Danny Kaye's film: The Court Jester

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This film was made many years ago in 1956, but I believe it stands the test of time. My children used to watch it on a video we'd made when it appeared on tv, and loved it. They could quote lines, and sing the songs. We've since managed to find it on DVD. I personally think this is Danny Kaye's best movie ever. He plays a rather dim-witted character who gets mistaken for the new court jester, and, through a series of mad mixups, manages to topple the man who's usurped the throne, and put the rightful king in his place. (The rightful king happens to be a baby.) The cast is marvellous: Basil Rathbone sends up every villainous role he ever played; a young Angela Lansbury (later to play Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote) is an arrogant Princess; Mildred Natwick is a not-too successful servant with some mysterious powers, and Cecil Parker plays the usurper in a bumbling, dithering way that was his hallmark. There are some wonderful moments: a swordfight between Kaye and Rathbone, where every snap of the fingers turns Kaye from a debonair fighter to a wimp; the tongue-twisting 'poison in the vessel with the pestle' and much more. It's wonderfully silly.