ALL SCI-FI

[The Spike]

It was nothing. I kill a giant every morning before breakfast. Starts my day right.

It's the fairy tale land of Cornwall, England, and the Black Prince Pendragon (Torin Thatcher) plans to abduct Princess Elaine (Judith Meredith) so as to gain control of the land. However, his plans are at first thwarted when farmers boy Jack (Kerwin Matthews) slays the giant sent by Pendragon to claim the Princess. But Pendragon is not to be denied and a battle between good and evil commences.

There's quite a back story to this United Artists feature film. It's loosely based on the traditional tale "Jack the Giant Killer" and features the use of stop motion animation. The mere mention of stop motion automatically brings to mind the great name of Ray Harryhausen. In 1958 director Nathan Juran had helmed The 7th Voyage of Sinbad with both Matthews and Thatcher starring as the good and evil characters respectively. A big success for Columbia, Harryhausen had offered it to UA producer Edward Small who turned it down, much to his regret. So here, four years later, he gathered the same crew for what essentially is a retread of the plot of Sinbad's seventh in the hope of replicating said success. Harryhausen, however, said no, perhaps understandably, so his creatures were created for "Jack" by Project Unlimited under the watchful eye of one time Harryhausen understudy Jim Danforth. While the other effects, filmed in "Fantascope" come courtesy of Howard A. Anderson and Augie Lohman.

Columbia sued Small on the grounds of plot similarity, thus holding up the release of the film in the UK for several years (it wasn't banned as some people seem to think). Once released the film was panned by the critics and many parents were outraged that the film was too violent and scary for youngsters. Small would take this personally and intending to make something of the movie, had it re-dubbed and made into a musical. The result of which is just garbage. Thankfully the film was finally restored to its original glory on DVD and found a whole new generation of fantasy adventure fans with a bent for the lost art of stop motion animation. Kerwin Matthews passed away in 2007, a handsome swashbuckling actor, Jack The Giant Killer was his last foray into the fantasy adventure genre. It's at least comforting to know that he got to see this little treasure of a film finally get accepted by an audience.

The film itself delivers everything one expects of the genre. The creatures are effective, even if the jerkiness shows that it's not Harryhausen at the helm; tho this is off set by a wonderful sequence as electricity cloaked witch demons attack Jack's ship. There's a dashing hero, a pretty princess, a vile and chilling evil doer, hell there's even the little imp of the lamp (Don Beddoe) for some limerick shenanigans. From its delightful story book opening to its final battle between hero and villain, Jack The Giant Killer is a rich and playful fantasy. 7/10
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.

[Bud Brewster]

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I saw this one at a drive-in with a group of friends when it first came out. My mother chauffeured us to the drive-in, and we spent most of the time sitting on the ground close to the screen.

Here's a gallery of images to go with Spike's fine review of this classic fantasy film.



















From these images we can see that back in the early 1960s Jim Danforth's models were not quite up to the quality of Harryhausen's (nor was his animation). But by the time Mr. Danforth did the animation for When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth both his models and his animation had greatly improved.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[The Spike]

[Bud Brewster]

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You're entirely welcome, Commodore Spike!

And per your PMed request, I'll be happy to add posters and such to your other posts as well. You asked for one to be added to your Slit Second post, and I had fun creating an enhanced version to give a little extra kick to your review.

I did the same thing for your Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger post, and I was surprised by how gorgeous several of the posters for that movie are!

I'm looking forward to all your future contributions.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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YouTube has a fair copy of this movie, and we're watching it in All Sci-Fi's Chatzy Room (< — LINK) on Wednesday, May 5th.

Join us!

Here's the original trailer and a well one fan-made version.

___________Jack the Giant Killer Official Trailer


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_________ Jack the Giant Killer- fan-made Trailer


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_________ Jack The Giant Killer 1962 Full Movie


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

From IMDB.

Jack the Giant Killer was unreleased in the U.K. until 1967.
It received an 'A' certification after specific edits had been made to the movie.

Edits: Witch attack on ship, Princess Elaine being attacked by giant, Jack's fight with the dragon.

As huge a fan as I am of stop~motion animation I have to say that this film is underwhelming in spite of its fine cast.

The designs for all the animated models are poor and the animation is never the equal of Ray Harryhausen's phenomenal talent.

I must put this movie in the extremely disappointing bin.