I'm sure that we're all familiar with the classic story of The Emperor's New Clothes, it's about a vain, pompous emperor who commissions a perfect new suit for him to show off to his kingdom, only he's so pre-occupied with himself that he fails to notice he'd been played for a sap and walks around his kingdom in the buff. Well, there is a good lesson to be learned from all this and most adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen's tale are pretty good, such as the one brought to us from Rankin/Bass in 1972, hosted by Danny Kaye and featured under the banner of The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye. He narrates as well as takes up the role of Marmaduke, a charming con-man who, aided by his assistant, Mufti, search high and low for their next caper, and lo and behold, they quickly find it: Emperor Klockenlocher the Proud of Bibentucker is offering one million Grinklens to anyone who can fashion him the perfect new suit. I don't know what part of that sentence to laugh at first, but with a payday of one million Grinklens at stake, Marmaduke decides to give it a go. He and Mufti pose as tailors set to knit some new threads for this fine ruler. Upon entering Bibentucker, they meet the Emperor, strutting around in a tacky suit while his jester, Jasper, announces that he's won yet another prize for best fashion. An easy enough mark, though Marmaduke quickly takes a liking to the Emperor's beautiful daughter, Jane. He goes to chat her up and she tells him that not everything is sunshine and roses in Bibentucker. To put it simply, Jasper is evil and he took advantage of the recently bereaved emperor to focus entirely on his fine clothing, while he secretly took over his treasury, paid the tailors slave's wages, and kept the rest for himself. Jasper has the makings of a corporate man, alright. But now, the Emperor's treasury is down to its last one million Grinklens, which will be offered as prize money, and then the kingdom will fall into a recession. Huh, this is all very prophetic. The Emperor catches them and, under suggestion from Jasper, has Mufti and Marmaduke banished to the Boulevard of Rogues, where he has sent other people who don't meet the dress code. While there, Marmaduke formulates a new plan, and both he and Mufti become unexpected parents to an orphaned boy, Busky. That night, the trio escape by way of Marmaduke charming a group of alligators, and go to see the Emperor properly. After a song and dance, Jasper becomes hooked and suggests they make the Emperor something special, as opposed to the cobbled-together jacket they patched together in the Boulevard. Marmaduke tells him that the cloth with which to make this special suit is enchanted, meaning it's invisible to any person who is very stupid and/or unfit to hold office. Ha, ol' Click-Clack or whatever his name is has got to be the most gullible man whoever lived. He didn't even realize this guy just insulted him right to his face, but not before he bought that baloney about enchanted, invisible cloth. Jasper isn't fooled one bit and sees this as the perfect distraction in order to bilk the kingdom out of the last of its money, but the Emperor... I'm really starting to pity that guy. He doesn't know people are laughing at him behind his back.
Marmaduke sees this as one of the easiest paydays of his life: making an invisible garment for a dim-witted Emperor, easy money in the bank, right? Well, sure, if not for one literally small problem: Jasper. Just because he's got Emperor Clockwatcher under his thumb, that makes him think he owns the place and starts bossing around Marmaduke, telling him to stay away from Jane, as he wants to marry her, even though she's not all that into him. Like, at all. Something like that doesn't phase him, as he plans to trick her into a wedding. Good luck with that, pal. Meanwhile, the Emperor tries to brush up on his education in order to finally see that so-called enchanted cloth. Ha, poor Emp, however it's nice that this whole thing has been an incentive for him to further his education, which he no doubt neglected when he inherited the crown. As for Jasper, he stops by to remind us that he's the villain by forcing Marmaduke to hand over Princess Jane to him as if she were some sort of a commodity... well, it is the 18th century. In addition, he also orders the two rogues to give him the million Grinklens, minus one each for their trouble, and if they refuse, he'll fire a cannon on the Boulevard of Rogues. All this guy needs is a mustache to twirl he's such a stock antagonist. Not willing to let The Joker get away with his nefarious scheme of trapping Jane in a loveless marriage and pocketing the Emperor's treasury for himself and ruling the world, Marmaduke formulated a plan. First, they show off the Emperor his invisible suit, which he reluctantly accepts and pays the million, which our heroes swap out for a bag of fake money and hide the real one in a cannon... don't see that going wrong. So how does the unwitting ruler go about showing off his new suit? About how you would expect: he parades around the kingdom stark naked. Oh jeez, Your Majesty, put on some underwear, this is a family show! Nevertheless, he was feeling very proud of himself. Now to help the good citizens of Bibentucker erase the mental image of their naked emperor from their minds, it was time for the wedding of Princess Jane to Marmaduke. Going with his plan, the wily rogue admitted to already being married, and announces that Jasper will be the replacement groom. However, anyone who has seen Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland will recognize this classic ploy: when Jasper goes to kiss the bride, he lifts the veil and sees... Busky! Furthermore, the boy lets the Emperor know that the suit he's wearing is his birthday suit, much to his extreme dismay. Again, I really pity this man. He rightfully blames the whole mess on Jasper and banishes him from the kingdom forever. He also tries to have Marmaduke arrested, but Jane begs him not to, saying she loves him and wants to marry him. The Emperor gives them his blessing, and even owns up to the fact that he commissioned and demanded the invisible suit he now wore, and would proudly display it for the rest of the day. Huh, leave it to this guy to walk around naked AND maintain his dignity. So Marmaduke and Jane were married and all was well, though Jasper wasn't willing to give up so easily and ordered the cannon fired, raining the million Grinklens over the Boulevard of Rogues.
