MovieChat Forums > The Court Jester (1956) Discussion > [ The pellet with the poison ]

[ The pellet with the poison ]

posted 22 years ago by ACT_l
18 replies | jump to latest

"The Court Jester" (1956)
http://www.imdb.com/Title?0049096

"The Court Jester" 1956
Danny Kaye. . . . . . . . .Hawkins / Jockomo the Jester
Mildred Natwick . . . . . .Greselda the witch
Glynis Johns. . . . . . . .Captain Jean

Greselda:
I put a pellet of poison in one of the vessels.

Jester:
Which one?

Greselda:
The one with a figure of a pestle.

Jester:
The vessel with the pestle?

Greselda:
Yes. But you don't want the vessel with the pestle.
You want the chalice from the palace.

Jester:
I don't want the vessel with the pestle.
I want the chalice from the what?

Jean:
You want the chalice from the palace.

Greselda:
It's the little crystal chalice
with a figure of a palace.

Jester:
Does the chalice from the palace
have the pellet with the poison?

Greselda:
No! The pellet with the poison's
in the vessel with the pestle.

Jester:
The pestle with the vessel.

Jean:
The vessel with the pestle!

Jester:
What about the palace from the chalice?

Greselda:
Not the palace from the chalice
The chalice from the palace!

Jester:
Where's the pellet with the poison?

Greselda:
In the vessel with the pestle.

Jean:
Don't you see?
The pellet with the poison's
in the vessel with the pestle.

Greselda:
The chalice from the palace
has the brew that is true.

Jean:
It's so easy I can say it!

Jester:
Well, then You fight him!

Greselda:
Listen carefully
The pellet with the poison's
in the vessel with the pestle.
The chalice from the palace
has the brew that is true.

Jester:
The pellet with the poison's
in the vessel with the pestle.
The chalice from the palace
has the brew that is true.

Greselda:
Just remember that!

Later...

Jester:
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?

Greselda:
Right! But there's been a change...
They broke the chalice from the palace.

Jester:
They broke the chalice from the palace?

Greselda:
They've replaced it with a flagon.
With a figure of a dragon.

Jester:
A flagon with a dragon?

Greselda:
Right!

Jester:
Did you put the pellet with the poison
in the vessel with the pestle?

Greselda:
No! The pellet with the poison's
in the flagon with the dragon.
The vessel with the pestle
has the brew that is true.

Jester:
The pellet with the poison's
in the flagon with the dragon.
The vessel with the pestle
has the brew that is true.

Greselda:
Just remember that!

Jester:
Thank you very much.

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http://www.google.com/search?q=The+Court+Jester

[–] murphy999 22 years ago

The above jousting scene is actually "lifted" from a dueling scene at the end of Preston Sturgis' "Never Say Die" (1939) with Bob Hope.

Bob Hope has to pistol duel a prince at the end and his girlfriend (Martha Raye) tries to fix it by having one of the pistols loaded with a blank. The pistols are then marked:

"There's a cross on the muzzle of the pistol with a bullet, theres a nick on the handle of the pistol with a blank..."

The following scene is almost exaclty the same as the poison pellet scene, with the prince overhearing and he and his cohorts and Bob and Martha confusing the directions and muttering various combinations of them as they walk to the pistol selection.

Both movies are great comedies, but when I recently saw this scene in "Never Say Die", I couldn't believe what a blatant copy it was, albiet better done in "The Court Jester".

[–] asmodeusDOTnet 21 years ago

I never saw it as a copy, more a tribute.

~Me

I'm just a sweet transvestite...From Transexual, Transylvania...

[–] d_dl 19 years ago

The Court Jester was just on TV, and of course I had to watch because it is one of my all-time favorite comedies. But I too had remembered seeing a Bob Hope flick with the same kind of banter. For the life of me I couldn't remember which film it was, and wondered if the 2 films shared the same writers.

So, I just searched the message boards and found the reference to Never Say Die. Thanks Murphy999, who wrote his post 3 years ago! (Sure wish these message boards were easier to search, though.)

Yeah, verily, yeah!

