The mere mention of stop motion automatically brings to mind the great name of Ray Harryhausen.
It's loosely based on the traditional tale "Jack the Giant Killer" and features the use of stop motion animation. 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. However, his plans are at first thwarted when farmers boy Jack (Kerwin Matthews) slays the giant sent by Pendragon to claim the Princess. 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. I kill a giant every morning before breakfast. If you love these kinds of movies see it for sure, I bought it and still watch it plentiful to this day.
I also love the shot of the animated crow flying toward a beautiful matte painting of a castle. My favorite scene is when the puppet comes to like and slow dances with the princess. Jack and the princess are likeable characters as well as Peter and Sigard the viking. Stop-motion animation fans take note, there is a lot of stop-motion in this film. If you like movies like " The 7th Voyage of Sinbad " or any George Pal film this is a must see.
Great stop-motion animation and a fun story makes this movie great
I love this film, I loved it when it scared me out of my skin as a child and I still love it now. If I had watched Pirates of the Caribbean when I was three or four years old I might have reacted in a similar way to that. I watched it recently and I can see why it effected me so. Particularly the one with the huge mouth that blew a gushing wind all the time and the one with the three horns. The Giant was bad enough, but then there was the deliriously camp warlock (camp things always worried me as a child Marc Bolan gave me nightmares too) the evil version of the princess with the odd eyes and then worse of all, The witches. The theme tune and title sequence of Tom Baker era Doctor Who, The ride in the boat in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory The snake from the Seven Faces of Dr Lao but most of all, the one thing that would make me cry and quake for hours and hours was Jack the Giant Killer. If you are a childhood fan of this film and have never owned it prior, it just comes down to your love of this film and if you have $8.99 to blow.As a child there were 4 things guaranteed to scare the pants off me. There are no special features included here, which is not shocking as all since this is just a cash-in release. At least this one is the original 1962 version, since I have heard that the musical version is even more unwatchable. One of them is the original 1962 version and the other has musical numbers added in. But when Pendragon uses his evil powers to bewitch and imprison Elaine in his enchanted fortress, Jack must cross the ocean to brave dragons, two-headed ogres and an army of ghouls to save his lady love!Įven though the film’s transfer has seen better days, I have heard that this film has two versions of it floating around. Official Premise: Farm boy Jack heroically rescues Princess Elaine from sorcerer Pendragon by slaying his bloodthirsty giant.
I would recommend the Rifftrax version of this film, at least it’s worth the laugh, which is also released by Legend Films coincidentally. Stop-motion animator Jim Danforth tried to recreate what Ray Harryhausen did with Nathan Juran’s “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad” but falls short of his talent. The colors are extremely faded and the print looks a bit sad. Legend Films is re-releasing the 1962 film “Jack and the Giant Killer” to capitalize on the release of Warner Bros recent film “Jack The Giant Slayer”.