The Jester's Tale (1964)

This is not only an outstanding Czech film: it's an outstanding film, period. But I'd never even heard of it before two nights ago.Animation, puppetry and fairy-tale have a higher status in pretty much every culture except the Anglo-American, for reasons I can't fathom. They are combined here with gentle satire that reminds me of Cervantes - indeed, Quixotic windmills feature early on in this masterly movie, as if deliberately making the link. So wittily. so seamlessly are the various contributory arts brought together that it feels like a single person's vision. Such is the extraordinary achievement of the collaboration between director Karel Zeman and writer Pavel Jurácek.The leading couple are played by Petr Kostka and Emília Vásáryová, now veteran performers in their homeland. They are wonderful, especially Kostka, with his warm smile, watchful eyes and effortless athleticism. They're joined by a bunch of skillful character actors, notably Miroslav Holub as the opportunistic Matej and Valentina Thielová as an icy, spoilt princess.The whole thing kept me smiling throughout its 82 minutes, including many laugh-old-loud moments. It's everything that Wes Anderson, Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam have been trying to achieve throughout their careers (they all avow Zeman as a major influence) but none of them have found the right balance of ingredients yet to come up with as superb a confection as this (although in Anderson's latest, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL [2014] he's come nearer than he has before). There is however, a British movie that has approached THE JESTER'S TALE, at least in terms of its pre-Gilliam use of animation, and that is THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1968), directed by Tony Richardson, written by Charles Wood. However, Richardson's film is angrier and more bitter in tone. Zeman's is wiser, more generous, more human. All the more remarkable, given that so much of his work,including THE JESTER'S TALE, was made during the Cold War, when his country was under the Soviet yoke.

I was blown away by this film with overtones of Shakespeare's jesters. Whimsical satire, or maybe satirical whimsy - almost every scene in the film made me both laugh and think. The Director wasn't even working on a shoestring - more like dental floss - but no matter - even the stark black and white settings add lustre to this funny and wonderful film. The voter ratings overall give an accurate indication of the sheer quality of this comedic take on life.Don't miss it if it comes to your neighbourhood. I promise you you won't be disappointed...

The children's films made in the Socialist countries were just about their only productions not to be blighted by dogma. Though it's slow and it's characters are thinly etched THE JESTER'S TALE is still agreeable. The combination of live action and drawn material has style through it's lack of artifice - real troops extend the painted line, the points of the compass appear in the sky above the real horsemen. The black and white composite images remain striking.The film is the contemporary of FAN FAN LA TULIPE and shares the same enjoyable spirit as well as similar action choreography. If animator Zeman had been more at home with actors he might have made this one a more memorable venture but what he has done is still pleasant viewing.THE JESTER'S TALE makes an interesting comparison with the serious Czech historical drama HONOR AND GLORY set in the same period.

I have seen this film on Dutch television about 35 years ago and never saw it again since. So my memories about it have faded a lot, even though the film made quite an impression on me at the time. The jester tells a tale about a small boy and a small girl who go through a lot of adventures against the very grim background of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), in which Czechia suffered enormously. The movie is a clever combination of cartoon and acting, skillfully integrated. (Maybe it won't make that much impression on a contemporary public "spoiled" by modern computer simulation technics).