[–] ACT_l 10 years ago

Re: [ The pellet with the poison ]
by murphy999
IMDb member since December 2002
Thu Dec 26 2002 13:49:22
The above jousting scene is actually "lifted" from a dueling scene
at the end of Preston Sturgis' "Never Say Die" (1939) with Bob Hope.
- - -

The Court Jester (1955)
Writers:
Norman Panama (written by)
Melvin Frank (written by)
- - -

Never Say Die (1939)
Bob Hope ... John Kidley
Writing Credits
Don Hartman ... (screenplay) &
Frank Butler ... (screenplay) &
Preston Sturges ... (screenplay)
William H. Post ... (play)

Man who loads pistols:
There's a cross on the muzzle of the pistol with the bullet
and a nick on the handle of the pistol with the blank.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031716/quotes?item=qt0144701

Danny Kaye Court Jester
by lfaugello
IMDb member since May 2001
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1180187/
Sat Apr 28 2007 08:00:08
Does anyone else notice that the whole,
"There's a cross on the muzzle of the pistol with the bullet
and a nick on the handle of the pistol with the blank"
scene is basically the same as
the "Pellet with the poison, chalice from the palace"
scene from Danny Kaye's Court Jester?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031716/board/thread/72967558

  
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ACT1

[–] Toshi51 8 years ago

Any good gag deserves a repeat.

[–] twm-2 21 years ago

There were (according to my memory) a couple of tiny errors in the transcription, but why quibble? In any case, anyone who hasn't seen this great comedy, please do so. It elevates silliness to a level seldom achieved by anyone else. The words from the scene quoted above CANNOT do justice to the utter hilarity Kaye and company bring to this endeavor.

"I'm a lover of beauty--and a beauty of a lover!"--The Court Jester

[–] 21 years ago

[deleted]

[–] xylonian-1 18 years ago

"Very good job transcribing it!"

Agree....used part of this as my sig for a while. A lot of people recognized it.

Read My Lips!!!!

[–] Dre23 16 years ago

I love the quote, but it makes no sense. The poison is in the vessel with the pessel and the chalice has the brew that is true but then that broke and is replace with a flagan. so, wouldn't that mean the flagan would have the brew that is true with the vessel still having the poison? cause that is not it at all in the script.

Dre

[–] ninthcentury 10 years ago

that is not it at all in the script.

You need to go back and watch it before you say stuff like that. It absolutely is in the script, and if you're paying attention you realise she got herself confused, not just Danny Kaye. So "they broke the chalice from the palace" and had to "replace it with a flagon with the figure of a dragon" and for a second Hawkins gets it right, thinking the vessel with the pestle has the pellet with the poison (which it did) and she corrects him because she's just put another pellet with this poison into the new flask (unknowingly a second pellet of poison) into the flagon with the dragon.

You're supposed to know this while the characters don't. Hawkins and Griswold approach the king and take their flasks to drink from. Each seizes the one he thinks isn't poisoned, then realise they've got the "wrong one" and start wrestling to get the "right" one away from the other.

King Roderick unknowingly saves both their lives by canceling the nonsense along with the ceremonial drink and sending them to the lists.

"Oooo, lookee, a Sneerfest I can jump in on!!!"

[–] ACT_l 16 years ago

Youtube - The Court Jester - The Pellet With The Poison

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS75NtlH3gI - 9:59

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Court_Jester

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ACT1
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[–] piratelover71 16 years ago

Absolutely LOVE this part of the movie. I can't get over it!!

It's actually been referenced a lot. DisneyChannel even used it in an episode of "That's So Raven". I was so surprised to hear it that I fell out of my chair!!! I immediately rewound the episode and brought my parents into the room to watch!

It's just so amazing how many times it's referenced, yet how so few people know the movie!

I'm telling the story!!!
~Pintel PotC: CotBP

[–] thehair100 15 years ago

But they DO know the movie. Danny's daughter Dena said that everywhere they went, people would come running up to him spouting the entire "pellet with the poison" routine.

[–] Chops-4 15 years ago

"The flagon with the dragon" This was the only thing I could remember about this film which I saw when it first came out. Via that phrase I was able to refigure out the film I'd seen it in. I enjoyed it more this time than the first time I saw it.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] luvthepros (909) 6 years ago

Pure genius. Laughed do hard I cried when reading this. I'm fractured when seeing it on film. Danny Kaye was incredible delivering his lines. Mildred Natwick held her own with Kaye.