The Court Jester

Continuity mistake: 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.

redbaron2000

The Court Jester mistake picture

Continuity mistake: 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.

redbaron2000

Continuity mistake: When Giacomo's armor is magnetized, we see a spur that is lying to the left of the armor on a bench get pulled to the leg of the armor where it sticks. In the next scene it's back on the bench with nothing stuck to the armor.

Marlene Harkcom

The Court Jester mistake picture

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:15:50)

Cubs Fan

Other mistake: 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.

Cubs Fan

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Suggested correction: That might be a deliberate joke by the filmmakers, a reflection of just how far the confusion had gone.

dizzyd

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Trivia: 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.

Cubs Fan

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Question: When Griswald knocks the helmet off Hawkins and it appears his head is knocked off, you can actually see a face in the helmet on the ground. But why? Hawkins is supposed to be hiding his head in the armor. So why did the filmmaker put a face in the helmet after it was knocked off?

Answer: I watched the clip on YouTube, stopping and rewinding it, but I cannot see what looks like a face inside the helmet. Maybe it's just the way light and shadows are reflecting on the metal.

raywest

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