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For the rest of his life, according to his daughter Dena, if someone recognized Danny Kaye in public, they would approach him and recite the film's "pellet with the poison" rhyme. See more...

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Movie Mistakes blog

The Court Jester (1956) - 14 mistakes

Directed by Melvin Frank, Norman Panama, starring Angela Lansbury, Basil Rathbone, Cecil Parker, Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns (add more)

Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Musical

Mistakes

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Other: The catapult on the battlements Jean uses to evict the castle guards is rather curious. First, there is neither a bow nor any torsion to 'power' the weapon, and secondly it just seems to cock itself, right after each shot. All that Jean does is pull the lever and none of her diminutive helpers stand by for any cocking work whenever the catapult arm is shown.

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Revealing: When Hawkins swings on a vine between windows on the side of the castle, watch carefully. These are all just reversed views of the same shot.

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Revealing: During the scene when Hawkins is in the jousting tournament, Griswald takes a swing with his mace and apparently smashes Hawkins' head (inside his helmet) off. Then the horse Hawkins was riding stops, and he extends his head from inside his suit of armor and smiles. Watch carefully throughout this shot - Hawkins' hair/the back of his head can be seen past the edge of the armor where the hole for his neck should be.

Edit Submitted by the_otherness

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Continuity: When Ravenhurst and Princess Gwendolyn keep snapping their fingers, the snapping causes Hawkins to alternately fall under and return from his hypnotized state of mind (as conditioned by Griselda). Hawkins has been hiding behind a closed curtain, and upon each of his flashes of bravery, he opens it, only to be snapped back into hiding. Watch the internal and external shots - he opens the curtain in both of them, as if for the first time upon each occasion.

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Continuity: When Hawkins arrives at Gwendolyn's chambers, the carpet on the floor at her feet moves between shots.

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Revealing: During the "Outfox the Fox" number when Hawkins "cuts" the copies of himself in half, the copies are obviously all grown men, which then obviously become little people standing on each others' shoulders; it's easy to tell where the cloak hems of the little people on top end.

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Continuity: When King Roderick's men ask Hawkins and Maid Jean if they've seen the Black Fox's men in the forest, Hawkins has his hat in both hands in front of him. When the shot cuts, he now has one hand, gripping the hat, wrapped around Jean, and the other down by his side. Jean's hand also jumps from Hawkins' wrist to his chest between the two shots.

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Plot hole: Princess Gwendolyn puts the key for the secret passage into her cleavage for safe-keeping, but when her father shakes her with each praise for her supposed loyalty, the key comes loose and falls to the ground. However, since the key is hidden inside her cleavage, it should slip down under her dress and fall to the ground between her feet whilst remaining hidden by her skirt. Instead, upon the clinking, the key is seen right in the open, in front of Gwendolyn's skirt.

Edit Submitted by Daniel4646

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Continuity: During the big swordfight with Ravenhurst at the end, Hawkins gets cornered by a row of candles. To show off, Ravenhurst slices through a candle near himself. Hawkins slices through the row to one-up him, and at first appears not to have cut them. Ravenhurst laughs, and then Hawkins blows at the candles, and they all fall apart, the cut bases angling downwards away from Hawkins. There's a shot of Ravenhurst being insulted, but then watch the candles in the next shot of Hawkins - the angled bases of the candles are all now *facing* him. A few of the cut-off pieces also reappear on the tabletop.

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Factual error: When Hawkins prepares to leave Princess Gwendolin's chamber, a pet cockatoo sits on a pole near the window. Now how could a parrot native to Australia - or even a "papagei" from South America, as Hawkins intones - appear in medieval England when neither continent would be discovered for several centuries?

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Other: Before the joust, Griselda tells Hawkins that she has put a pellet of poison in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace remains unpoisoned. Later, she tells him that the chalice has been broken, and replaced with a flagon with the dragon, in which she has put a pellet of poison. Both cups are poisoned.

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Plot hole: After the secret passage has collapsed, the Black Fox hires Hawkin's midget acrobat friends because the only opening left "is barely (wide) enough for a child". Yet, during the throne room brawl, Hawkins passes the swing-around rope to a guy who is much taller than the midgets.

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Deliberate "mistake": When Hawkins mocks Ravenhurst by pouring himself some wine and then drinking it while fending off Ravenhurst's, Danny Kaye repeatedly uses the same fencing movements.

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Deliberate "mistake": Foils, rapiers and other fencing weapons did not appear before around the 16th/17th century, yet the main characters (in an approximate 8th to 10th century setting) use them extensively. I know that back in the days when the movie was made, the swashbuckling genre was quite popular, but it still is a reality error.

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