Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Craziest Movie Dialog Ever

[In the 1956 Danny Kaye movie The Court Jester in which Kaye plays gypsy turned jester Hubert Hawkins], Its most famous sequence was the pre-joust toast (between Hawkins and Sir Griswold), before which Griselda warns Hawkins about the location of poison in the toast vessel, with the famous tongue-twisting "Vessel with the Pestle" dialogue ("The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.") At first, "the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!", but then one of the containers breaks, so now the flagon with the dragon has the pellet with the poison.
 
Hubert 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!
Hubert Hawkins: They broke the chalice from the palace?
Griselda: And replaced it with a flagon.
Hubert Hawkins: A flagon...?
Griselda: With the figure of a dragon.
Hubert Hawkins: Flagon with a dragon.
Griselda: Right.
Hubert 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!
Hubert 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.
http://www.filmsite.org/cour.html

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Note from the Blog Author

After seeing The Court Jester as a  child, it was impossible for me, ever, to take Tolkien and his "Middle Earth" folderol seriously.  I just couldn't suspend my disbelief and pretend to respect the medieval notion that a heirarchical world was inherently good.  The chalice from the palace was broken.

The 1969 Bored of the Rings parody finished the job of ruining Tolkien for me.  The map on the inside cover of this book was all I ever needed to see or understand about the middle earth paradise.

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