Jack the Giant Killer

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

***Medieval fairy tale with a noble hero, a beautiful princess, an evil wizard & spooky cronies*** A wholesome farm-youth-turned-knight in medieval England (Kerwin Mathews) is enlisted to guard a princess (Judi Meredith) from the schemes of a wicked sorcerer (Torin Thatcher). “Jack the Giant Killer” (1962) is similar to “The Magic Sword,” which was released a couple of months earlier. Some people like to compare it to “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958) because the hero and villain were also in that earlier movie, not to mention both films use stop-motion animation. But Jim Danforth’s work here is no serious rival to Ray Harryhausen, although it’s serviceable. Kerwin makes for a great noble protagonist while Judi is winsome as the royal maiden and hot as the bewitched version of herself. Of course Thatcher just oozes ee-vil. One of the most impressive “effects” is the wizard’s gaggle of witch-ghouls. They’re very well done and effectively scary in a cartoonish way. I would’ve eaten this up as a kid. Yet there’s certainly enough here for adults to enjoy (or for the kid-in-adults to enjoy). If you like this movie and would like to see a more realistic, adult-oriented version of similar fairy tale events, check out the classy “First Knight” (1995). See my review for details. The film runs 1 hour, 34 minutes and was shot at Santa Catalina Island, California, as well as Samuel Goldwyn Studios in West Hollywood. While these locations are adequate for the purposes of the movie, they don’t look anything like Britain, although they could pass for the Mediterranean. GRADE: A-

Very much in the vein of "the 7th Voyage of Sinbad"; this is a cracking magical adventure with Torin Thatcher stealing the show as the seriously hammy "Pendragon" - the evil wizard determined to have his wicked way with the Princess Elaine and to take over the Kingdom. Wait, though - could newly knighted Kerwin Matthews, erstwhile farm boy who killed a troll, be her saviour? Augie Lohman's special effects are not quite Harryhausen, but the film is sumptuously colourful and engaging with plenty of action (even a Leprechaun who speaks in rhyme) and as a child in the seventies, I really enjoyed this on television.