The Court Jester

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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Suggested correction: Birds, of course, range widely and flexibly, a storm in the 1800's introduced small African storks to the Americas, Australian birds, to a degree, can be found in Tropical Asia, and therefore could have found their way to Europe via the exotic animal trade (which did well enough for the wealthy at the time),, and the word papagei? Medieval information, and word origins are notoriously fuzzy, ie the first animal to ever be called "penguin" was a similar Northern Hemisphere creature called the Great Auk.

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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Hawkins: I've got it! I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right?
Griselda: Right, but there's been a change. They broke the chalice from the palace.
Hawkins: They broke the chalice from the palace?!
Griselda: And replaced it with a flagon.
Hawkins: A flagon?
Griselda: With the figure of a dragon.
Hawkins: Flagon with a dragon.
Griselda: Right.
Hawkins: But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle?
Griselda: No! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!
Hawkins: The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.
Griselda: Just remember that.

Charles Austin Miller

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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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