"Kaye"

July 4, 2024 8:09 PM

'Vessel with a Pestle, Chalace from the Palace.' From The Court Jester, 1955. Danny Kaye, Mildred Natwick, Robert Middleton, Glynis Johns. (slyt. 3:39)
posted by clavdivs (36 comments total)

Easily one of my top ten favorite movies of all time. Danny Kaye was at the top of his game. It features some of the best encapsulations of the fifties fascination with faux medieval things, which you can see in this clip through the stylized costumes and props. The plot is a standout with the male protagonist playing a gentle, kind, creative guy and the main love interest admiring him for those qualities and not the machismo he gracefully tumbles through performing.

Here’s a great video about the sword fighting with Basil Rathbone in the film with a good amount of background information from a wonderful YouTuber and stage fighter/sword lady that I really enjoyed from last year: Get it? Got it. Good.
posted by Mizu at 8:27 PM on July 4 [11 favorites]

Such a great film.

"They broke the Chalice with the Palace..."
posted by Windopaene at 8:33 PM on July 4 [2 favorites]

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I still quote it all the time and no-one has any idea what I'm on about.
posted by prismatic7 at 8:42 PM on July 4 [9 favorites]

"from the Palace"...
posted by Windopaene at 9:07 PM on July 4

I frequently use "you shall ___ , like that! " filling in the blank as appropriate, and like you, prismatic7, no one has any idea what I'm on about.
posted by Ickster at 9:30 PM on July 4 [2 favorites]

The older woman is terrific too.
posted by Czjewel at 9:32 PM on July 4 [1 favorite]

And, inevitably, costume design by Edith Head.
posted by skyscraper at 10:07 PM on July 4 [9 favorites]

More recently Edith appeared as Edna Mode in The Incredibles series.
posted by skyscraper at 10:15 PM on July 4 [4 favorites]

Not to be confused with the gateau from the chateau
posted by knoxg at 12:55 AM on July 5 [5 favorites]

'the battle of wits has begun' [content note: poison]
posted by HearHere at 2:39 AM on July 5

I always knew, growing up, that my mother liked Danny Kaye. A few weeks ago my sister found a few letters from him in my mother's papers. I haven't had a chance to see them yet but holy smokes, that is not the level of 'liked' that I had realised.
posted by Hogshead at 2:40 AM on July 5 [11 favorites]

"Get it?"
"Got it!"
"Good!"

Also, Jill Bearup is a treasure.
posted by ninazer0 at 4:15 AM on July 5 [2 favorites]

"The terms, the terms....!"
and the accelerated knight induction program.

Also of note, Angela Lansbury of Murder She Wrote plays the canny princess.
posted by storybored at 4:56 AM on July 5 [5 favorites]

@Hogshead, wow! If you're able to share (totally understand if not, of course), what were the letters about?
posted by humbug at 5:32 AM on July 5

(I've heard this before but never knew where it comes from. Marvelous!)
posted by wenestvedt at 5:34 AM on July 5 [1 favorite]

This is delightful, and I'm surprised it isn't more of a cult film for people who love The Princess Bride and Monty Python. I think I saw it because a teacher had it on TV, and we were all very charmed, even though we were teens at the time.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:37 AM on July 5 [2 favorites]

More recently Edith appeared as Edna Mode in The Incredibles series.

Edna Mode was based on Edith Head, but voiced by Brad Bird (Edith died in '81.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:40 AM on July 5 [2 favorites]

I remember the infamous "Malice at the Palace" headline from the mid-oughts, and got the allusion straightaway. That headline is almost as good as the more famous "Headless Body in Topless Bar".
posted by indianbadger1 at 7:04 AM on July 5 [1 favorite]

"A jester unemployed is nobody's fool!"
posted by dannyboybell at 7:15 AM on July 5 [3 favorites]

Glynis Johns was so amazing. That voice! And in this movie she is casually badass at taking dudes out.

Discovered this movie via a friend who was a film school grad, have enjoyed it ever since.
posted by emjaybee at 7:39 AM on July 5 [3 favorites]

I just got the movie from the library this week and they had to get it from the archive for me. I watched it once as a child, in German (Der Kelch mit dem Elch, der Becher mit dem Fächer, der Pokal mit dem Portal...) and now for the first time the original.

