A Film Canon

The foundational mock-swashbuckler, The Court Jester recalls the mock-western in its picaresque presentation of a fool who wants to be a hero, but finds himself delightfully thwarted by various representatives of female authority (Glynis Johns, Angela Lansbury). Unfortunately, the swashbuckler is already a relatively tongue-in-cheek genre, if only by virtue of its identification with Basil Rathbone, numbered among the film's cast, and Errol Flynn, invoked by the particular use made of The Adventures Of Robin Hood. As a result, the satire is less pointed - and necessary - than it might otherwise be, collapsing into a Disney-esque infantilism that ensures that the mysterious baby around whom the action revolves seems more human, adult and real than the rest of the cast, all so many variations on the recurrent munchkins. From this perspective, the film works best as an outlet for Danny Kaye's mild comic persona, which, in the guise of court jester Hubert Hawkins, generalises the tongue-twister into a series of hyperactive, stuttering musical numbers and, finally, a capacity for crowd choreography that recalls Busby Berkeley in its logistical ingenuity. It's also worth mentioning the concluding sword-fighting sequence, in which a series of spells force Hubert to alternately fight as a fool and a swashbuckler; that is, with his entire, ridiculously clumsy body, and with a single, serenely disembodied hand.