Chevalier d'un jour

Like many of the Goofy cartoons, all the characters in this one look like Goofy--even the 'beautiful princess'! It's set in Medieval times and begins at a tournament for knights. Sir Loinsteak is supposed to joust with Sir Cumference but Loinsteak is accidentally knocked out while he's getting ready. So, his loyal squire, Cederic, takes his place--especially since the winner will get the hand of the princess. What follows is a lot of the usual Goofy silliness--and Cederic refuses to give up to the favorite, Cumference.

This cartoon is just silly fun. While the animation is lovely (as you'd expect from Disney), the star of the film is the ridiculousness of it all. Fun from start to finish--especially when the narrator talks to Cedric and gives him advice!

Goofy is back in medieval times. He starts out a page to knight, Sir Cumference, and ends up in the armor after his own goofups take the big guy down. What follows are some serious pratfall and lots of action. The other Knight is quite a prize and the battle they do is really funny. One of the best of the Goofy how-to things.

A Walt Disney GOOFY Cartoon.

As Sir Cumference battles Sir Loinsteak for the British Empire championship at Canterbury Castle, the chance finally comes for lowly squire Cedric to become A KNIGHT FOR A DAY.

The Middle Ages come in for a ribbing as myriad Goofy look-alikes bumble about, beating at each other with medieval weapons. The animation is unremarkable, but the story, written by the celebrated Bill Peet, is humorous.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

In this Disney cartoon short, Goofy journeys into medieval times and stars as a knight's assistant named Cedric, who fills in for his master, Sir Loinsteak, in his armor to do battle with the champion after accidentally knocking his master out cold.

This is a funny story from start to finish, from Goofy in his hilariously bumbling but heroic ways in trying to deal with the knight champion to the narrator telling the story like a ballgame match (and giving Goofy advice in the process).

The animation was great and it's interesting seeing all the characters resemble Goofy himself. It's outrageous fun here and the scenes will surely give the audience a lot of laughs, especially the part where the four princes indifferently clap and yell "bravo" to the champion.

Grade A

Goofy has always been one of my favourites. He's goofy and clumsy, but he is funny with it and we love him still. A Knight For a Day is for me one of his best. The formula of the How to Sports shorts is evident, but stretched to fit the medieval setting, which shows that Disney have creativity. A Knight For a Day knows when to be fun also, again like Hockey Homicide and How to Play Football Goofy is in multiple roles and shows not just his clumsy charm but also his versatility as some of them are varied. The gags are imaginatively timed, especially the ones when the shield is scared and the lion on it runs away and the one with the sold out sign on the drawbridge, and with also Cedric's ponderings on what to do next and how he defeats Sir Curcumferance are very funny(the latter is ingenious). The modern narration, still as brilliantly witty as ever, juxtaposes with the setting very well and never jars, giving us the sense that despite this setting that we are still watching a cartoon in the vein of the How To sports shorts. The animation is beautiful, with lots of fluidity and colour, while the music enhances the action beautifully by its typical energy and character. Goofy is stellar in every one of his roles, playing the comedy brilliantly as well as being endearing. The voice work is also very good. Overall, a Goofy classic, a must-watch. 10/10 Bethany Cox