My very-nearly Baen Adventure Fantasy Award-Winning story, "Phoenix For The Amateur Chef!"Īnd all my other anthologies on Amazon are HERE.Luckily, the rightful heir is a quiet baby because a lot of the scenes in this movie wouldn’t work if he made a noise, but considering he is so quiet, a lot still goes wrong for Hawkins ( Danny Kaye) and Maid Jean ( Glynis Johns).
Read my Baen Adventure Fantasy Award-Winning story, "Humanslayer" FREE! My new SCIENCE FICTION novel, now only $2.99! But when a horror from Earth's past walks the corridors of their colony, can they survive? The moon is a harsh enough neighborhood for Paul and Jael. The hilarious adventures of James and Harriet, now only $4.99! What happens when a veterinarian has to save the Dark Lord's favorite dragon. Read the epic fantasy recommended by Tim Powers and Larry Correia for $4.99! She never imagined she could be a princess.īut now she may be her kingdom's only hope. Responsibility grew up as an abandoned freak on an ocean bigger than worlds. Now I have some more thoughts on this movie, including some valuable writing lessons it’s taught me, but that’s going on my Patreon page, where I hope you’ll join me. You know, sort of like parkour would kill me if I tried it, but to a young athlete, it’s just a fun thing to do on the way to someplace. When horribly-written, cliche-ridden films like Avatar make the money they do, why should you spend the extra time and money making sure that they actually have coherent plots and intelligent dialogues? I suspect that, conversely, when the only thing keeping people in movie houses (besides the acting) were the dialogue and the script, the creative “muscles,” as it were, of the artists strengthened, and what seems today like an impossible amount of work was more like effortless joy to them. It’s not inevitable that screenwriters go for the cheap laughs and the eye-blowing effects: it’s economics. But again, that’s a movie that labors under restrictions: it’s audience is children and it can’t go for cheap, crude laughs. And it’s not like writers and filmmakers are incapable of such cleverness, now: one only has to look at The Incredibles to realize that. I feel like maybe the lack of special effects and the stringent restrictions on Hollywood’s dialogue choices back in the day may have actually made them stronger, because they really had to write better and do more work to overcome those restrictions.
I’m not sure why we don’t do this anymore. The scene where Glynis Johns first seduces the evil King Roderick in order to steal his key (really!) and then repels him by implying that she’s the carrier of, essentially, the Black Death is one of the best pieces of dialogue ever written. And over and above that, you get through the whole movie and realize that it never once descends into crudity, while still being very aware of sexual themes and playing them for laughs. All of a sudden, you realize that this is how it ought to be. Or drinking, say, Franziskaner beer after never having drunk anything but Coors and Budweiser. Then you hit The Court Jester, and it’s a bit like going to Maine for a lobster dinner after you’ve only ever eaten at The Red Lobster. It’s a brilliant, swashbuckling romance, ornamented by ridiculous and clever comedy. You watch The Princess Bride, and there’s no doubt that it’s a solid movie, with snappy dialogue and great acting, not to mention wonderful fight choreography and a solid plot. And the thing is, that’s repeated throughout the entire movie. I love you as Inigo and everything, but Danny Kaye and Basil Rathbone seriously kick your ass. I can’t recommend it enough, because as I said earlier this week, it’s like a slightly sillier version of The Princess Bride, but with a much higher grade of acting talent and - yes, I’m serious, here - better swordplay. The Court Jester is one of those old movies that’s unfortunately fallen into obscurity.
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