That was The Emperor's New Clothes, brought to life by Rankin/Bass' fabulous AniMagic puppetry, and we've got a terrific voice cast, including Danny Kaye as Marmaduke, Cyril Ritchard as Emperor Clockwork Orange, Imogene Coca as Jane, Allen Swift as Mufti, Bob McFadden as Jasper, and Gary Shapiro as Busky, who all gave great performances. The songs and music were fantastic, the stop-motion animation is pretty good for 1972, this is definitely one you should check out. It has a good lesson about being honest with yourself and believing in who you really are, and not always relying on some expensive set of clothing to make people think you are what you're not. It also warns you not to be too trusting and slack on your responsibilities, as the Emperor did with Jasper. I can only hope that jester was imprisoned, as he not only manipulated the Emperor and stole his money, but he also married a minor. Hopefully he met a deserving fate with the old guillotine. Also, I'm glad those with a morbid curiosity never got to know if R/B AniMagic puppets are anatomically correct, as even though it was a controversial move to show the Emp naked, they do have the decency to censor him Austin Powers-style. So, if you're familiar with this tale, you like Rankin/Bass' work, and you need a reminder how clothes don't always make the man, then I recommend The Emperor's New Clothes.
Marmaduke sees this as one of the easiest paydays of his life: making an invisible garment for a dim-witted Emperor, easy money in the bank, right? Well, sure, if not for one literally small problem: Jasper. Just because he's got Emperor Clockwatcher under his thumb, that makes him think he owns the place and starts bossing around Marmaduke, telling him to stay away from Jane, as he wants to marry her, even though she's not all that into him. Like, at all. Something like that doesn't phase him, as he plans to trick her into a wedding. Good luck with that, pal. Meanwhile, the Emperor tries to brush up on his education in order to finally see that so-called enchanted cloth. Ha, poor Emp, however it's nice that this whole thing has been an incentive for him to further his education, which he no doubt neglected when he inherited the crown. As for Jasper, he stops by to remind us that he's the villain by forcing Marmaduke to hand over Princess Jane to him as if she were some sort of a commodity... well, it is the 18th century. In addition, he also orders the two rogues to give him the million Grinklens, minus one each for their trouble, and if they refuse, he'll fire a cannon on the Boulevard of Rogues. All this guy needs is a mustache to twirl he's such a stock antagonist. Not willing to let The Joker get away with his nefarious scheme of trapping Jane in a loveless marriage and pocketing the Emperor's treasury for himself and ruling the world, Marmaduke formulated a plan. First, they show off the Emperor his invisible suit, which he reluctantly accepts and pays the million, which our heroes swap out for a bag of fake money and hide the real one in a cannon... don't see that going wrong. So how does the unwitting ruler go about showing off his new suit? About how you would expect: he parades around the kingdom stark naked. Oh jeez, Your Majesty, put on some underwear, this is a family show! Nevertheless, he was feeling very proud of himself. Now to help the good citizens of Bibentucker erase the mental image of their naked emperor from their minds, it was time for the wedding of Princess Jane to Marmaduke. Going with his plan, the wily rogue admitted to already being married, and announces that Jasper will be the replacement groom. However, anyone who has seen Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland will recognize this classic ploy: when Jasper goes to kiss the bride, he lifts the veil and sees... Busky! Furthermore, the boy lets the Emperor know that the suit he's wearing is his birthday suit, much to his extreme dismay. Again, I really pity this man. He rightfully blames the whole mess on Jasper and banishes him from the kingdom forever. He also tries to have Marmaduke arrested, but Jane begs him not to, saying she loves him and wants to marry him. The Emperor gives them his blessing, and even owns up to the fact that he commissioned and demanded the invisible suit he now wore, and would proudly display it for the rest of the day. Huh, leave it to this guy to walk around naked AND maintain his dignity. So Marmaduke and Jane were married and all was well, though Jasper wasn't willing to give up so easily and ordered the cannon fired, raining the million Grinklens over the Boulevard of Rogues.
That was The Emperor's New Clothes, brought to life by Rankin/Bass' fabulous AniMagic puppetry, and we've got a terrific voice cast, including Danny Kaye as Marmaduke, Cyril Ritchard as Emperor Clockwork Orange, Imogene Coca as Jane, Allen Swift as Mufti, Bob McFadden as Jasper, and Gary Shapiro as Busky, who all gave great performances. The songs and music were fantastic, the stop-motion animation is pretty good for 1972, this is definitely one you should check out. It has a good lesson about being honest with yourself and believing in who you really are, and not always relying on some expensive set of clothing to make people think you are what you're not. It also warns you not to be too trusting and slack on your responsibilities, as the Emperor did with Jasper. I can only hope that jester was imprisoned, as he not only manipulated the Emperor and stole his money, but he also married a minor. Hopefully he met a deserving fate with the old guillotine. Also, I'm glad those with a morbid curiosity never got to know if R/B AniMagic puppets are anatomically correct, as even though it was a controversial move to show the Emp naked, they do have the decency to censor him Austin Powers-style. So, if you're familiar with this tale, you like Rankin/Bass' work, and you need a reminder how clothes don't always make the man, then I recommend The Emperor's New Clothes.
