![]() Mistaken identities make up much of the merriment, although nothing can top the fantastic wordplay involving the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace, and the flagon with a dragon … only one of which holds the brew that is true. The Court Jester is truly terrific entertainment, a medieval romp in which a lowly clown is given the opportunity to perform heroic acts by impersonating the sinister Giacomo, The King of Jesters (John Carradine), and thereby infiltrating a court that’s full of diabolical intrigue. Also among the one-timers is Danny Kaye, who’s represented by what’s easily his masterpiece. Fields with It’s a Gift, and Jerry Lewis with The Nutty Professor. Naturally, comic geniuses like Charlie Chaplin and Mel Brooks have multiple pictures on the list, but it’s nice to see that many of the 20th century’s other popular comedians are at least represented by one title apiece these include Harold Lloyd with The Freshman, Laurel and Hardy with Sons of the Desert, Bud and Lou with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, W.C. One of the nicest elements of the American Film Institute’s 2000 list of the 100 best stateside comedies ever made is the spread-the-wealth attitude. As with The Thin Man, scripters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett (again working from Dashiell Hammett material) earned another Oscar nomination for their writing efforts.īlu-ray extras include the 1936 live-action short How to Be a Detective the 1936 cartoon short The Early Bird and the Worm and the 1940 radio adaptation of After the Thin Man with Powell and Loy reprising their roles.ĭanny Kaye and Angela Lansbury in The Court Jester (Photo: Paramount) The movie gets a lot of mileage out of comic bits that would prove to be recurring gags throughout the series, including Nick’s insatiable boozing and his reunions with crooks that he had once sent to jail (all of whom admire him too much to hold a grudge!). But when it appears that Nora’s cousin (Elissa Landi) has cold-bloodedly gunned down her no-good husband (Alan Marshal), it’s up to Nick to ferret out the real killer from among a wide range of suspects (including one played by a 28-year-old James Stewart in one of his earliest roles). The first of five sequels to 1934’s The Thin Man (reviewed here), After the Thin Man finds the jet-setting Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) visiting Nora’s family, several of whose members can’t stand the wisecracking Nick. ![]() Ratings are on a four-star scale.) Myrna Loy and William Powell in After the Thin Man (Photo: Warner Archive)ĪFTER THE THIN MAN (1936). (View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray and DVD. Danny Kaye in The Court Jester (Photo: Paramount) ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |