Jack and the Beanstalk (1952 film)
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| Jack and the Beanstalk | |
|---|---|
| Image:A&cjack.jpg Jack and the Beanstalk Theatrical Poster | |
| Directed by | Jean Yarbrough |
| Produced by | Alex Gottlieb Pat Costello Bud Abbott Lou Costello |
| Written by | Nat Curtis Pat Costello |
| Starring | Bud Abbott Lou Costello Buddy Baer Dorothy Ford Barbara Brown |
| Music by | Raoul Kraushaar |
| Editing by | Otho Lovering |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers |
| Release date(s) | April 9, 1952 |
| Running time | 78 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $683,000 |
| Preceded by | Comin' Round The Mountain (1951) |
| Followed by | Lost in Alaska (1952) |
| IMDb profile | |
Jack and the Beanstalk is a 1952 family comedy starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It is a comic revision of the classic fairy tale.
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[edit] Plot
Dinkle (Bud Abbott) and Jack (Lou Costello) work for the Cosman Employment Agency and are sent by Polly (Dorothy Ford) to be sitters for Eloise Larkin's (Shaye Cogan) brother Donald (David Stollery) and their infant sister. Jack begins to read the fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk" to the children, but he falls asleep. He begins to dream that he is in the fairy tale, starring as Jack.
He learns that the Giant (Buddy Baer) has stolen all of the food and all of the land's wealth, which now means that the Princess (Shaye Cogan) must marry a prince (James Alexander), whom she has never met. Jack must also make sacrifices, as he is own his way to sell the last family possession of any value, their cow. Along the way he meets up with the prince, who is then kidnapped by the Giant. He also meets up with Mr. Dinklepuss (Bud Abbott), who trades five 'magic' beans to Jack for the cow. By the time he makes it back home, he learns that the princess has been kidnapped by the Giant, as well as the cow.
Undeterred by his mother's disappointment over bringing home the beans, Jack plants them and overnight a huge beanstalk grows all the way up into the sky. He decides to climb the beanstalk to rescue everyone, as well as retrieve Nellie, the hen that lays golden eggs. Dinklepuss, learning about Nellie's existence, decides to join Jack on this adventure.
Upon arriving at the top, they are captured by the Giant and imprisons them alongside the prince and princess. They befriend the Giant's housekeeper, Polly (Dorothy Ford), and manage to escape over the castle wall. They all safely reach the bottom of the beanstalk and Jack chops it down, sending the Giant to his death. Just as he is about to be rewarded by the King, he awakes from his dream as Eloise returns from her evening out.
[edit] Trivia
- It was filmed from July 9 through August 2, 1951.
- 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 SuperCineColor.
- Since Universal wouldn't spend the money to make an Abbott and Costello film in color, they 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 Productionst and the second color film, Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd using Abbott's company, Woodley Productions.<ref>Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0</ref>
- Just before filming began, on May 9, Abbott and Costello signed a contract with NBC to star in their own Television series, The Abbott and Costello Show.
- Sets from the 1948 film, Joan of Arc, were used in this film.
- A soundtrack, including songs and dialogue, was released on Decca Records on June 9, 1952.
- It was re-released in 1960 by RKO Pictures.
[edit] DVD releases
As this film is in the public domain, there have been at least a dozen DVD releases from a variety of companies over the years, including a restored version to be released by Legend Films. The image below is the cover of the Diamond Entertainment Corporation's release.
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[edit] Reference
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