History Film / TheCourtJester

--->'''Hawkins:'''[[ExplainExplainOhCrap Light up the oil, this man must boil, this man named Giaco-MO?!]] Oh! No!

* HollywoodCostuming: Many of the dresses were based on fifties styles more than middle ages. Angela Lansbury looks almost like she should be posing next to an Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 at the 1955 GM Motorama.

** "Jester to the King. Jester to the King. To the King?!"
** "Light up the oil, this man must boil, this man named Giaco-MO?! Oh! No!"

* LightningCanDoAnything: At one point Hawkins' armor is hit by lightning. After Hawkins puts it on, on anything made of metal [[SelectiveMagnetism sticks to him]].

* ChekhovsArmy: [[spoiler:Hawkins's dwarf friends, seen during the "Outfox The Fox" number at the start of the film.]]

This 1955 Creator/{{Paramount}} film, written and directed by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, and starring DannyKaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Creator/AngelaLansbury, Cecil Parker, Mildred Natwick, and JohnCarradine, has been a {{Comedy}} CultClassic on TV for years, mercilessly mocking the conventions of [[TheMiddleAges medieval]] {{Swashbuckler}} films of the 1930s through the 1950s. A lot of it is thanks to the talent of DannyKaye, who is about as unlikely an adventure hero as you could get, and the film makes sure to milk every drop of that.

And what did we find? ''(sneeze)'' [[TheyJustDidntCare A lot o' dust!]]

** "Yea, verily, yea! Yea?"

** Jean also gets one. [[spoiler:Before "The Maladjusted Jester", Hawkins subtly starts singing the tune of the lullaby he had earlier used to lure the infant king to sleep. ''While holding the basket containing the baby, right in front of Roderick!'' The [[OhCrap Oh Crap]] comes when Jean realises this. Heck, she even mouths "Baby" as it happens.]]

* StealthInsult: Hawkins, toasting the usuper king:

Villains full of vi-ila-any!

* ExactWords: Hawkins' says to Roderick:

* {{Knighting}}: Spoofed in so many ways. When Gwendolyn says she wants Giacomo (really Hawkins) instead of Griswald, the knight is offended, and would challenge Giacomo to a duel if he weren't a lowly jester. Hawkins is rushed through knighting to avoid spoiling the marriage, by given fixed and easy challenges to complete, and even the final ceremony is done double time.

* LightningCanDoAnything: At one point Hawkins' armor is hit by lightning. After Hawkins puts it, on anything made of metal [[SelectiveMagnetism sticks to him]].

* ImplausibleFencingPowers: Hawkins slashes a set of candles, apparently to no effect, and Ravenhurst laughs at him. Then he ''blows'' on the candles, and they fall apart. This is another ActorAllusion, as well, as Tyrone Power had pulled a similar, if less exaggerated, bit of swordplay on Basil Rathbone's Captain Esteban in 1940's ''The Mark of {{Zorro}}.''

* ShoutOut: [[{{Zorro}} The Black Fox]], with a BilingualBonus and the candle scene parodying a scene from ''The Mark of Zorro'', in which Basil Rathbone played the heavy too.

* RoyalBlood: There is a true heir to the throne.

** Finger snapping breaking him in and out of his spell.

* SheCleansUpNicely: Hawkins is surprised to see Maid Jean disguised as a woman.

* SimpleYetOpulent: Many of the lady's outfits in this movie range from explicitly fancy to implicitly fancy.

%%* SupportingLeader: The Black Fox.

* {{Swashbuckler}}: The film is an ingenious combination of this and the {{Comedy}} genres.

* ThereIsOnlyOneBed: When Jean and Hawkins spend the night in the woodman's hut.

%%* TotemPoleTrench: Well actually cloak.

* TrueBlueFemininity: One of Gwendolyn's dresses is blue, and has a matching cape trimmed [[PrettyInMink with ermine]].

* WickedWitch: Well... "''amoral'' witch" describes Griselda.

* ButtMonkey: Alas for Fergus the Hostler. Bravely working for the Black Fox, he gets into the castle but never gets a high enough job to get access to the king's chambers. Nobody ''ever'' listens to him; if either Hawkins or Jean had paid him the slightest bit of attention, the movie would be over in five minutes. And at the end, it is strongly implied that he gets ''tortured to death'' by Ravenhurst's men.

* AChildShallLeadThem: One wonders how the government will be run with the infant king on the throne.

* CourtlyLove: Parodied, not only with Hawkins only doing it because he has been {{Brainwashed}}, but by Danny Kaye making silly poses to spoof the almost implausible complexity of many romantic heroes.

%%* EvilChancellor: Ravenhurst.
* ExactWords[=/=]FalseReassurance: Hawkins' toast to Roderick:

* {{Farce}}: The entire plot.

* GambitPileup: And ''how!'' Between the Black Fox and Ravenhurst and Griselda and Gwendolyn and others all pursuing their own ends, it's a wonder anybody can accomplish anything.
* GorgeousPeriodDress[=/=]HollywoodCostuming: Supplies the heading picture for the latter. Angela Lansbury looks like she should be posing next to an Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 at the 1955 GM Motorama.
%%* GuileHero: Maid Jean.

* IntimateMarks: The Rightful Heir (still an infant) has a BirthmarkOfDestiny on his butt. In the ending, the titular Jester, with the infant in his arms, lowers the swaddling clothes just far enough to reveal the birthmark, to a long line of nobles.

* {{Knighting}}: Spoofed in so many ways.
** Yea, verily, yea.
** Candidate passes.
%%* LaResistance: The Black Fox's people.
* LightningCanDoAnything: At one point Hawkins' armor is hit by lightning. After Hawkins puts it on anything made of metal [[SelectiveMagnetism sticks to him!]]

* ObfuscatingStupidity: The villains are surprised at how much of a doofus Giacomo is and wonder whether or not he is doing this. Helped by the secret self-serving actions of Griselda.

* ParodiedTrope: Swashbuckling, courtly love, knighting, dueling, outlaws, rebellion, and just so many other tropes of these films.
* PimpedOutCape: Roderick wears an [[RequisiteRoyalRegalia ermine cape]] most of the time, perhaps compensating for how he got on the throne. His daughter wears one for just one scene.
* PimpedOutDress / SimpleYetOpulent: Many of the outfits in this movie range from explicitly fancy to implicitly fancy.

* PrincessesPreferPink: Gwendolyn wears at least one pink outfit.

%%* RightfulKingReturns
%%* RoyalBlood

It flopped when it came out, but was later a hit on TV. Now it's on the American Film Institute's list of "100 Years... 100 Laughs," and preserved in the United States NationalFilmRegistry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

'''Maid Jean:''' "And jester to the king!"

* ExactWords/FalseReassurance: Hawkins' toast to Roderick:

* OhCrap:

** "Light up the oil, this man must boil, this man named Giacom-OH?! Oh! No!"