The Court Jester: Aesthetic Analysis Of A Film

“Tails of lizards, ears of swine, chicken gizzards soaked in brine, now thine eyes and mine entwine, thy will is broken, thou art MINE!” ((Melvin Frank, Norman Panama The Court jester) Now you will give me an A on the paper and all the rest of my papers and I will pass the class like that *snap* gulp…. Now all joking aside the film The Court Jester Made in 1957 and Staring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, and Angela Lansbury (B) is a marvelous little treat of a film, which also had a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a comedy or musical. It’s writing, musical numbers, performances and style are defiantly its strong points while its action and editing are where it’s lacking. Let’s begin the Aesthetic Analysis of the film The Court Jester:
His goal is not only to entertain us with a lovely song and quips about the Script saying both Shakespeare and Francis bacon if asked who wrote it would say “get outta dere.” The song sets your expectations for the rest of the film, he mentions fair maidens, brave knights, and villainous villains. Even the shot itself gives a medieval feel having a fancy boarder reminiscent of a medieval story book (http://www. arthistory.upenn.edu/fall05/100302.html). This is a very deliberated choice on the part of the filmmaker to establish the feeling of the film. This feeling persists throughout the rest of the movie from the castle to the sets and the costumes the feeling of the film is a story book feel. This does not mean that it feels real, all of the sets were built on “two separate Paramount sound stages” (
You have the evil king, a wicked adviser, a fair damsel, and a hero who starts as a loser and ends up saving the day…somehow. This does not mean they are not entertaining characters, the performances are quite interesting and engaging to watch. The dialogue is fun and fast for an example: “who could forget what the Doge did, and what did the duke do? Well the Doge did what a Doge does, when a Doge dose his duty to his duke.” This type of dialogue is throughout the part and the delivery of these lines makes the movie entertaining to watch. The best character in the movie has to be Hawkins, most of the quips and funny moments come from his delivery and his physical action. When the witch Griselda casts her spell and commands him to be “figure of romance, of spirit and action, but at the same time humble and tender. You are a man of iron with the soul of a poet. You are adventurous, gay, but with a lovers brooding melancholy” you see his expression change within a second of her stating it and when he is in the chambers of the princess and the king arrives, with every snap of their fingers he transforms from the timid Hawkins to the Fierce Giacomo and back