For the German dub they tactfully replaced the part where the fool proves his proficiency in shouty Nazi!German with a similar Danish (~but to the German ear) jargon, but it doesn't work as well.

They didn't try to translate any of the songs.

For a while I mixed this movie up with the Laurel and Hardy thing that had a similar setting.
posted by Ashenmote at 7:41 AM on July 5 [2 favorites]

Edna Mode was based on Edith Head, but voiced by Brad Bird (Edith died in '81.)

You are correct - if I had been in a more precise mood I would have said her appearance appeared in The Incredibles.
posted by skyscraper at 8:33 AM on July 5 [1 favorite]

I watched it once as a child, in German
Danny Kaye - der Hofnarr - der Becher mit dem Fächer
posted by pracowity at 8:38 AM on July 5 [2 favorites]

Thanks, pracowity. I always expect them to break into song in that scene because the dynamic is so similar to the one that brings on "the rain of spain" in My Fair Lady, with the joy about getting it at last.
posted by Ashenmote at 8:51 AM on July 5 [2 favorites]

I absolutely loved this movie as a kid and still love it as an adult. Thank you for this opportunity to think about what a delightful movie it is!
posted by an octopus IRL at 9:28 AM on July 5 [1 favorite]

When I was first dating my wife she made a point to show me this movie, as well as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, since I'd never seen any Danny Kaye and these two were among the only movies she grew up having in the house (along with The Color Purple, if I remember correctly.)

I remember being surprised by Kaye's absolute virtuosity as a performer*, and the "Oh damn, young Angela Lansbury!" moment, but tbh my thoughts were probably more centered on hanging out with new girlfriend, and we haven't watched them since. I really need to rectify that now.

*Though as Mizu's excellent link points out, Kaye was not experienced with stage combat, necessitating that fight choreographer Ralph Faulkner fill in for Basil Rathbone where possible even though Rathbone was incredibly skilled and experienced, because Kaye had been practicing with Faulkner and it was just safer that way. Thanks for that link, as I've now gone down an entire rabbit hole of Jill Bearup videos this morning and might make an FPP of them if one hasn't been done already.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:59 AM on July 5 [3 favorites]

Just a minute - I'm learning here that in British English, the 't' in pestle is silent? Weird!!

Glynis Johns was so amazing. That voice!

If you're wondering why she's so familiar, but can't place her, she's the kids' Suffragette mother in "Mary Poppins."
posted by Rash at 11:26 AM on July 5 [7 favorites]

"Yea, verily yea"

We have a copy on dvd or somesuch format. Watch it frequently.
posted by Windopaene at 11:29 AM on July 5 [1 favorite]

I'm learning here that in British English, the 't' in pestle is silent

Is this a British thing? I'm from Rhode Island and I don't pronounce the "t".
posted by an octopus IRL at 11:38 AM on July 5 [1 favorite]

Wikipedia says the no-T pestle is British. I'm from DC, the mid-Atlantic; I know this word from my earliest grade-school interests in chemistry and lab equipment and this is the first I'm ever hearing this word pronounced that way.

But Danny Kaye was from Brooklyn; seems like this is how they say it up in New England?
posted by Rash at 11:42 AM on July 5 [1 favorite]

I'm from LA and never pronounced the t
posted by brujita at 12:44 PM on July 5 [2 favorites]

But Danny Kaye was from Brooklyn; seems like this is how they say it up in New England?

I don't know if this comment was precision crafted to turn me personally into the Joker but: New York is not one of the six New England states.
posted by an octopus IRL at 12:47 PM on July 5 [4 favorites]

If you're wondering why she's so familiar, but can't place her, she's the kids' Suffragette mother in "Mary Poppins."

Also Diane’s mom on “Cheers.” She passed away in January at age 100.
posted by fedward at 1:36 PM on July 5 [2 favorites]

New York is not one of the six New England states.

Akshully
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:18 PM on July 5 [1 favorite]

How to pronounce pestle.
posted by pracowity at 1:24 AM on July 6

chalice in the palace
posted by _earwig_ at 3:25 PM on July 6