A pretty princess. An evil sorcerer. A hero for the ages.
Desiring control of the kingdom, evil wizard Pendragon devises a cunning machination to usurp the throne. By abducting and forcing Princess Elaine to marry him, Pendragon will coerce the king into abdicating his power. When Pendragon sends a giant to kidnap Elaine, a simple farmer named Jack witnesses the abduction, and bravely slays the beast. Undeterred, Pendragon has more power and creatures at his disposal.
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Resolved, classical in form, effortless and unpretentious.
- resolvedopen-ended
- classical in formformally daring
- effortlessdemanding
- unpretentiousprestige
- earnestironic
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“Is the nostalgia doing the heavy lifting?”
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“Is Kerwin Mathews the best thing in Jack the Giant Killer?”
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“Is Jack the Giant Killer better than The 7th Voyage of Sinbad?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- John Chardon TMDB · Aug 20198/10
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. Harryhau
Read the whole review on TMDB - Wuchakon TMDB · Nov 20188/10
***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
Read the whole review on TMDB - CinemaSerfon TMDB · Nov 20246/10
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.
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Cast
- Kerwin MathewsJack
- Judi MeredithPrincess Elaine
- Torin ThatcherPendragon
- Walter BurkeGama
- Don BeddoeImp
- Barry KelleySigurd
- Dayton LummisKing Mark
- Anna LeeLady Constance
- Roger MobleyPeter
- Robert GistScottish Captain
Crew
- Nathan JuranDirector
- Nathan JuranScreenplay
- Orville H. HamptonScreenplay
- David S. HorsleyDirector of Photography
- Bert ShefterOriginal Music Composer
- Paul SawtellOriginal Music Composer
- Grant WhytockEditor
- Edward SmallProducer
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