May. 18, 2003 - 1:36 am

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The Court Jester (1956)

Ananda and I were talking to Karen at the library about this for some reason. i think i looked at some book with the word "trellis" in the title and i told her i didn't know what it meant. the only thing i could think of was the definition for "chalice" which i knew wasn't the right word. so then Ananda starts spouting this movie quote about "the chalice with the palace has the brew that is true." then she and Karen started trying to figure out this big tongue twister bit that was from this movie. it sounded like a funny bit so i planned on checking this out next week. but Ananda went ahead and picked it up within the past 2 days from the downtown library branch and we watched it at her place last night.

it's a Danny Kaye movie. this is the first one of his that i've seen. i guess there were quite a few, but i'm not that familiar with him obviously. he seems to be sort of the singing comedian of the 50s and 60s. The Court Jester takes place in England around Robin Hood era and is about a group of outcasts who are trying to put the rightful king (an infant) back on the throne. in order to do that they have to prove that he exists and get rid of the current "king." they send in a spy in the form of a court jester and all sorts of weird funny episodes happen once he makes it into the palace. there are also midgets in the movie and Angela Lansbury is the beautiful but murderess princess of the castle.

i didn't laugh tons at this movie. we spent most of our time making fun of the people involved and i think we laughed more at that than the original jokes. the "chalice from the palace" bit was in there though, so i think we got what we were after. that seems to be the main thing you need to see this movie for anyway. apparently people went up to Danny Kaye for the rest of his life and quoted this passage to him thinking they were funny. isn't that great for him? no, i'd think not. people always thinking they're funny and original but they're just doing the same old thing.

the singing and dancing was rather stupid though. i mean it was good, but only mildly funny. well i guess most of the jokes were the same.

oh, and this is my third entry i've posted tonight including one for The Matrix Reloaded (2003), so be sure to hit the "previous movie" link.