathes of tongue-twisters fast enough to make Aaron Sorkin’s head spin. Banks in “Mary Poppins”) plays the fair Maid Jean, a fitting surrogate for Esther in her determined fight to protect her people, but “The Court Jester” is nothing without Danny Kaye. And then, in a great reversal of fortune and in a battle against tremendous odds… well, you get the picture.
Later, a nighttime deliberation by the king proceeds: What is to be done with this man, the one they don’t know is related to the maiden? A decision is made and he is paraded around with pomp and ceremony. The maiden comes before the king without being called, in order to develop a plan to save her people.
Her multilingual love interest who acts as her adoptive guardian comes to court as well, contending with a wicked advisor to the king (a pitch-perfect Basil Rathbone). He calls for the maidens of the land to be brought before him, and is particularly struck by one of them. Like Ahasuerus in the Megillah, an illegitimate king sits on the throne.
I recommend you watch “The Court Jester” instead.