Jack and the Beanstalk (1952 film)
Encyclopedia
Jack and the Beanstalk is a 1952 American family
comedy film
starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello
. It is a comic revision of the classic Jack and the Beanstalk
fairy tale.
, as well as a self-proclaimed "problem child". The dullwitted Jack is soon outclassed by the child, and an attempt to lull the boy to sleep by reading the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk
(Jack's "favorite novel") aloud fails when Jack stumbles over the larger words. Bemused by Jack's incompetence, Donald reads the story instead -- a role-reversal made complete when Jack falls asleep as Donald reads. In his slumber, Jack dreams that he is the young Jack of the fairy tale.
In his dream Jack learns that the Giant, who lives in a castle in the sky, has stolen all of the land's wealth and food. The situation obliges the kingdom's Princess to marry The Prince of a neighboring kingdom, whom she has never met.
Jack must also make sacrifices, when his mother sends him to sell the last family possession, their beloved cow "Henry", to the local butcher, Mr. Dinklepuss. Along the way Jack meets The Prince (who is kidnapped by the Giant soon afterward). The unscrupulous Dinklepuss pays Jack five 'magic' beans for the cow. Upon returning home, Jack learns that the Giant has also kidnapped The Princess and Henry.
Undeterred by his mother's disappointment over bringing home only beans, Jack plants them and a gigantic beanstalk grows overnight. He decides to climb the beanstalk to rescue everyone from the Giant's clutches, as well as retrieve "Nellie", the golden-egg laying hen that the Giant previously stole from Jack's family. Upon learning of Nellie's existence, Dinklepuss decides to join Jack on the adventure.
When they reach the top of the beanstalk, Jack and Dinklepuss are captured by the Giant and imprisoned with the prince and princess. After the Giant assigns the hapless pair to toil around the castle, they befriend his housekeeper, Polly, who helps them escape over the castle wall along with the royal prisoners, Nellie, and some of the Giant's stolen gems. (Nellie and the gems are then pilfered by the greedy Dinklepuss). They flee down the beanstalk with the Giant in pursuit, as Polly escapes the castle behind him, astride Henry. During the descent, Dinklepuss loses Nellie (who falls into the arms of Jack's mother) and then the gems, which rain down upon the impoverished townsfolk below. Once all are on the ground, Jack chops down the beanstalk, sending the Giant falling to his death.
Just before being rewarded by the King for heroism, Jack is rudely awakened from his dream by Donald, who breaks a vase over Jack's head as Eloise and Arthur return home. Jack's angry outburst over Donald's behavior results in a second blow to the head from Dinkle, which returns Jack to his dream state. After greeting the others as their storybook counterparts, Jack walks off into the night with the bravado of "Jack the Giant-Killer".
, the film's opening and closing segments were processed in sepia tone, although many of the DVD releases feature these sequences in black and white, while the entire "Jack and the Beanstalk" story was shot in Eastman Color and processed in the SuperCineColor
process. Many television stations that aired the film normally transmitted black-and-white shows and movies with color equipment turned off, so they ran the sepia tone openings and closings in black and white while running the color portion in color. In addition, animation
is used when showing the beanstalk growing in Jack's backyard.
Since Universal
would not spend the money to make an Abbott and Costello film in color, the duo decided to do it themselves. Using the agreement with Universal that they could make one independent film per year, they made this film using Costello's company, Exclusive Productions and the second color film, Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
using Abbott's company, Woodley Productions.
on June 9, 1952.
, there have been at least a dozen DVD releases from several companies over the years. The Diamond Entertainment Corporation released a DVD on January 1, 2003.
Family film
A family film is a film genre that is designed to appeal to a variety of age groups and, thus, families.In December 2005, Steven Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial came first in a poll of the 100 Greatest Family Films. The genre today generates billions of dollars per annum.Family...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello
Abbott and Costello
William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 1950s...
. It is a comic revision of the classic Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk is a folktale said by English historian Francis Palgrave to be an oral legend that arrived in England with the Vikings. The tale is closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions...
fairy tale.
Plot
Mr. Dinkle and Jack look for work at the Cosman Employment Agency. Jack makes advances to Cosman employee Polly, but he is thwarted by the arrival of her boyfriend, a towering police officer. Polly assigns Dinkle and Jack to babysit for Eloise Larkin's brother and infant sister, while Eloise and her fiancé are out for the evening. The babysitting duties are complicated by the fact that Donald is something of a prodigyChild prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
, as well as a self-proclaimed "problem child". The dullwitted Jack is soon outclassed by the child, and an attempt to lull the boy to sleep by reading the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk is a folktale said by English historian Francis Palgrave to be an oral legend that arrived in England with the Vikings. The tale is closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions...
