The Court Jester - deleted scene

I remember the movie. I think I saw it twice, once on the big screen and then on a TV broadcast. I don't remember a torture chamber scene, frankly. But it's been years.

http://www.rxpgonline.com/B00004CM0Z.isbn

highlyoriginal- Apparently, someone else saw the same scene that you did.

Probably just a case of selective memory on my part. I must be blocking recall of an unpleasant scene. What I remember best is the "chalice from the palace" double-talk before the swordfight. To this day I find myself occasionally referring to "the flagon with the dragon."

The DVD version you must have bought I suppose is a generic label. The DVD I have has the torture scene but it's played as satirical black comedy and isn't really all that gruesome. Certainly not the way we've all been desensitized these days! The film was produced in Britain for Paramount.

Thanks, Lightwizard.

No, you're right, it's not gruesome by today's standards; I just felt, at the time, that it was not appropriate for a family movie. I mentioned it in my Amazon review. Amazon have just decided to 'spotlight' the review and now I am getting emails from people asking me to name the character concerned. As it's 36 years since I saw the theatrical release, it's a struggle to remember details! I believe it was Fergus the Ostler who was done to death. Having read your message, I'll rent the DVD again. It might be a different version.

Los Angeles, huh! I was going up to your area to visit Forry Ackerman (Mr. Sci-Fi) at the AckerMansion sometime soon.



Is this the cover of the DVD you rented? There have been some cheaper generic releases but I don't know if they were wide screen. One of the few, or maybe the only, Danny Kaye movie in anamorphic 1.85:1.

There is also a British, Canadian and French DVD (of course, the French version is in that language). I'm not sure if the producers or the director of the film ever meant it to be a "family film."

BTW, welcome to A2K and the film forum, highlyoriginal!

Thanks for the welcome!

That DVD is the one stocked by Netflix so that is the one I shall rent. I'm not sure if it's the one I saw before.

The changing attitude to violence in movies is interesting. In the 50s and 60s we watched Westerns in which cowboys killed Indians in a casual fashion that seemed unexceptional then but would be grossly distasteful to most people now. Yet there was little blood and no gore. Now kids watch the most dreadful gorefests on TV, let alone at the movies, and few people seem to mind much. The Court Jester exemplifies the attitude of the times; no graphic violence, but a casual attitude to killing. In an early scene, a soldier is killed with an arrow (which might just as easily have been shot into a tree) and the audience would have found it exciting and in no way disturbing. It was the same in war movies; the enemy were portrayed as targets to be shot down. Today's violence is usually more personal and up-close.

Probably I am ultra-sensitive to violence. I suppose those people that wrote to me about my review will be disappointed to learn that the 'gruesome' torture scene did not involve any graphic mutilation. One thing's for sure, my review has roused a lot of curiosity so I now feel obliged to come up with a complete account of what different versions have been released. Your info is a useful start. Thanks again.

And remember, Ackerman will be 100 in a couple of months. Better visit him soon!

Oh yes, you're right. He'll be a mere 90. I must get into the habit of checking my sources before I post.