The Court Jester (1955)

For years, I had seen this available to watch on Prime and passed it over, but I’m so glad I finally gave it a chance. In the vein of The Adventures of Robin Hood, a delightful Danny Kaye is the underappreciated minstrel of a band of rebels who masquerades as a court jester to infiltrate the usurper king’s court. Glynis Johns is given a rare opportunity to shine as a cunning, female commander in the rebel gang. It’s gorgeously shot in VistaVision. There’s a few songs, lots of slapstick, hilarious jokes, wordplay, and plenty of general hijinks. A special addition comes in the form of beautiful Angela Lansbury as the usurper’s daughter with Mildred Natwick as a witch and her collaborator. In all of Kaye’s filmography the only live action film I’d previously seen was White Christmas. I’ll be much more willing to watch his work after seeing this one.