(Jack's "favorite novel") aloud fails when Jack stumbles over the larger words. Bemused by Jack's incompetence, Donald reads the story instead -- a role-reversal made complete when Jack falls asleep as Donald reads. In his slumber, Jack dreams that he is the young Jack of the fairy tale.
In his dream Jack learns that the Giant, who lives in a castle in the sky, has stolen all of the land's wealth and food. The situation obliges the kingdom's Princess to marry The Prince of a neighboring kingdom, whom she has never met.
Jack must also make sacrifices, when his mother sends him to sell the last family possession, their beloved cow "Henry", to the local butcher, Mr. Dinklepuss. Along the way Jack meets The Prince (who is kidnapped by the Giant soon afterward). The unscrupulous Dinklepuss pays Jack five 'magic' beans for the cow. Upon returning home, Jack learns that the Giant has also kidnapped The Princess and Henry.
Undeterred by his mother's disappointment over bringing home only beans, Jack plants them and a gigantic beanstalk grows overnight. He decides to climb the beanstalk to rescue everyone from the Giant's clutches, as well as retrieve "Nellie", the golden-egg laying hen that the Giant previously stole from Jack's family. Upon learning of Nellie's existence, Dinklepuss decides to join Jack on the adventure.
When they reach the top of the beanstalk, Jack and Dinklepuss are captured by the Giant and imprisoned with the prince and princess. After the Giant assigns the hapless pair to toil around the castle, they befriend his housekeeper, Polly, who helps them escape over the castle wall along with the royal prisoners, Nellie, and some of the Giant's stolen gems. (Nellie and the gems are then pilfered by the greedy Dinklepuss). They flee down the beanstalk with the Giant in pursuit, as Polly escapes the castle behind him, astride Henry. During the descent, Dinklepuss loses Nellie (who falls into the arms of Jack's mother) and then the gems, which rain down upon the impoverished townsfolk below. Once all are on the ground, Jack chops down the beanstalk, sending the Giant falling to his death.
Just before being rewarded by the King for heroism, Jack is rudely awakened from his dream by Donald, who breaks a vase over Jack's head as Eloise and Arthur return home. Jack's angry outburst over Donald's behavior results in a second blow to the head from Dinkle, which returns Jack to his dream state. After greeting the others as their storybook counterparts, Jack walks off into the night with the bravado of "Jack the Giant-Killer".
Cast
- Bud AbbottBud AbbottWilliam Alexander "Bud" Abbott was an American actor, producer and comedian. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.-Early life:...
as Mr. Dinkle/Mr. Dinklepuss - Lou CostelloLou CostelloLouis Francis "Lou" Costello was an American actor and comedian best known as half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott...
as Jack - Dorothy FordDorothy FordDorothy Ford is an American actress and model active during the 1940s through 1960s.She began her career as a model, largely due to her extreme height of 6 feet, 2 inches and a 38-26-38-and-a-half figure. In 1944, she made her screen debut in Lady in the Dark...
as Polly - Buddy BaerBuddy BaerJacob Henry "Buddy" Baer was an American boxer. In 2003, Baer was chosen for the Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time...
as Polly's Boyfriend/The Giant - Shaye Cogan as Eloise Larkin/The Princess
- David StolleryDavid StolleryDavid John Stollery, III , is a former American child actor and, as an adult, a noted industrial designer. He appeared in numerous Disney movies and television programs in the 1950s...
as Donald Larkin - James Alexander as Arthur/The Prince
- Barbara Brown as Mrs. Strong
Production
Jack and the Beanstalk was filmed from 9 July through 2 August 1951. Like The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, the film's opening and closing segments were processed in sepia tone, although many of the DVD releases feature these sequences in black and white, while the entire "Jack and the Beanstalk" story was shot in Eastman Color and processed in the SuperCineColor
Cinecolor
Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two color film process, based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel and Alan M...
process. Many television stations that aired the film normally transmitted black-and-white shows and movies with color equipment turned off, so they ran the sepia tone openings and closings in black and white while running the color portion in color. In addition, animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
is used when showing the beanstalk growing in Jack's backyard.
Since Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
would not spend the money to make an Abbott and Costello film in color, the duo decided to do it themselves. Using the agreement with Universal that they could make one independent film per year, they made this film using Costello's company, Exclusive Productions and the second color film, Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd is a 1952 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, along with Charles Laughton, who reprised his role as the infamous pirate from the 1945 film Captain Kidd.-Plot:...
using Abbott's company, Woodley Productions.
Soundtrack
A soundtrack, including songs and dialogue, was released on Decca RecordsDecca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
on June 9, 1952.
Home media release
As this film is in the public domainPublic domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
, there have been at least a dozen DVD releases from several companies over the years. The Diamond Entertainment Corporation released a DVD on January 1, 2003.